What makes a good leader?

Leadership development

Ever since we started Impact Factory, lo these many years ago, we have struggled with the whole notion of leadership development or leadership training. Indeed, we have resisted writing about it in much detail because the subject is so subjective.

Are leaders born or made? Can you use management leadership training to give leadership skills to someone who isn’t leadership material? How is it done?

Given that we’re being asked to create a lot more leadership programmes of late, we decided we’d take a hard look at just what makes a good leader.

Even of you don’t think of yourself as a leader, you will have areas in your life where other people look to you for leadership. So here are some essentials qualities and skills you need to be a good leader in whatever leadership arena you’re in.

Leadership training

Training is a misnomer when applied to leadership. Any leadership development programme has to include at least a passing reference to the following

Introduction to the concept of leadership behaviours
Discussion and debate about leadership
A widening of the definition beyond traditional leadership stereotypes
Personal understanding of individual leadership qualities and strengths
The difference between leadership and management
A look at how people perceive, their perception is their reality
Assumptions and their effect on how people see the world
What are your terms of reference and seeing the bigger picture
Personal patterns and beliefs
A look at the elements that have influenced and shaped the participants
Establishing ownership of individual’s leadership behaviours

A programme needs to be designed around the development of the individuals involved rather than towards competencies identified as required by the organisation.

Leadership style

What does a leader look like?

No cookie cutter models here. Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When someone is committed to, and practises using their leadership capabilities at all levels in their life, then they can and will develop their own potential as a leader.

There is a tendency, in our Western culture, to see Leadership as synonymous with white, middle class, male, in charge. There’s a kind of unspoken template of what leadership is supposed to look like. Now we know that isn’t true. Leadership can and does come in many different shapes and forms.

Good leaders don’t conform to a template. Indeed, leaders are people who don’t usually follow the party line. They have an edge to them, they get up people’s noses sometimes, they make decisions – lots of them – that often others don’t like. They say the things that need saying in a way that others understand.

Don’t let the picture get in the way

However, it is important to acknowledge that people developing their leadership skills are often hampered by their picture (or other people’s picture) of what a leader is supposed to ‘look’ like.

This is when it’s important to understand that the role of leader is not only completely individual (remember, they don’t fit a mould!) but also has to be worked at with belief and will and determination by the person occupying it.

It’s different for everyone

Not only that, leaders will be experienced differently by the individual people they lead. One getting encouragement, another understanding. That, of course, will be due to the leader’s ability to see what each person needs (more on this later).

In addition, not every leader is going to be a great leader in the sense that the world around them acknowledges their leader status. Many leaders get no ‘public’ recognition, only their personal satisfaction of a job well done.

Leadership theory

Seeing the Big Picture Vision

When the ‘vision’ word is used it usually means that someone has an idea of what the future could look like and a plan to get there. No point painting rosy, pie in the sky pictures (‘we’ll double our turnover in a year; we’ll create international markets; we’ll be number one in the UK’, etc.) if pie in the sky is all they are.

More like, ‘we could double our turnover in a year, this is how we could get there, this is what I expect from everyone in the organisation to help us get there and any new ideas are welcome’.

The ability to see

There is one essential quality for anyone in any position of leadership: the ability to see what is going on. Seeing is clarity. Seeing in the ‘wood for the trees’ kind of way.

We’ve heard the following phrase from a number of people throughout the years and it’s a good one – get your attention off yourself and on to whatever is going on.

What you’ll see

Here’s what you’ll be able to see if you do that: you’ll be able to see things from other people’s points of view; you’ll be able to understand what’s going on for them. You’ll be able to see what other people are capable of and how to help them achieve it. Most importantly, you’ll be able to see the whole picture not just your little bit of it.

Leadership skills

What makes you tick?

Know thyself. To be able to see you need a clear understanding of what has made you the way you are and what has shaped and influenced your life. The clearer you are about what motivates and affects your behaviour, the clearer you will be able to see what is going on with other people.

You didn’t spring fully formed from Zeus’s head – many things have affected you over the years. A good leader is proud to acknowledge role models, people, places, things, etc, which have inspired them.

You can’t do it alone

Any good leader worth their salt should be able to name 100 people, places, things, right off the bat. Why? Because they know themselves well enough to acknowledge who has supported and inspired them along the way, and what support they still need to get things done.

