Leadership lessons: the 4 steps to success
There’s no such thing as a perfect leader. No matter how charismatic, persuasive or successful, every leader has their own unique strengths and their own unique weaknesses.
Optimizing your leadership style means never forgetting these four essential lessons:
1. Repeat the vision
You may have laid out your team or organizational vision in a way that seems crystal clear to you, but are you sure everyone gets it? Because not only do you need to be clear about your vision, but you need to repeat it over and over and over again.
People rarely remember something they’ve heard only once—no matter how important it is. So ensure your vision is clear. Then over-communicate it. Even at the risk of rolled eyeballs and groans.
2. Make sure everyone is on board
Communicating the vision repeatedly won’t help it come to fruition if people aren’t engaged and aligned behind you. Doubters and skeptics are inevitable in every endeavor. So spending the effort necessary to get people to buy-in will pay dividends down the road.
You’re not a leader if no one is following.
3. Follow through to completion
Vision is important. Inspiring people to believe in it and follow you is a must. But unless you get the results you’re looking for, all that effort is wasted. If your words never result in actions, you’ll lose the support you’ve worked so hard to gain.
So make sure you know what success looks like and, ideally, find a way to objectively measure it.
4. Build your bench strength
Frequently, leaders focus on their own success and miss the opportunity to build the strength of the leaders and potential leaders they need to develop.
Part of the role of a leader is to identify and nurture the talents of others. So don’t forget to mentor those who will follow in your footsteps. It will not only make them more valuable to the organization in the long run, but will likely make your job easier as they step in to support your efforts.
Creating a vision, building alignment across your organization, and getting the work done to bring the vision to life—all of this takes the efforts of many people pulling in the same direction. No matter how powerful and persuasive the leader.
