To be a leader

People management has become the end all and be all in the corporate world. And so, leadership development is one of the most profitable investments an organization can make. Many organizations do not achieve their goals because they have too many managers and too few leaders. Leaders are not born, they are created. Here are a few qualities a good leader should have:

Goal oriented: Good leaders have clear well defined predetermined goals with time lines. They then share their goals and vision with the team and work toward reaching them.

People skills: Display of confidence in his/her team members is paramount. Good leaders believe that their people possess the potential for development and can achieve goals without his/her being present constantly.

Decision making: A Leader should handle crisis situation well. At such times it is essential to use his/her judgment regarding people and strategies however. Keeping their calm is what determines their strength.

Risk taking: Leaders will need to take some chance. Not every decision will have the desired results. However, the leader will have to weigh the odds and be prepared with a contingency plan.

Ability to delegate and empower: Stand aside and let the team ‘run the show’. Empowering the team to make the decisions and backing that up with catching and training is crucial.

Motivation skills: The skills of a true leader are put to test when things fail. It is the learning from these failures that encourages risk taking amongst the team members.

Key to leadership is setting an example for others to follow:

The importance of discipline in a governance system is emphasized from by King’s court wise men or ministers from very ancient times. The ministers and bureaucrats must follow the rules themselves.

The Administrator and the Magistrates should first keep in check the heads of departments and their subordinates. Let us see why this is necessary and how it applies even for our offices and organizations:

Discipline starts from top>

If you are the boss, you are the sole rule-maker. But then you should be the first follower of any rule. One cannot set policies and just insist that others follow it. Discipline starts with you. When you become self-disciplined others also get disciplined automatically.

Leaders are followed:
A leader’s position is a very critical and sensitive one. Your subordinates do not just do what you say. They follow your every action. You are always observed minutely by people around you.

If the leader is highly enthusiastic the subordinates will also be enthusiastic. If the leader is lazy and slack in doing his duties, so will be his subordinates.

Te same thought had been brought out in the Geeta when Lord Krisha said, “Whatever standard the leader sets, others follow”. So set high standards and make sure you follow it yourself.

Always remember one thing: Small mistakes are not small if committed by people at the top rung of an organization. That is because such actions impact the entire organizations. If a common man commits a mistake, the punishment is one unit (like one year).

But if the same mistake is committed by the leader the punishment is four units.

This is because at the leadership position it becomes a mistake of the group. Hence a leader should think twice before taking any decisions.

A leader with a vision is the prime requirements of any good Company, Organization or Society. The next step is to make his vision a reality.

This happens through hard work and the ability to take others along with you in a spirit of dedication to the eventual goal. And all this comes through self discipline.