The skills necessary to be an effective leader are many, and just as importantly will not all be used in the same circumstances and at all times. Leadership is just as much about listening and observing others, as it is about doing something. In many cases, Effective Leaders will do much more observation of their ‘team’ before leading, than they will do in actually leading.
Understanding the core leadership skills, is the first step that you must take to be successful.
The listing and definition of what are the core leadership skills, can be debated time and time again. I am certain, that there will be many people that think the ones listed herein are incomplete, wrong or some may even believe that there is only one or two key skills that really come into play. In last weeks article regarding finding and developing leadership skills, we stated that some of the core skills and traits that are needed include Honesty, Confidence, Inspiration and the ability to Communicate Ideas clearly and effectively. While there are many more skills and traits that come into play, we find that these four Core areas are ‘key’, in one becoming a good leader. We use the terms ‘skills and traits’ both in describing these core areas. Skills being those items whereby a person can work, learn, improve upon and look to others for guidance and assistance. Traits, on the other hand are those items that I believe go to the central makeup of your character and beliefs. Honesty, confidence and Inspiration are traits that you must posses in order to be an Effective Leader. Communication is a skill that you be able to master, to be able to deliver leadership. There is a significant difference. Let’s take a look at each of them, and how they will play into your leadership skills.
Confidence – if you don’t have it, you better get it quickly!
A Leader ‘or’ Manager without confidence – is quite simply not going to be able to get much of anything done. How many times have you watched someone perform with little or no confidence in their ability and ultimately come up short or simply fail. Over the last several weeks, many of us have watched top athletes from around the world performing in the Winter Olympics. For many, their goal is to represent their country and compete in the Olympics. They do not need a significant amount of confidence, for their expectations have already been achieved by simply being there and a member of their Country’s team. They will almost always be great team members and able to execute their particular sport effectively. While in others, their Confidence is a very large part of their success.
The same can be said for Leadership. Without confidence, an Effective Leader will always be a something that is a work in process. The ‘Leader’ of the Short Track Speed Skating team is Apolo Ono. It is not, and was not the many coaches of the team. During the last competition that the US Team was in this past week, Apolo Ono was being interviewed just after being dis-qualified and losing the Silver Medal in the 500m final. Instead of being down and discouraged, the thing that he wanted to talk about was that he ‘wanted to lead the team to victory in the last competition – the Team Relay’. He was brimming with confidence, that absolutely carried over to the entire team. In short, it was this. ‘We will be competitive throughout the race, and be in position to win when the anchor leg comes around’. During the interview, he talked ‘confidently’ about the goal of winning a team relay medal. The US Team trailed badly and out of position for a medal until the last 6-8 laps. You could see Ono encouraging the team as they each prepared for their next turn on the ice. His confidence was as much or more the reason why the team closed the gap; got Ono into position for the anchor leg where he successfully made the final surge to secure the Bronze Medal for the US Team. His Confidence and Leadership of the team was the difference.
Developing your own confidence comes down to putting yourself into ever increasing areas of responsibility so that you can be successful. While some people are born with what it seems like unlimited confidence, others of us have to develop and nurture our confidence over a period of time – even over a period of years. Confidence is all about building one success after another and removing doubt.
Without Honesty, a person’s ability to lead over a period of time will fall apart like a house of cards in a gentle breeze.
Unfortunately, most of us have experienced this too many times in both our personal and professional lifetimes. We find and align ourselves with individuals that have what we believe are good leadership skills, to only find out down the road that they basically lack any real honesty. They are not true to any ‘core values or beliefs’. They change directions depending upon the circumstance and ‘which way the wind is blowing’ today. While these are all things that we shouldn’t be doing, they directly point out the very things that we should be doing.
Honesty is one of those traits that you either have or do not have. While I am sure that somewhere someone has a course that they have developed likely titled – ‘How to Become an Honest Person’; it is also likely not going to be found on the best sellers list either. For many of us, honesty centers around doing the right thing and doing it for the right reason. It is not about ‘acting honestly’ – it is about being honest with your actions and intents. I believe that Honesty ties in directly with Sincerity. You cannot be Honest and also be at the same time In-Sincere. It simply does not work. Examples abound of people that ‘aspire to be leaders’ who basically lack honesty, and fail miserably. I’ll use a political example of someone that wanted to be a leader, however their actions proved to be something different than the image that was portrayed.
John Edwards was a very successful Personal Trial Lawyer for many years. While it is true that he won many, many judgments for individuals that had been wronged by someone else (whether an individual, group or business) – some of his statements once he got into the political arena sounded ‘hollow’ to many. To paraphrase comments he has made over the years – ‘the reason I represent all of these individuals is to get them the justice they deserve’. Many (including myself) found the statements to be hollow and lacked honesty. Why is that? If that is truly why he represented those individuals, someone should explain to all of us why he received the lion’s share of the settlements won and in turn became a multi-millionaire many times over. Additionally, we have now found out that he was dishonest to his family and his wife. Why there are many reasons why someone running for political office may not get where they want to go (in this case, it would becoming President of the US), honesty truly is the best policy.