Leadership quality

Qualities

Think about what qualities your role models have that are attractive to you, that make them inspiring. Now, putting aside modesty, false or otherwise, think about what qualities they have that you also have. You have to know who you are and accept that you have outstanding qualities – leaders are able to do that.

Beliefs, rules and patterns

How well do you understand the rules, beliefs and patterns you have created in your life so far? Everyone’s got ‘em.

They can be the simple kind of rule – you should brush your teeth twice a day. They can be the more complex kind – you should treat everyone the way you expect to be treated. Beliefs can be things like – I believe everyone should be fair. And patterns can be as simple as going to and from work the same way every day.

When identifying your rules, patterns and beliefs see if you can avoid putting a value judgement on whether they are good or bad; this is far more about seeing just how well you understand your own behaviour.

Leadership management

Moving things forward Innovative thinking

Leadership requires innovative thinking; it requires people making positive and inspiring impacts; and it requires them to be able to motivate others. What is needed is an ability to think and act ‘out of the box’; out of the accepted or ‘right’ ways of doing things.

The culture of tomorrow will be one where change and innovation are the order of the day. Out of the box thinking and identifying future needs go hand in hand.

There’s no such thing as ‘can’t do’

‘Can’t do’ is an alien concept to a real leader. Leaders get things done. They have commitment, persistence, determination and resilience. Couple all of that with creative problem-solving and you have a person things happen around.

What we mean, is that no matter what their personality, there will be a kind of buzz around them; things change when they’re around; indeed, things might even get shaken up when they’re around. It isn’t always comfortable being around leaders.

You can’t stay stuck

Along with a ‘can do’ attitude, is an ability to move things forward. When others get bogged down, good leaders know how to motivate and inspire the people around them. They are willing to take risks and stand up for what they believe. They want to get things done and bring people along with them.

Development training

Can training develop leadership skills?

In our view, you cannot ‘send’ someone on a leadership programme who doesn’t want to be there and expect them to become a leader. It’s not like the reluctant presenter who gets sent along to a course and finds out that it’s not so bad after all. If your prospective leader isn’t fully engaged in the process, sending them along to be ‘taught’ leadership skills will be a waste of time and money.

If you fall into that category, then no amount of leadership training is going to develop your skills.

However, if you have to step into a new leadership role, or there are greater expectations of how you manage people, or you’ve become a project leader, and you have a willingness to develop and take on new skills, then it’s really possible to give yourself a leadership boost. Everyone can develop their capacity to lead, from church committees to local pressure groups to business teams to political parties. When you are committed to, and practise using your leadership capabilities at all levels in your life, then you can and will develop your own potential as a leader.

Management training

We believe there is a real difference between management and leadership. You don’t need to be a leader to be able to manage other people. However, to be an outstanding manager, you do have to have some of those essential skills and qualities that are necessary in developing as a leader.

Even if you are a manager with no major aspirations of leadership, there will be people who will turn to you for leadership, whether you like it or not. Therefore, when looking for training to develop your skills, it might be a very good idea to look at leadership courses as well as management courses.

Leadership courses

There are scores of courses available calling themselves Leadership Training, Leadership Development, Leadership Skills, etc. We cannot judge just how good they are, but if you think about everything you’ve read so far and feel in synch with our sentiments, then that’s what you need to look for: courses that incorporate a clear approach to developing leadership skills.

Earlier in this document we outlined some of the things to look for in a Leadership Training Programme. Add to that list a few more essentials:

How to initiate leadership behaviours
Understanding how commitment works
Leading by example
Influencing skills
Empowering and motivating others
Thinking on your feet
Handling yours and others’ stress

In our view, really good leadership courses need to incorporate all of these elements to be truly effective. Equally important, a programme needs to be relevant to your specific leadership needs and not something off the peg.

This is why Impact Factory only delivers tailored leadership training; so that each and every course fits the organisation to a ‘T’.

In conclusion:

Expect the unusual, the quirky, the non-conformist, the doer, the inspirer and you’ve got yourself a leader. To become one or to develop your leadership skills you have to be fully engaged in the process of development and just like everyone else, you have to practise, practise, practise.

