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Becoming A Great Leader Is A Lifelong Quest, But One Well Worth Pursuing

This article is more than 10 years old.

I have spent many years as the leader of several companies. I hope that during that time I have learned a bit about what it takes to become a great leader. Many of the lessons I am still learning, but I wanted to share a few of the things I have come to learn thus far.

A leader cannot expect their employees to live the values of the company if they are not living those values him/herself. A leader must do what they say they will do, and they must live what they say they believe. The impact of a leader’s example carries through the entire organization in a ripple effect that reaches farther than many would suppose. That places a serious responsibility on the shoulders of the leader as so many look to them as the example.

A leader should hire only those people who embody the values they want the company to represent. Making exceptions to that rule will always lead to disruption and often chaos throughout the organization. For example, when the leader states that the company values integrity, but then the leader turns the other way or makes an excuse for an employee who shows a lack of integrity, it sends a message to the other employees that integrity really isn’t an important company value. This goes back to the point on leaders needing to live what they say they believe.

A leader should make sure that every employee knows exactly where the company is heading. I cannot stress this point strongly enough. Leaders must be willing to communicate that message every single day to their employees in order to keep everyone focused on the same end result. It is amazing how quickly employees will veer off-track when they don’t have constant communication from their leader about the end goals, and what is being done each day to take the company closer to achieving those goals. A leader’s number one priority each day has to be to communicate, communicate, communicate.

Leaders should define their expectations for their employees as well as their success measurements. In order for employees to thrive, they need to know what will be considered success in their position. Having ambiguity on how they will be assessed can be very disconcerting for employees and can have a negative impact on their job satisfaction. On the other hand, when an employee understands clearly what they are expected to do, and how they can be certain they have met those expectations, it allows the employee to feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment, which leads to overall satisfaction with their job.

A leader should give employees clear boundaries wherein they can operate without having to seek approvals. Employees will work far more effectively if they are given some parameters on the types of activities and decisions they can make on their own, without needing to seek management approvals. For example, leaders may define that salary increases within a certain percentage boundary per year can be granted by managers without needing any outside approval, or define that X dollars of a budget are allocated for special projects each year for managers to utilize as they deem appropriate. On the flip side, leaders might dictate that no manager can sign contracts without having executive approval, and so forth. By laying these boundaries out very clearly a leader will help their employees operate more effectively while giving room for employees to branch out and experiment in a safe environment.

Once leaders have set the right example, hired the right people, communicated the company’s purpose, defined their expectations, and set the boundaries for people to operate within, the next step is to get the heck out of their employees’ way and allow them to do the job they were hired to do. If a leader has been effective in all the other steps there should be no reason to micro-manage their people. Leaders need to show their people that they trust them, and if the success measurements were set up properly, the leader will be able to carefully track and measure their performance without having to get in anyone’s way.

To become a truly great leader, a leader has to create an atmosphere that invites their employees to give them honest feedback without any fear of backlash, punishment or retaliation. Leaders must keep in mind that the only way they can truly expect people to provide them with totally open feedback is to demonstrate to employees that they genuinely welcome and value the ability to improve as their leader. Demonstrating this creates an atmosphere of trust that will unlock amazing opportunities for improvement for the leader and the organization as a whole. For a leader to expect open feedback without providing assurance that it will be valued and accepted is unrealistic and unfair to the employees, especially when an employee’s livelihood depends on keeping their leaders approval. This can be one of the most challenging things for a leader as it takes humility and a willingness to hear what they must be willing to change and improve in themselves. But for leaders who are willing to master this skill of welcoming honest feedback, the personal payoff will be incredible as it allows leaders to continuously grow and improve. As they do this, the entire organization will follow suit.

Finally, I would add that the best leaders are those who remember that leadership isn’t about them; it’s about the people they serve. Great leaders change lives. They inspire people to be better and go further than they ever thought possible. Becoming a great leader is a lifelong quest, but one well worth pursuing.

~Amy (follow my daily blogs at www.amyreesanderson.com/blog )