Leadership 101

Our society encourages everyone to be a leader. You can’t just be a leader, however. Being a leader takes experience and skills. Reading articles can’t give you everything that you need to be a leader, but it can help you understand what it takes to make yourself a great leader.

 

Give Yourself Time

 

As was mentioned above, waking up and trying to become a leader is not a good idea. This is true for a number of reasons, namely that you aren’t likely to become a good leader. Being a leader requires experience and an understanding of the work that is required of the “followers” in order for a leader to be effective.

 

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t allow yourself aspirations to leadership. A desire to become a leader while you are in a “following” position. Aspirations to leadership can make you a better follower, and approaching your following role from the position of someone who wants to be a leader can make you a more effective leader when your time comes.

 

Starting from a following position is also important in that followers are more likely to respect a leader who started out as a follower. Leaders who start off as leaders are often seen as being unprepared, naïve, or privileged.

 

Do Your Research

 

Working towards leadership should also involve studying leadership. This can come in many forms. Sometimes this means studying leadership styles or methods. There are a number of different established leadership styles and methods, but more on that later. No matter which leadership style you select for yourself or for your situation, knowing what other people have found to work can be important.

 

Many people also study great leaders from fields like politics, the military, or business. This can be a good way to learn about leadership techniques, but everyone has their own, and it is important not to try to lead as someone else would. Instead lead like you would.

 

Listen

 

Learning about leading comes from experience and from research but it also comes from listening. Learning from people in leadership positions that you have direct access to can help you to get the most out of your time as a follower.

 

Once you are a leader, however, your time listening isn’t over. Of course, you can continue to learn from other leaders, but the best leaders also listen to their own followers. “Followers” don’t get their fair shake in most societies, but the truth is that they do a great deal of work and their problems can really slow them down and have a negative impact on productivity. If you can listen to your team about their problems and how you can be a better leader for them, you will have a more productive team.

 

Find A Leadership Style

 

As mentioned above, there are any number of different leadership styles.

Which leadership style you use should be based on your personality, on the collective personality of your team, and on the goal that you have on hand.

 

This variety can mean that sometimes a leadership style that you have studied fervently or become comfortable with in one situation may not be effective or appropriate in another.

 

Put Your Team First

 

Finally, great leaders should think of their teams first.

 

Because of the emphasis placed on the importance and prestige of leadership, many people focus more on climbing the ladder than they do on completing their objective. This makes for ineffective leaders, but it also leads to ineffective teams. Of course, the leaders of ineffective have a harder time climbing that ladder.

 

Your greatest goal should be the success of your team, and the success of your team will make you more successful as a leader.

 

No article can tell you everything that you need to know about leadership, but hopefully this article has helped you to understand what some of these necessary skills and experiences are.