Key Learning Points:

The power of aligning personal motivation and business objectives
The capacity of strong well expressed beliefs to motivate others
Communication is far more than just words
Leadership is not just about getting people to do what you ask
It is far more about seeing what is needed and carrying people forward with your vision
Being able to create the impact you want
Expanding your spheres of influence
Being able to talk to people in terms they understand
Using appropriate language
The relevance, development and use of personal style
Putting across concepts and ideas with ease and flair
The value of creative risk-taking and “out of the box” thinking
Making sure projects move forward without having to do all the work yourself.

One of the skills that successful leaders need to master is a bit of a dirty word these days. It’s not the sort of thing they offer leadership training courses on, but it lies at the heart of most business relationships. What I’m talking about is office politics.
When we call someone ‘a political animal’, we’re often not being complimentary. We tend to mean that they’re manipulative and untrustworthy, maybe even immoral or dishonest.
A person who’s good at politics, in our eyes, is someone who likes to score points over others, who tries to scramble to the top of the heap over his or her colleagues.
But politics isn’t all about manipulation. There’s more to it than that. And whether we like it or not, politics is everywhere in the workplace and a good leader needs to know how to make the most of it.
So what does politics have to do with good leadership? Well, to start with, politics involves being aware of the effects your words and actions have on others. And – even more importantly – it also means knowing how to influence people.
In an earlier article, we touched on leading change as a political process, but let’s focus for a moment on your interpersonal political skills in leading change negotiating, persuading, influencing. These leadership skills are essential for success and survival.
In a way, introducing change into an organization is like running a political campaign. If you get it right, your people will support you and your decisions.
How to get your people to accept change:
1. First, set up your campaign team. This isn’t just your fellow leaders, who’ve helped you draw up the plan behind the scenes, it’s also the movers and shakers in your organization. You need to identify them carefully and well. These are the people who can influence OTHER people. Perhaps the people that you can’t reach. If the movers and shakers know about and support what you’re doing, the job will be that much easier.
2. Now prepare yourself. You and your fellow leaders have been working on the plan for a long time. You know how much work has gone into it, and you know how vital it is for your business. Now is the time to get everyone else on board. But be prepared: not everyone’s going to like it.
3. Let the debate go on. Listen to what everyone says: be careful not to spend all your time with people who agree with you. Your fiercest opponents are valuable people: they help you gauge the level of resistance, they set out the arguments you need to defeat, and, if they eventually come round to your way of thinking, they will be some of your most valuable supporters.
The politics of business:
1. Find allies in ALL parts of the organization: you can exchange vital information that you might otherwise not have access to. And you can form coalitions, so together you can influence current and future developments.
2. Intervene in the political processes of the organization: share agendas, influence decisions and decision-makers.
3. Make sure you’re not simply surrounded by ‘yes’ men and women. You need to listen to the devil’s advocates – that way, you’re less likely to make mistakes.
There’s more, of course, there’s more. But deal with office politics on a project by project basis and you won’t go too far wrong. Leadership is sometimes described as a contact sport. It isn’t so much what you know as who you know.
So let me ask you this: who do YOU know?

Effective Leadership is essential at any level of Management in Business. From the newly appointed Supervisor to the Senior Company Director, the core role of a Leader is surprisingly very similar. The Leader is responsible for Leading the Followers, their Team, and taking them to a predetermined destination. HOW the Leader gets the Team there, how they achieve their own and their Team’s objectives, is the complex bit – involving the effective use of lots of Leadership skills, processes, motivators and tools. The beginning is very simple – win over your Team Members.

Where many Leaders become very ineffective, and fail, is in not understanding this very first step. If I have not won over my Team Members individually, and my Team as a group, then all the later steps will not work effectively. The first set of  Leadership Skills involve winning over your Team Members, persuading people to work with you and later persuading them to go in the direction the you need them to go.

Who do People Follow?

At a very basic level, people follow people they know. If I don’t know you, I can’t trust you or respect you. Take time to BOND with each of your Team members, and build a habit of doing this with each of your Team members on an ongoing basis – not just new recruits.

Bonding is where we get to know each other. We spend a short time socialising, talking about non-work topics. It might only be 10-15minutes each week, but this is our one-to-one ‘personal time’ and it is time well spent. Here the Leader gives this Team Member their undivided attention, listening, showing interest and gaining a good understanding of how this person ticks. We are not ‘buddies’, the relationship is still Leader / Team Member. Also be careful to bond with all Team members equally – to avoid favouritism or isolating someone.

