Gracious Leadership. Journey of a WIP leader.

I have mentioned this a couple of times in my previous articles, but I have spent almost last 10 years in the automotive industry starting my career as a Sales Cadet, working my way through becoming a Sales Executive, Group Fleet Manager, Business Manager, Sales Manager and now in a position of Regional Manager.

Throughout my journey, some have called me ambitious and driven, some have called me impatient and selfish and others I'm sure would have called me a few names that we can all chuckle and laugh about. I'm okay with all of the above, because the key decisions I have made over the course of my journey have made me who I am today.

If people have asked me 5 years ago what my career goal was, the answer would have been to become a Dealer Principal in a 'winning' dealership where we are making s#!t loads of money. Now? My goal is to be a true people leader with an infectious positive attitude, tenacity, relentless work ethic and investment towards my people. I have decided to call it, my journey to a Gracious Leadership.

I am writing this article not to boast, but to gather ideas and reach out to other leaders within my network of their thoughts, wisdom and insights into what made them successful. There are so many fantastic leadership books out there and so many public speakers that can help with this journey, but I also want to hear from people around me, people who I understand completely and can resonate with. (Please feel free to comment on this article, start a thread, message me and/or call as I'm all ears!)

Here are some of the key points I have learnt to become over the years, but I'm no where close to becoming a master of my art so it takes daily reminders, daily internal battles and maintaining the 'never stop learning' attitude.

My journey to a Gracious Leadership.

1. Without my people, I cannot succeed. Snapping myself out of the 'I win, they win' attitude was the biggest but the most important challenge in differentiating the direction I wanted to move forward with my career of becoming the leader of people - successful and high-performing individuals.
2. Be the one who can talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk even better. We all know that humans are creatures of habit. We like to see to believe, listen to be heard and speak to be understood. I have focused on becoming a leader who is focused on walking the walk so that talk, becomes 'the talk'.
3. Become a confident leader who can show humility. I learnt that humility is all about thinking of yourself less, not thinking less of yourself. Confidence and humility can quite easily go hand-in-hand, as self awareness means you then enable yourself to think less about YOU.
4. Be unapologetic with the decisions I make, be clear, transparent and forward moving. For me, delivery of key decisions you want your team's buy-in has always made significant differences in the outcome you achieve. Less confusion brought more alignment and less complication brought more forward moving motion.
5. Don't present problems without a solution. Expect the same from your team. Enable your team to come to you with solutions. Innovative ideas and different ways of thinking will only unleash the potential within a business as long as everyone is clear on the roles they play within the team, structure and support is readily available and there is a high level of visibility on expectations and outcome.
6. Don't become a slave to your process. One thing I have often noticed within my team as well as all businesses I've worked in is that when there's a change within a business whether big or small, the first thing people tend to do is resort to 'developing a new process', 'changing the process', 'becoming process driven' and 'adding another process'. Sure, process is important in any successful business or operation, but I have noticed process can also become a hinderance without the right people who can utilise it as a tool and a support system.
7. Treat people better than you wish to be treated. People always say 'treat people the way you want to be treated'. But why not treat people better than you wish to be treated? There are all these sayings that replicates others behaviours, such as 'you get what you give' and 'what goes around comes around', but isn't part of this journey of becoming a true leader all about self-awareness, empowerment of your people and being able to realise your success through others?
8. Rather than wanting to be recognised, show recognition. One thing we don't do enough in this world, is praising good behaviours, sharing good news and showing recognition for people's achievements, whether big or small. Energy is infectious, both positive and negative. I'm not sure about you, but I believe good memories last a life time, it doesn't matter when you recall it, it brings the same amount of joy and happiness, where bad memories and pain will be healed and forgotten overtime. Showing recognition towards your team's little wins along the journey will carry the team forward, build self-starters and future leaders.
9. Hold yourself accountable for your actions, therefore you can hold your team accountable for their actions. I think that's enough said. Show that you can take responsibility for your decision and mistakes, show ownership so you can expect the same behaviour from your team.
10. Become an empathetic leader who can be firm and show compassion at the same time. I am not afraid to put my hand up and say I have been a leader in the past who foolishly made the mistake of thinking if I am empathetic towards my team, they will take advantage of my kindness and I will lose control. Finding the absolute fine balance of becoming a firm leader, who is also empathetic with ability to show compassion is something I have to remind myself on every decision I make, on a day-to-day interactions with my team.
11. Always stay in control of yourself. Be organised, set examples and standards. A lot of people who know me personally can support the fact that I am extremely naturally organised and a huge multitasker. I strongly believe to be a great leader, comes fantastic organisational skills so you can pulse check at any time and you know exactly where things are. This also will naturally set examples and standards with your team and the team will be motivated to follow. Please don't mistake my statement for what people commonly call a 'dictatorship', the key word is stay in control of yourself.
12. Be bold but communicate clearly your intentions and focus on execution/outcome. One amazing mentor I have previously worked with, always continuously reminded me to 'frame my conversations'. I suppose this ties in with all the points raised above but any in-depth conversation you have with your team should be structured, a key message strong but focus on intentions and outcome of delivery.
13. Be prepared to be lifted by others strengths and successes, rather than feel threatened and disempowered by their strengths and successes. I will never forget the day I was told by making myself redundant in my role, will show my success as a leader of a team. If you're a leader that can walk-the-walk, sharing your knowledge and skillset will only make your team stronger and better.
14. Listen and to be listened to. Two ears, one mouth, right? It's more than natural for people to speak louder and make more noise if they feel like they're not being listened to. If you want to be listened to, then first, listen.
15. Know yourself. Know your stance with others and ensure they know where they stand with you. Last but not least, this resonates with me on a daily basis, even when I was a little child. Although I've had to work very hard on my straight-shooter communication style (which I still to this day have very much traits of!) I know where I stand with others and others always know where they stand with me.

I am no way in shape of form a successful leader. Very far from it in fact. Hence why I call myself a WIP (Work-in-progress) leader. However a daily reminder of the above, being able to share my knowledge and thoughts with others will hopefully one day see myself to lead a team of people to their success.