By ALEX OGUNDADEGBE
Young aspiring leaders need to get certain conditions in place to ensure that their ambitions are properly channeled. Leadership is a great thing. In today’s society we need it in religious bodies, politics, activism, business and even in the family. We should not make the profound mistake of thinking that leadership should be all about positions. Every human being can develop leadership qualities before assuming a leadership position. In fact, it is better to have the qualities before the position so that we do not get to the position and begin to learn slowly on the job like a tortoise that has just been moved to a new habitat and has to acclimatize.
To develop leadership qualities we require resilience. The resilient person needs a strong mind and physical strength to be able to bounce back after being hit by a tragedy, set back or a speed bump that hinders his progress. The art of being able to return to normal after a crisis has hit us is known as resilience.
To develop leadership qualities we require resilience. The resilient person needs a strong mind and physical strength to be able to bounce back after being hit by a tragedy, set back or a speed bump that hinders his progress.
Just how reslient are you? Let us examine you. Suppose you are kidnapped and dumped in a country far away where you do not understand the language or the culture what would you do? The immediate response it to panic after a brief assessment and realisation of what has happened to you. But resilience demands that even in a situation like that we make a quick analysis of our strengths and capabilities, looking for the best way out of the situation. If we cannot find a way out, we should at least find a way to stabilise. How can you earn some money in that situation? Is there a place you can go to that offers survival aid? What can you do immediately to survive?
As urgent and desperate the conditions that we have described might sound, the qualities we require to get out of the situation ought to kick in if we have them. The good news here is that if we do not have them, we can develop them. We shall attempt within this brief space to outline and highlight twelve qualities that aspiring leaders require to excel at that work.
Do you understand your mission? Is your purpose clear in your mind? The mindset of person with qualities should go beyond day to day existence and survival. There should be something daunting which we wish to achieve with our life. Every person should be able to define his purpose. Life ought to be purpose-driven and we should build our leadership function around our purpose in life. Simon Sinek, speaker and writer who has over 150 million hits on youtube from one presentation that talks about “Starting with Why” says a company, organisation or individual that wishes to make headway in a resilient way needs to understand “Why”. Author and management guru Peter Drucker explains that if an organisation does not fulfill the very purpose for its existence then it might as well fold and cease to operate. Some people and organisations put finance and profit first. This is error because profit should be a result of our purpose, not the very reason for our existence. A Supermarket like Walmart has the main purpose of selling affordable groceries to people in its environment, that purpose, if properly pursued, would lead to financial profit.
So every aspiring leader needs purpose, but also requires a proper understanding of his self to define that purpose. Capabilities and strengths differ from one person to another. But the normal individual has the ability to learn new things and acquire expertise. There is a risk that busy people face. Vegetating on the job. Lawyers and judges who have to read and interpret case files, teachers and professors who have to prepare lessons and study notes, novelists, religious leaders and other people who are daily involved in studies, research and creative work often live long lives with clear minds and sharp intelligence. Research shows that one of the reasons for their clarity of mind is the continuous use of their intellect. If you want a muscle to grow strong, you must keep exercising it. Once you have discovered yourself, the next thing to do is create a vision.
Vision, which should be the desirable outcome of the purpose, is a clear picture of the desired future which must be in the mind of the person or people aspiring to lead. If your vision is profound enough to bring about desired change, then the world will adjust to accommodate your ideas and get better in the process. Think about it: Most mavericks who have made desirable positive impacts on society succeed in changing the way we think and live even though initially what they proposed or invented looked strange. In sum, every aspiring leader needs a vision which he can define and declare without hindrance or hesitation. So it must have been well thought out before there is an attempt to articulate it.
Articulating it clearly is a necessity, because if eventually you find yourself at the head of a group, company, committee or indeed a country, you will need to inspire people to buy into what you have in mind. If they do not understand it, how can they buy into it? Some people love motivation. They wake up looking for people to turn them on. Suppose such people do not show up? Motivation is better when it come from within the person. A form of self motivation which riles up from being inspired by a well-articulated vision. Let’s illustrate: My vision is to challenge young people who are in executive positions to rise to leadership and profoundly change their organisations and countries for the better. To achieve that vision, I write articles and speak at seminars and workshops to inspire people to acquire skills, tools and abilities that would make them excel wherever they find themselves. If I can get a group of people in a class, I expect that they will leave challenged and inspired towards getting better at what they do. That is me. What about you?