People Follow Someone they Respect

People also follow people who they can respect, and who respects them. The next step for the Leader is to spend time with each Team Member discussing their work and their performance. This is one-to-one time, but now we are talking about work rather than non-work. The Leader listens to the Team Member as he or she talks about their goals, performance, strengths, and achievements.

The Leader is showing an interest and demonstrating respect for the Team Member, praising achievements and suggesting possible next steps. The Leader is also positioning themselves in these one-to-one performance discussions as the Leader, worthy of respect. These sessions will later become coaching and mentoring sessions. But at first they are establishing the Leader – Team Member relationship.

Why do People Follow?

People follow the Leader firstly, if she is worth respecting – and secondly, if she is going somewhere I would want to go. The Follower will want to know where exactly you want me to go – what is the goal? They will also want to know why – what is in it for me if I go there? I will follow if I think this is worth doing and it is feasible – the goal and strategy to get there is doable.

This is what the Leader must satisfy in order to persuade the Team and each Team member to work with them. The best Leaders are skilled at painting that forward vision of where we are going – painting it as an attractive picture that is worth working for. To do this they must pitch the goal appropriately for this person or the Team at this point in time, using terms that would be attractive for this person.

They also persuade the Team Members WHY they should work towards this goal. What are the benefits of this goal – why it is good for the Company, good for the Customer, the Team and me, the Team member?

An important Leadership skill is the ability to deliver a motivational, goal setting talk to a Team Member or the whole Team. Both the goal and the talk is always planned and prepared carefully. The Leader’s time spent bonding with Team Members and building mutual trust and respect will be really useful here. The Leader’s personal knowledge of individuals will help ensure that the goal is appropriate, and the talk can be pitched perfectly. Equally, the personal knowledge will help the Leader AVOID saying something that would alienate or disrespect any Team Members. The benefits of the goal can be expressed using examples and language style that will appeal to this individual or the Team.

Winning over the Team and persuading them that the goal is worth following are the starting points in effective Leadership.

Leading a team comprises of responsibilities and the leader is required come up with some of efficient qualities to manage the team. The responsibility of the manager varies accordingly to the kind of organization and the objective of business. To lead a team definitely, leader requires leadership skill with him. Learning the skills which are considered to be essential to play the role in an enriched manner should be relatively known by the leader. When the person takes the in charge of certain set of people or group of people, he should have to understand the capacity of the person who are under the set and also plan to achieve the objective of the organization using the people.

Working with a group of employees and acting as a boss does not matter, but leading a team in right way always matters. Effective inspiration and proper influence over people helps the manager to achieve the objective without any conflicts or disappointments. Nowadays, more numbers of managers plays an effective role in leading the people. Leadership development skills trainings are provided to the managers to lead their groups using reliable theories and practical applications. The purpose of leader in a group is to achieve the desire of the organization in a fruitful or competent manner. Some of the desirable skills a leader should possess to lead team are

• Firstly, the manager is required to know the consistency or capacity of employees initiated to achieve the specified goal of the company. This is so; because individual capacity always differs and based on individuality allocation of work can be made effectively.

• Secondly, the executive should know when to lead and when to manage the group. This helps the manager to avoid gap between employees and management and also to attain the objective without any conflicts.

• Communication plays an effective in team building and leading a team. Good communication enables the head to convey information and the objective of the organization required to be passed on to the employees. So, the leader is required to develop business communication skill with them.

• Identification of business competition, creating self awareness and generate adaptability with the changing and innovative environment. Leader is person who acts as a role model for different set of people who comprised in his team.

In a professional corporate team building, how to lead a team effectively will be provided to the leader. So, the manager can learn to lead the team effectively.

