The single most important factor in a company's success is the quality of its leadership. A company's leaders' own traits shape both their team and the entire organization. When struggling businesses are bought-out by larger successful firms and restructured in a #Merger or #Acquisition, often the first thing to be cut is the leadership. If the company had good leadership, it wouldn't be struggling in the fist place.
With so much weighing on a leaders ability to lead, lets take take a quick look at what a true leader is:
A leader is #accountable. They are responsible for enforcing the rules and holding others accountable to those rules, so a leader should set the right example by being even more accountable themselves by always following the company's policies, practices & procedures. Taking shortcuts is disrespectful to both employees and the organization as a whole.
Leaders have followers. John Maxwell famously wrote, “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” Leaders gain followers through demonstrating #success. They are #influential and use intuition to resolve HR issues early and demand their team be treated fairly and with #respect.
Leaders are #confident and #motivating. They use good judgment, are #trustworthy, #reliable and #honest. Leaders demonstrate #integrity and earn respect by being #loyal, #strong, #bold and #brave. People look up to leaders who are more #courageous and #determined than themselves and leaders in turn are devoted to the goals and well being of their followers.
For great leaders, giving up and loosing are not valid options. They are committed to pursuing #victory, always striving to find solutions to #win. Leaders build winning teams with divers sets of talents who can weather all challenges. Leaders know the value of #teamwork and how to get their team to #focus on a shared #vision of success for both the team and the company.
In the great recession and again in the Covid pandemic, these great leaders truly shine as they adapt and hang in there when their businesses are struggling. The can make tough, timely decisions, and always fight to save their employees jobs during rough patches.
Successful leaders understand the law of timing well. They are decisive in knowing the right time to make the right decision and have the experience to realize when to seize an #opportunity or move quickly to avert a crisis. ⏳
There is a lot riding on your ability to lead and to cultivate leaders. In fact, your success & the success of your company is capped by your ability to lead 🙌. Why not take a leadership inventory today to see how your company's leadership level is effecting your company's ability to achieve more success? Schedule some time to develop your leadership skills and learn how to recruit and develop great leaders your company needs to #thrive.