Are You Ready To Be A Leader?

When you are at work, do you get frustrated because things don’t seem to be happening the way they’re supposed to be?  You see people milling around but nothing gets accomplished. And in the daily hustle and bustle, do you feel that your goals remain just that – goals.  What about in other areas of your life?  Do you end up having to do everything yourself because no one else is doing it?  Then maybe its time for you to stand up and do something about it.

But leadership comes with a whole bunch of headaches. It’s so much easier to just sit back and let someone else do the work. You know, be a follower. Besides, the people that stand out get singled out right? I mean, in today’s environment, if you do something to stand out at the work place, you might get fired. If you put yourself in a position of leadership, you put that target on your back for criticism right? And really, who has the time to be a leader right?

Hey, let’s all be like the lemmings instead? Just follow the leader.

Follow the leader right off the cliff that is. Think about it. These little furry guys all follow the leader and take that great leap off the cliff. At first, everything is pretty cool. They’re floating in air. All their worries are gone. Not a care in the world. And then, reality hits. Or shall we say, they hit reality. And there is a moment of excruciating pain. Now I know that that is somewhat morbid only it goes to prove my point. When you’re a follower all the time, bad things can happen.

So when is it time to do something differently? When is it time to step up and become a leader in your own right? To illustrate that, I have another story for you. The story of the two frogs.

Frog A is placed into a pot of boiling water. What happens? He twerps! He jumps off! Why? Because he is not able to tolerate sudden change in his environment – the water’s temperature.

Then Frog B. Place him in luke warm water, then turn the gas stove on. Wait until the water reaches a certain boiling point. Frog B then thinks “Ooh… it’s a bit warm in here”. By the time he realizes that it’s too warm, it might be too late to get out. His muscles won’t move like he wants them too and once again, bad things can happen.

People are like Frog B in general. We learn our lessons when we experience pain. We finally see the warning signs and signals when things get rough and tough. When do we realize that we need to change diets? When none of our jeans and shirts would fit us. When do we stop eating candies and chocolates? When all of our teeth has fallen off. When do we realize that we need to stop smoking? When our lungs have gone bad. When do we pray and ask for help? When we realize that we’re gonna die tomorrow.

The only time most of us ever consider making a change is when the whole world is crashing and falling apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change. But change becomes more painful when we ignore it.

Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to experience different turning points in our life – and we are all going to eventually have to do something differently and become our own leaders because the world says so, not because our friends are nagging us, but because we realized it’s for our own good.

So instead of waiting for the heat to start boiling, before it’s too late to do something about it, start taking action. Start doing things differently and step up in life and become your own leader and do things your way.

The first step to change and to becoming that leader though means unlocking yourself up in the cage of thought that “its just the way I am”. It is such a poor excuse for people who fear and resist change. So once you get over that way of thought, then you can become a true leader and really start to change things in your life and in the lives of those around you.

Understand though that leadership starts with you.

The best way to develop leadership qualities is to apply it to your own life. As an adage goes “action speaks louder than words.” Leaders are always in the limelight. Keep in mind that your credibility as a leader depends much on your actions: your interaction with your family, friends, and co-workers; your way of managing your personal and organizational responsibilities; and even the way you talk with the newspaper vendor across the street.

Repeated actions become habits. Habits in turn form a person’s character. Steven Covey’s book entitled 7 Habits of Highly Effective People provides good insights on how you can achieve personal leadership. I highly recommend you go out and pick up a copy for yourself.

In addition, leadership is a process of becoming. Some people believe that great leaders are made, not born. Yes, it may be true that some people are born with natural talents. However, without practice, without drive, without enthusiasm, and without experience, there can be no true development in leadership. Without the right environment and exposure, they may fail to develop their full potential. So like learning how to ride a bicycle, you can also learn how to become a leader and hone your leadership abilities.

Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their natural skills. This takes a commitment to constantly improve in whatever endeavor a person chooses. Knowledge on leadership theories and skills may be formally gained by enrolling in leadership seminars, workshops, and conferences. Daily interactions with people provide the opportunity to observe and practice leadership theories.

Together, formal and informal learning will help you gain leadership attitudes, gain leadership insights, and thus furthering the cycle of learning. You do not become a leader in one day and just stop. Life-long learning is important in becoming a good leader for each day brings new experiences that put your knowledge, skills, and attitude to a test.

Also, leadership is shared. Leadership is not the sole responsibility of one person, but rather a shared responsibility among members of an emerging team. A leader belongs to a group. Each member has responsibilities to fulfill.

To be a great leader, you must be able to influence others to accomplish a goal, or an objective. Contrary to what most people believe though, leadership is not about power. It is not about harassing people or driving them using fear. It is about encouraging others towards the goal of the organization. It is putting everyone on the same page and helping them see the big picture of the organization.

People follow others when they see a clear sense of purpose. People will only follow you if they see that you know where you are going. Remember that bumper sticker? The one that says, don’t follow me, I’m lost too? The same holds true for leadership. If you yourself do not know where you’re headed to, chances are people will not follow you at all.

And being a leader is not about what you make others do. It’s about who you are, what you know, and what you do. You are a reflection of what you’re teammates must be. You must be a leader not a boss.

Effective leadership requires members to do their share of work. Starting as a mere group of individuals, members and leaders work towards the formation of an effective team. In this light, social interaction plays a major role in leadership. And working together requires a great deal of trust between and among leaders and members of an emerging team. Trust and confidence is built on good relationships, trustworthiness, and high ethics. It is built upon actions and not merely on words. When mutual respect exists, trust is fostered and confidence is built.

If people trust you they will go through hell and high water for you and for the organization. The way you deal with your people, and the relationships you build will lay the foundation for the strength of your group. The stronger your relationship, the stronger their trust and confidence is in your capabilities. Once you have their trust and confidence, you may now proceed to communicate the goals and objectives you are to undertake.

Communication is a very important key to good leadership. Without this you can not be a good leader. The knowledge and technical expertise you have must be clearly imparted to other people. Leaders are not do-it-all heroes. You should not claim to know everything, and you should not rely upon your skills alone.

Know too that leadership styles depend on the situation. Everyone has a different situation. How come dictatorship works for Singapore but not in the United States of America? Aside from culture, beliefs, value system, and form of government, the current situation of a nation also affects the leadership styles used by its formal leaders.

There is no rule that only one style can be used. Most of the time, leaders employ a combination of leadership styles depending on the situation. In emergency situations such as periods of war and calamity, decision-making is a matter of life and death. Thus, a nation’s leader cannot afford to consult with all departments to arrive at crucial decisions.

The case is of course different in times of peace and order—different sectors and other branches of government can freely interact and participate in governance. Another case in point is in leading organizations. When the staffs are highly motivated and competent, a combination of high delegative and moderate participative styles of leadership is most appropriate. But if the staffs have low competence and low commitment, a combination of high coaching, high supporting, and high directing behavior from organizational leaders is required.

Access your situation and the people that you have to work with. What kind of leadership will work best for you? Lewin’s three basic leadership styles are authoritative, participative, and delegative. Likert’s four leadership styles are exploitive authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative, and participative. Goleman’s six emotional leadership styles are visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and commanding. I don’t have time to go into all of them in this article. Look into these styles and do some research. Learn which one(s) may work best for your situation.

Remember being a leader takes a good deal of work and time. It is not learned o

vernight. Remember, also, that it is not about just you. It is about you and the people around you.

So, do you have the drive and the desire to serve required of leaders? Do you have the desire to work cooperatively with other people? Then start now. Take your stand and be leader today.

Celebrate Life!
Chaffee-Thanh Nguyen