A lack of leadership skill training is widely accepted as a core weakness in general British management, and an area that needs to be urgently addressed.This claim is supported by research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which concluded that as many as “two thirds of UK organisations are suffering from a shortage of highly effective leaders”. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) shares this viewpoint, stating that “Good leaders, supervisors and managers are essential if UK business performance is to improve.”Furthermore, in October 2005, a team of leading business academics identified poor leadership training as one of the top five key weaknesses in business management. The report found a strong correlation between these deficiencies and the capabilities developed by Reservists, whose broad training encompasses transferable skills such as leadership, self-confidence and initiative.All Reservists receive training in leadership skillsAs an integral part of Reserve training, Reservists are required to lead teams both on exercise and during general training. Feedback is given on their capabilities from which they are able to develop their leadership skills further. This is of particular value to their civilian employment.The CBI believes that the training and experience gained by Reservists could help UK businesses to tackle the critical weaknesses in management and leadership. “With the Armed Forces’ long held reputation for high quality leadership, the CBI believes that those men and women serving as Reservists could develop the skills through their training to fill these roles and become our business leaders and managers of the future.”Forward-thinking companies recognise benefits of employing ReservistsUK business leaders need to look for alternative and more innovative approaches towards training in order to develop management and leadership skills throughout their organisations. Forward-thinking companies are already benefiting from employing Reservists and utilising their unique leadership skill training to enhance their organisation’s capability.To raise awareness of the advantages of employing members of the Reserve Forces, SaBRE is running a campaign whereby employers can publicly give their backing. Companies wishing to pledge their support for current or future Reservists in their employment are invited to sign the Statement of Employer Support which can be found through the SaBRE website.

As a business leader, one of the most important leadership skills you’ll ever demonstrate is knowing how to communicate. When you think about it, most business leadership consists of communication of one sort or another.
You hold meetings with staff or board members or suppliers, you interview potential managers, you meet customers and shareholders, you chat in the corridor or on the phone. All of these formal and informal moments offer you the chance to influence, to enthuse and to inspire.
So how can you make the most of these moments – how can you become a truly successful communicator?
Communication involves a variety of interactions. It involves discussing, and listening, and debating. But communication also often involves a senior executive passing on some information. This may seem a fairly simple task. But it’s amazing how often business leaders don’t give enough information, or shroud it in jargon, or tell the wrong people.
HOW you pass on information can significantly affect what happens next. If you want people (whether your staff or your suppliers or customers) to act on the information, you need to make sure they understand it. And that’s not as simple as it sounds.
There are several lessons we can learn here from people whose whole business is communication. Journalists depend entirely on their words. And journalists are taught a range of tips and techniques for making their information compelling, interesting and easy to understand. Many of these techniques are just as useful for business executives, and are well worth exploring.
I’ve found that thinking about how news stories work in newspapers, for example, can help executives communicate complex messages in a simple, brief and yet memorable way, both in print and in person.
News stories are designed to grab our attention from the opening sentence. They try to tell us the news in simple, easy-to-understand language. And they don’t assume we know much about the subject already. So when you as a business executive have some information to pass on, it’s worth trying to compile it as a news story – that way, you won’t miss out anything vital.
So what makes a good a news story? In an ideal world, the opening paragraph should:
- sum up the story
- have the most important facts first
- be short and punchy and contain only essential facts
- use emotive words early on
- possibly contain an appropriate quote
- appeal to the reader in his or her area, in his or her business, or because it affects his or her pocket or way of life.
That’s a lot to fit into a few lines. So the easiest thing to do is make sure your opening paragraph answers all the questions a reader may have:
Who? What? How? Where? When? Why?
Take an example of a news story from a business newspaper:
Who? Former senior executives at X Corp
What? were arrested
How? by FBI agents
Where? in New York
When? today
Why? on suspicions of tax evasion.
This works equally well when you’re announcing something to your staff (the order in which you answer the questions can vary):
Who? I (John Doe, CEO of Y Company,)
What? want to thank
Where? all of you in our Toronto division
Why? for raising sales an impressive 5 per cent
When? in the fourth quarter
How? and invite you all to a celebration lunch next week.
In a news story, it’s important not to venture your own opinion or comment. The above item may appear to cross this line – it describes the sales increase as ‘impressive’ – but further down in the story (or in the internal memo or in the email to staff) the writer could justify the use of the word ‘impressive’ by comparing it with the target or with increases in previous quarters.
If the fundamental purpose of news is to inform, it’s essential that you allow your readers to make up their own minds on the information you provide. Do not try to sell your own opinion as fact.
To sum up, the crucial point to remember when you’re communicating information is that the most important information should appear first. If you do that, answering all the questions as suggested, there’s a good chance that you’ll get your message across and that everyone will understand it.