To inspire people with your vision is not enough, Setting standards is important for implementation. Businesses have what is known as Standard Operating Procedure. What are your standards for implementing your vision? Can they be measured by level of output, timeline for delivery, quality of the process or even the value that they add to existing possibilities? The answers to these questions could help us determine the standards we need to operate or implement our vision. While we are fixing these standards it is important that we do not forget values. We need ethical frameworks or guidelines to help us get through the day without stepping on to the dark side.
We must not end up in wrong notions and thinking that will make us use any means possible to achieve our vision. There must be an ethical path to tread that will ensure that we do not step out of line. While we are considering values, let us not forget to make people know our passion. Express your passion to people around you. We live in a world where people out themselves on social media, revealing information that should be secret and sacred to them. But we can tell the world our passion without necessarily revealing our secrets. Stand for something so that you do not fall for everything. You need passion to drive your purpose because there will be days when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you need a kick in your behind to propel you forward. If you are passionate enough about your vision and what you intend to achieve, then your passion will drive you. It is much like a long distance runner who has approached the final lap and is exhausted. He is able to reach deep down inside himself to summon the remaining reserves of strength and cross the finish line.
Empowering people is another vital quality of leadership. Your skills and abilities must not stop with you. There has to be away you can hand them down and influence other people around you to rise to your level. Mentoring and coaching is a function of empowering other people. We should not wait until we reach the twilight of our life before we seek to empower people whom we work with. As soon as we have risen to the occasion, let us look around us and see who is worthy of bringing up to our level. While we are empowering people we must simultaneously be able to protect our purpose and where we are headed with discipline.
Sometimes our processes for perfection and high quality could require grueling activity. It is important that we are able to keep to the process and stick to our plans and purpose when the vicissitudes of life kick in. Along our processes there could be what Robin Sharma in his book 5 am Club has described as “the weapons of mass distraction!” It takes discipline to stay on course especially when you have nobody to cheer you on. You must remind yourself that there is a job to be done; there is a purpose to be fulfilled. We must set rules for ourselves. In writing his bestsellers, Stephen King, the award winning writer of several novels, a process that started with Carrie, set a disciplined regimen for himself. After charting the plot of a story and outlining it, he holds himself accountable to writing two thousand words a day. He wakes up early, has breakfast and sits at his computer. He works at a feverish pace, writing all that he can until it is close to noon then he takes a break. His break consists of walks in the park in a natural environment where he frees his mind and tries to think of other things. After about an hours break, he returns to his work station and works again till it is time for lunch. At the end of the day, he churns out two thousands words. The process continues until he completes the plot and has a sizable book for publication.
Discipline takes talent towards achievement. Talent and skill are not enough. We must contend with distractions and pleasures and focus on the critical path of achievement. The critical path is the pathway we need to tread to reach our desired goal or objective. Putting in the right amount of time on the project we have at hand, making sure that we undertake the required activity that would enable us stay on task and ultimately reach our goal.
Although leaders and managers are not exactly the same in terms of outlook and performance it is important that leaders who have a vision, outline goals and objectives and devise strategies and tactics for achieving what they have planned are able to run the process and establish continuity.
For every activity, an aspiring leader needs to undertake, a responsible use of resources is required. Resources are minimal and scarce. There may never be an organisation or company where we are told: “We have unlimited resource, take what you want and use it as you please!” You may only find that in Eldorado, the imaginary country that does not exist. We have to make sure that we achieve our goals and objectives within the framework that has been set for us in terms of resources. That means we should exploit resources at a minimal to achieve maximum output. The major resources that are available to most executives are finance, machines (technology), human capital, information and time. Their uses and application vary from one organisation to another. The bottom line is we must always seek to use less to achieve more.
When we take on tasks we must be able to prioritise. Putting the most urgent and important things in our life and work schedule first is a sense of priority. If we do not prioritise we would end up spending time on distractions. Beyond planning your time and schedule, you must insist on keeping to achieving the most important tasks, minimizing distractions, because at the end of the day, the distraction would not be a viable excuse when you assess yourself or get others to assess you.
Although leaders and managers are not exactly the same in terms of outlook and performance it is important that leaders who have a vision, outline goals and objectives and devise strategies and tactics for achieving what they have planned are able to run the process and establish continuity. This is mainly a manager’s job. But who says a leader cannot play the role of manager and vice versa? Today’s world seeks individuals who can play both roles, sometimes simultaneously so that the Start Up can have a solid foundation. But then, the leader must be able set processes in place, so that if he is not there, work will continue based on the parameters and guidelines that he has laid out. So, why don’t you aspire to lead? Now you know the qualities required, step up and be counted. The world needs you!
*Ogundadegbe is a renowned management consultant. He trains managers and executives in the arts of Customer Service, Human Resources Management and Management strategy ([email protected]).
