How to earn your Leadership

Being a leader is so much more than just getting a job title with the word "Manager" or "Leader" on it. I have always been a strong believer that you must earn the respect and trust of your collaborators in order to be actually seen as their leader.

Warren Bennis once said: "Management is getting people to do what needs to be done. Leadership is getting people to want to do what needs to be done". The difference lies in how you manage to inspire people, and how you can motivate them into wanting to be the best they can be in order to deliver the best they can give.

As a leader, people will need to find in you certain traits and values that define who you are. Kouzes and Posner talk about some of this values in their book The Leadership Challenge. Let's examine the top ranked ones:

1. Honesty: The most important trait people will look for in leaders is how transparent and truthful they are. No one will want to follow you towards achieving your goals (or the company's goals for that matter) if you can't keep your story straight and deliver on what you have promised.
2. Forward-looking: People want leaders to have a sense of direction and most importantly, that they are able to transmit it to them in a clear and compelling manner.
3. Competent: Although you are not expected to be the Einstein of the group and know everything there is to know of your field, people do expect of you to be competent enough to understand the work that needs to be done and your ability to deliver on the "strategy->execution" transition.
4. Inspiring: People need to be inspired. Period! Your job as a leader is to find the way to encourage the spirit of each and every one of your collaborators with a touch of charisma and lots of enthusiasm.

So there you go, start earning your leadership rank to the eyes of your team, and you will see how in a blink of an eye, you'll turn them from being your employees into your loyal followers. After all, your team's success is your success!