True Leadership - Helping Others to Succeed

TO BE a truly effective leader, it is important to recognise the importance of helping others.

Leadership and motivational guru Simon Sinek highlights this point in his TED talks and books.

Of course, by helping make others successful, you also enable them to achieve results beyond their wildest dreams.

A good start is to really get to know your people, and provide them with the resources and tools they need.

Another good approach is to remove some of the obstacles in their way: things like excessive bureaucracy, job insecurity, interpersonal conflict or toxic cultures, for example.

Giving your staff more autonomy can also help them flourish, as well as become more engaged and committed to their jobs.

They will find their ‘why’ - which according to Sinek – simply involves people needing a good reason to come to work.

As Sinek says, if people really care about what they do they will give you their blood, sweat and tears: not because they have to, but because they want to.

Also, as we strive to stay ahead of the game, a clear sense of self can really help us to navigate our choices, and progress toward our goals.

Conversely, a too rigid view of ourselves often holds us back - preventing us from achieving our goals.

Recent research has shown it is the most challenging moments at work that really teach us the most about effective and authentic leadership.

As a leader, developing our own personal style often comes about through trial and error, and it can of course, sometimes be difficult to manage the tension between authority and approachability.

To be authoritative, we need to prioritise our knowledge, experience and expertise over our teams, while also taking on board the views of others.

This is what authenticity and true leadership is all about, and the reason why it is so important in the life of a leader, or pretty much anyone for that matter.

Having the right people working for you is also crucial.

True and authentic leaders know how to inspire their employees to achieve their wildest dreams by putting the emphasis on others, not themselves.

This is because leadership isn’t all about you, but about helping others to become successful.

This can be done in many ways, not least by communicating your purpose.

Where possible your vision should involve strategic storytelling, and the ability to create inspiring images that really engage the emotions.

To create the best conditions possible for other people’s success (and yours), I have found some of the following pointers to be very helpful:

1. Form strong networks and partnerships

Winning support for change and innovative ideas becomes much easier when you have the backing of a range of stakeholders (both internal and external) in an organisation. Thus, smart leaders can accomplish their goals much more effectively when they create a strong network of allies and supporters, looking beyond their immediate circle of influence

2. Produce key outcomes

To help your team members be ‘the best they can be’, a leader must regularly generate key outcomes. This involves acting with decisiveness and persistence - and following through on initiatives to deliver key results. A truly genuine leader knows how to find and make the most of opportunities while helping others make important decisions, and directing his or her people toward a common goal

3. Using Emotional Intelligence (EI)

One of the world’s foremost authorities on EI, Daniel Goleman, maintains that a leader’s mood and how this affects the moods of others, plays a significant role in any organisation. Goleman believes the emotional component of a leader is their singular and most important act of leadership. This also goes hand-in-hand with developing greater self-awareness, which is an essential component when developing your team and helping others to succeed.