Inspiration as it relates to Leadership, is that ability to ‘unlock’ the drive and determination in others to achieve a goal or objective.
There are many, many forms of inspiration that we will encounter and experience during our lifetimes. A team that is inspired, can and will overcome sometimes almost insurmountable odds in the achievement of a goal or objective. Recently, the New Orleans Saints professional football team won the Super Bowl and NFL Championship. There were many, many examples of both leadership and inspiration found within their organization. Many, including myself said that we were ‘pulling for the Saints, but betting the Colts’. Almost every analysis came to the same conclusion regarding the predictions on how the game would unfold. Experience of both the Colt’s team, and in large part Peyton Manning’s ability would prevail in the end. However, there are several examples that show where the ability to inspire someone (individual or a team) along with ‘inspirational decisions’ changed the course of not only a game, but how the team will now be portrayed.
Many on the Saints team mark a significant turning point in their success, to a time last year whereby the Saints QB and leader on the field also took on the role of ‘Inspirational Leader’. Most professional football teams gather somewhere on the field just prior to the start of the game for an ‘inspirational moment’. Last year, Drew Brees took over that duty. He didn’t ask anyone, he just did it. From that point on, the New Orleans Saints became a different team. While they did not achieve last year, the goal that they had set out to do – they did it achieve it this year. This is a primary example of a ‘leader’ inspiring others to greater levels of achievement than had ever been experienced by this team previously.
We also mentioned ‘inspirational decisions’. During the Super Bowl this year, the Colts were to receive the ball to start the second half. The coach of the Saints (Sean Payton) made the decision to try an ‘on-side kick’ at the start of the second half. For those that are not football fans, you’ll need to do some research to understand an on-side kick and why it would be used – but suffice it to say that most all of the time it is never used accept when teams are desperate, and face the distinct prospect of losing no matter what the results. It is almost ‘unheard of’ for a team to try and execute this play at the start of the second half of the game. Needless to say, the New Orleans Saints not only tried it, but executed it successfully. It was a decision that could best be described as an ‘inspirational decision’, for it changed the entire course of the remainder of the game and in large part inspired the team to overcome and achieve their goals.
Communication is the key to success!
No matter who you talk with, this is one of those areas where there is almost universal agreement. Communication is the heart and soul of leadership and is the key foundation of the core values needed to be an Effective Leader. You can have all of the other leadership skills needed sharpened to a fine edge and executing brilliantly – but if you cannot communicate effectively; your ability to lead will be hampered. Most of the time, people believe that communication in the realm of leadership is simply the spoken word. In the day and age of computers, the internet, social media, visual media and the like – all forms of communication are critically important. You cannot simply be a ‘good or great speaker’, you must be a great Communicator. However, there is a failure by many to understand what communication means.
Communication is the transfereance of idea’s and/or information from one person to another – and have them understand or act upon the communication correctly. If I gave you $5,000.00 and told you to paint my house, I have communicated the basic need. If I had told you that I needed all of the outside painted surfaces of my house re-painted, with two coats of exterior quality weather resistant paint of a particular brand following the recommendations of the manufacturer – that would certainly be ‘improved communication’. If I had also included that the job needed to be finished within two weeks . . . . .
Whether or not the communication is verbal, written or accomplished by ‘drawing someone a picture’ – it must be clear and complete to be effective. It also must be tailored to the person or person(s) that are receiving the communication. This is a major area of mis-understanding by many who believe they are great communicators. Communication has to be formulated and delivered so that the recipients of the information understand it and in turn can act on it. One of the sure fire signs that you are not communicating properly, is if you get a lot of questions and/or follow ups to your original communication. Regardless of how clear that you thought you were. How many have seen email’s that contain, four, five or six replies and/or communications when only one was expected. During the past year, the US Congress (along with the President) have been trying to pass legislation regarding Health Care Reform. Regardless of whether or not you support it (or would simply like for it to go away) – the fact of the matter is the President and Congress have completely bungled the ‘communication’ surrounding this effort. What has that resulted in – very poor Leadership!
Next Week we will end this series with a look again at how Leadership and Project Management ‘blend together’.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
John, do you have any recommended or suggested training on your site? I was hoping to find some under each knowledge area, ie: Communication. If not, have you considered adding training classes that you heard were good under each knowledge area? I am looking for a good course on communication for instance that may tie in PM and the skills you mentioned in your recent article. Thank you
I am working on some training material and curriculum, but have not brought it to the ‘market place’ as yet. Hopefully, I will be able to have some of the courses/topics that interest you, sometime in the next 60 days. I appreciate the interest.
that ‘s good article, wouldn’t mind i use in my essay