Leadership skills are universally necessary, and not only reserved for those who have the proper managerial position. Because leadership is nothing else than showing the way towards a certain end or a goal or a desired outcome, and setting an example by putting in some effort to get there. And pretty much every human being does this, because there’s always something we want, and we’re always trying to have things our way and trying to get other people on board with our ideas as much as possible, or at least try to make them not stand in the way of it.
Even if we are not at work, and we are with our families or friends. There is always somebody who takes the leader role. Leadership is not something that is handed to you, but it comes from within. And any person can grow into the role of an inspiring leader by being able to take responsibility for their actions and their ideas, and then inspiring others to come along with those ideas.
- How to become an inspirational leader to your own life and to others around you?
- What attributes are characteristic to inspirational leaders?
- How to raise the level of accountability in your own life and in your team?
- How to motivate others to inspire long-lasting results?
This is what we discussed on our last week’s Powerful Marketer Talks webinar “How to grow into a leader from any marketing position?”. Watch the full recording at the end of the post!
Here is an overview of the key discussion points:
Leadership has nothing to do with being ‘bossy’ or showing others that you are better and smarter than them, solely because of your position. A powerful leader is first and foremost centered. They put their people first and give them credit for the team’s successes and accept the responsibility for the team’s mistakes or failures. Leaders don’t have any innate gifts that enable them to ‘magically’ win people over. You don’t need to change who you are at your core, you can just learn new leadership skills and follow certain principles and processes to be successful. And becoming an inspirational leader starts with one simple truth: being accessible is the beginning of all leadership.
A research conducted by the American management consultancy called the Bain & Company identified 33 distinct, tangible attributes that are statistically significant in inspiring people. And according to their research having just four of those attributes as distinguishing traits is sufficient to make someone highly inspiring. The findings of Bain & Company also demonstrate that people who inspire are incredibly diverse. Any combination of distinguishing strengths works: There is no fixed archetype of an inspirational leader.
According to the research, there are 4 quadrants that describe inspirational leaders:
- Leading the team: Inspiring leaders are orienting teams toward the most relevant set of outcomes. They create a compelling objective that builds confidence and makes people realize the purpose behind working for a cause. They foster alignment between people, and they resolve conflicts. They invest in other people by helping them grow, and they find joy in the success of those people. They know the direction and they set the appropriate collective and individual expectations. They trust the power of co-creation. They empower those around them, and they actively help others in achieving their career goals.
- Connecting with others: Inspiring leaders possess sympathetic traits such as vitality, humility and empathy. And empathy really means attention – think of the way you listen to and treat those around you. Others will feel elevated when you pay attention to what they share. Showing that you’re fully invested in someone does require patience and application of emotional intelligence, but it remains one of the best, if not THE best way to connect with others.
- Developing inner resources: Inspiring leaders develop their inner resources, such as stress tolerance, optimism, and emotional self-awareness. They deal with stress in a positive and constructive manner. They have confident, yet realistic assessments of their abilities. They understand their emotions, what causes those emotions to happen, and how they impact others. Being in control of your emotions and considering the feelings of others also determines whether you are inspirational as a leader or not.
- Setting the tone: Inspiring leaders seek to understand and incorporate diverse perspectives. They demonstrate curiosity and creativity. It’s important to live the organization’s mission, and the principles by which it operates. First of all, a good leader takes responsibility when things go bad, not just when they succeed. And as part of their leadership, they’re happy to give credit to others, and especially to their team members, even if they themselves were the main force behind the success. Leadership includes being accountable both for successes and mistakes. Show appreciation; step out of the spotlight, and make sure there’s balance in your team.
Here are the 33 key attributes of inspiring leaders:
Of all the 33 attributes they, centeredness is the one that connects them all. Centeredness is a state of greater mindfulness, achieved by engaging all parts of the mind to be fully present. When you are well-grounded, self-confident, stable, and well-balanced, it improves your ability to stay level-headed, cope with stress, empathize with others and listen more deeply. You will not be shaken by sudden changes or challenges, and other people will tend to trust your judgement and leadership.
You can work on your centeredness by working on the 5 key areas of successful marketers: mindset, subconscious mind, professionalism, communication literacy and leadership. Find out more on the Powerful Marketer Program.
The 5 Levels of Leadership
John C. Maxwell has described in his book “The 5 Levels of Leadership” the different phases that occur in the path of becoming an inspiring leader:
- Position – People follow you because they have to.
- Permission – People follow you because they have a personal relationship with you and they want to.
- Production – People follow you because of what you have done for the organization.
- People development – People follow you because of what you have done for them.
- Pinnacle – People follow you because of who you are and what you represent.
The important thing here is that you can be a level 4 leader with a team you helped in your previous business, and at the same time be a level 0 leader in your current business. What changes is the context, and your CR balance; your Credibility as a professional who performs and delivers results, and your Respect as a human being who is well-known for contributing to others’ success and drawing out the best from them.
How to motivate yourself and others around you?
A very important part of leadership is managing yourself and others around you – which means, how do you put your plans into action and hold yourself and others accountable? Inside Powerful Marketer Program we are working with the 8 elements of repeatable success to implement your management skills. The Powerful Success Process reveals that emotions are the driving force of every other key aspect in achieving success. Emotions lead to Feelings, which can trigger more systematic Thoughts. These lead to making Goals that inspire Actions. Actions become Habits, and habits create a Culture. And eventually, this will provide the Results.
And the best way to motivate others is by setting an example. This means you need to be able to stay accountable for your own actions, and then you can help others with that, too.
There are two types of accountability:
- Accountability based on results
- Accountability based on process
Choose the one that works best for your desired action and track your progress constantly. If you find it difficult to do the right thing if nobody is pushing you, that means you have low self-accountability, and that you might improve on it. Another great idea is to have an accountability partner with whom you can work through the next action points:
- What is my main goal for next week?
- What’s my purpose with this goal?
- What makes this goal especially important to me?
- What does success look like for me, overall?
- How will I measure that success?
- What steps must I take to get the success that I want?
- What are the deliverables / KPI’s?
- Which parts of this will I do myself, and which ones will I delegate?
- How will I hold myself accountable?
- How will I respond if things go off-course?
As a powerful marketer, the one desire you should be developing is to achieve your goals in a wise and consistent manner. If you want change, it’s important that you put in some thought, and a lot of action!
“Never be too scared to be the best leader you can be. It’s much scarier to fail and spend the rest of the time wondering what things might have looked like if only you’d done your best.”
Powerful Marketer Program
For a more detailed overview of this important subject, watch the full webinar recording below!
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