Whether you know it or not, you are a leader.

We all would love to be effective leaders, but at times every leader questions his or her effectiveness.  We discussed some myths about leaders in our last blog, 6 Misunderstandings about Great (click link).

Today, we will look at 5 habits of an effective leader.

6 Habits of Great Leaders

 

Most effective leaders will not come out and tell you that they are great.  Greatness isn’t actually the goal of an effective leader.  An effective leader is driven to build practical strategies in order to build successful results and outcomes.

An effective leader will experience success with his or her practical strategies if they are able to the big picture down into very small pieces.  When a leader possesses this gift, it will lead to numerous victories and success causing others to deem him or her great.  But remember, greatness is never an effective leaders goal.

The effective leader not only focuses on the goals of his or her vision, but focuses on the small steps it takes to get there.

In our last blog, I gave you 6 misunderstanding of about great leaders, but now here are 6 habits of great leaders.  The small steps it will take to reach your personal and professional goals.

1.  Lead and communicate.  I think is very important for every leader to lead while being able to verbally convey his or her message to those who are following.  John C. Maxwell said in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,

“He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.”

 

Without communication, unfortunately leaders are only leading themselves.  You may have have a great vision, but leaders must be able to verbalize that vision to his or her followers. 

2.  Lead with compassion.  There is nothing worse than a leader leading without compassion.  Leaders and followers alike are quite familiar with compassion.  In most cases, most leaders who are trying to lead the right way are in a leadership position to help others.

Even with these good intentions, quite frequently the goals and objectives become more important than the people.  This is NEVER a good thing!

An effective leader must lead with compassion.  The people following must know you care about their well-being.  There has to be a healthy balance with the people and relationships being priority over numbers, statistics, goals, and objectives.  If you have a hard time with this thought, just remember John C. Maxwell’s quote under over communication point.

One of the primary reasons we are effective as leaders has everything with the compassion we have for our followers.

This doesn’t mean that the followers are making the decisions or that you should diminish your role as a leader, it just means that your followers know you have their best interest in mind with every decision you make from the hard to easy ones.

3.  Lead by example.  Any follower I have been able to lead or in the cases where I have been a follower, it is something remarkable about a leader that leads by example.

These leaders are remarkably effective because their followers understand that their leader is aware of their position.  At no time will you find a good leader asking his followers to do something that he or she isn’t willing to do.

Leading by example is one way to quickly gain credibility with the people you are leading.

4.  Lead with consistency.  Everyone loves consistency.  It is fascinating watching the skilled athleticism of professional athletes.  No matter the condition, these athletes are usually able to consistently perform at high level.

Consistency is not only important in sports, but it is just as important when it comes to leadership.  Any follower loves a leader that will be dependable.  Roller coaster leadership usually leads to confusion and chaos.

5.  Lead with passion.  How would you feel if a salesman attempted to sale you something they lacked enthusiasm about?

Others may give up on your vision, but effective leaders will continue to lead with intense devotion to his or her vision.  This leader is never afraid to stand by his or her vision and tell others about it.

6.  Lead with insight.  Another fascinating gift of an effective leader is his or her ability to visualize things better than they really are.

If leaders aren’t able to see the best in themselves and others, it is impossible for their vision to be successful.  Leaders have to see “the glass half full” versus “the glass half empty.”

You will be surprise what you will be able to do if you will just develop these habits mentioned above.  Don’t ever get caught up in the big picture that you forget about the small things that makes the big picture beautiful.  Effective leaders are able to focus on the important, but small things while yet still focusing on the big picture.

 

Question: What other habits of effective leaders have you encountered?  Leave your comments below.

 

Peace and Prosperity,

Bryant Hall

MTN Universal, LLC

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