Workplace Challenges
How to be a leader at workMost organizations have at least one person who is a natural leader. When it is announced she will be leading a new team, employees line up to join. When he asks for a volunteer for an assignment, people jump at the chance. Employees turn to her as a mentor, or look to him as a role model. Tag and Catherine Goulet |
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 [ 2007-05-01 ] |
FabJob.com
Meanwhile, others in the organization are struggling to do their job with too few human resources. So how do natural leaders do it? What is their secret to getting people to go the extra mile for them?
Although many effective leaders are naturally charismatic, there are a number of leadership behaviours that can be adopted by anyone who wants to have greater support from other people.
As U.S. President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower defined it: “Leadership is the art of getting someone to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
People naturally want to follow a good leader. After meeting with an effective leader it is not unusual to feel uplifted, inspired and motivated to work towards a common goal.
Effective leaders make others feel good about themselves as well as the work they are doing. The leader has a vision of what she wants to achieve and can communicate that vision to others in a way that makes people want to be part of it.
If you have a tendency to be negative, but want to inspire others to support you in achieving a goal, resolve to focus on solutions rather than problems. If Plan A isn’t working, avoid complaining about the situation and instead come up with a Plan B. If necessary, have Plan C waiting in the wings.
Maintain a can-do attitude and you will be more likely to attract people who will support you in achieving your goals.
As well as communicating their vision, good leaders know they need to communicate “what’s in it for you” in order to have employees go the extra mile.
They also understand that different people are motivated by different things. In his book Human Motivation, psychologist David McClelland identified three types of needs people experience in the workplace -- achievement, power, and affiliation.
For employees motivated by a need for achievement, a leader should explain how a task offers an opportunity to take on a challenging but achievable goal. Employees with a need for power should be told how their participation can bring them prestige and lead to greater opportunities. Employees who are motivated by affiliation need to hear how they will be part of a team of people working together.
Effective leaders also use techniques to communicate their belief that each team member is important, including remembering and using people’s preferred names (e.g. not "Cathy" if someone prefers to be called "Catherine").
Keys to remembering names include paying attention when introduced to someone, mentally repeating the name and using it in conversation.
Good leaders will introduce employees by name first, rather than job title. They refer to employees as team members, associates, or colleagues -- never as "subordinates" -- and make no distinction between "essential" and "non-essential" staff or "professional" and "non-professional" staff.
Words have power, including the power to make people feel whether or not they are important to the success of an organization.
The following tips can help you earn respect and be seen as an effective leader:
If you want to develop your leadership skills, the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, is a fabulous resource.
Tag and Catherine Goulet are founders of FabJob.com. This article is an excerpt from their book Dream Careers. Visit www.FabJob.com to discover your dream career.
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