7 Factors That Will Increase Your Influence As A Leader

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Professor Elizabeth Luckman describes leadership as a socially constructed process in which an individual is either given or takes increased responsibility or accountability in empowering others to collectively solve problems in alignment with an organisation’s or team’s purpose.

Though there are many definitions of leadership, the above definition carries in it, salient bullet points.?

One thing that stands out from the definition is that leadership is much more than the position you occupy. It requires stepping up and taking initiative as the occasion demands.

However, as a leader, you need to make a conscious effort to improve your skills and fine-tune your attitude to be able to effectively motivate and empower your team, as well as profer useful solutions.

2 Peter 1:5-9 highlights certain factors that can make you stand out as a leader as well as earn the admiration and respect of your team members.

The scripture says: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Let us proceed to break down the verses and see how they apply to our discourse today.

?1. How you see yourself and the way you react when there is a challenge is contagious and can either demoralise or motivate your team.?

A self-confident leader who can take charge of any situation while reassuring his team members will easily earn the admiration of everyone.

It requires self-mastery and continuous personal development to be able to attain and maintain a high level of composure.

?2. Virtue in the verse above means excellence. Excellence, according to the dictionary, is the quality of being outstanding and good at what you do.

A dear mentor describes excellence as an expression of inner beauty that positively influences how a leader efficiently and effectively handles tasks, and his/her perception of the environment and things.

In other words, excellence is an outward reflection of an inner state. An excellent leader will ensure that things are done according to the set standards and on time, without cutting corners or giving excuses.

It is also important to note that excellence is not the same thing as class.

3. A leader without integrity will be rewarded with distrust by his/her team members and the organisation he/she belongs to.

Most people sometimes mistake integrity to be the same thing as being rigid, No!

Rigidity is a refusal to consider other viable options in the face of changing trends or valid data. It sometimes stems from pride or fear.

Integrity on the other hand is simply trustworthiness. This Wikipedia definition sums it all up. It says: Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.

4. Nobody will follow any leader that does not have an idea of where the team is going, where the team should be or what the team needs to do to achieve the organisation's corporate goals.

Leadership calls for mastery. A mastery of self as well as a mastery of the job at hand and the things - with relation to skills, resources and activities required to achieve set goals and solve problems.

A display of up-to-date and accurate knowledge of a situation and a full understanding of what it takes to get things done is one of the qualities that will earn you respect and make you stand out.

Some people on your team will not follow you until they know that you can deliver the expected results. That is just how they are. Some team members are inspired by competence.

You do not need to know it all. In fact, nobody knows it all but effective leaders know how to identify, harness and galvanise the skills and abilities of team members towards solving a problem.

5. A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out - Proverbs 25:28 (MSG).

Self-control is the ability to hold yourself accountable and patiently delay gratification or say no to the things that might derail your focus, soil your integrity, and that of the team/organisation or hinder the achievement of the corporate goal.

A mentor once said that leaders who have self-control are guided by the understanding that there are sacrifices they need to make for the overall good of their team and organisation.?

6. If you love yourself, you will easily show kindness and love to everyone around you.

Emotional Intelligence is a requirement for every leader in today's world.

Leaders who lead with emotional intelligence always take into consideration the impact of their actions and emotions on team members.

Emotional Intelligence is an offshoot of love and kindness as highlighted in 2 Peter 1:5-9. It has been proven that people like to work with, and hang around leaders who are kind and loving.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7(MSG) gives a clear picture of what love in the workplace should look like.

It says: Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

7. As a believer, Godliness - reverence for God and his precepts as contained in the scriptures, as well as living a life that brings glory to the name of our Lord Jesus should be your delight.

The Bible describes us as the salt and the light of the earth, and we have a divine mandate to showcase the goodness and excellence of God everywhere we go (1 Peter 2:9).

Do not let the world system make you dim your light.

?I pray that the Spirit of God will increase your relevance, impact and influence in your industry in Jesus name. Amen!

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Thank you for your time.