The Truth about ‘Natural Born’ Leaders

Some might have you believe that ‘Leadership’ can be taught. That it can be learnt.

That if you just emulate the taught characteristics and habits of Leadership, then you will become effective.

Others will have you believe that you must be ‘Born’ with it. That it is a natural trait.

Leadership takes all sorts. Leaders don’t fulfil a particular personality type.

To be a truly effective Leader you must ensure that your organisation has clear direction. A vision. A vision that you can confidently communicate.

They ensure that the organisation then has the infrastructure that enhances the probability of achieving that vision.

The best Leaders put the best people they have (or find) into clear positions, with clarity of function. They allow each employee to be effective and accomplish what is needed for their position.

That allows the organisation to move efficiently in the direction of the organisations vision.

Leaders that develop a culture of hiring and keeping the best talent build organisation’s that thrive.

They build organisations with a culture of excellence. This is underpinned by continual development of their people; and the constant SEARCH for potential new additions to the team.

An organisation that has highly trained, highly effective people is instantly more attractive to outsiders. This enables this Leader to build a bench of people that they can bring in at the ‘drop of a hat’.

This prevents them from being held hostage to the adage; “better a bum in a seat, than an empty seat”.

This Leaders recruitment motto is ‘Better No Breath, Than Bad Breath’.

They will only fulfil a function with the best. They will stretch themselves to get the best people they can find.

This Leader knows their place. They will step back and allow the great people they’ve hired to design, document and implement outstanding processes. Processes that get the job done in the most effective, and most efficient, ways possible.

Great leaders allow their people the freedom to constantly improve things. They know that great process is the ‘grease in the gears’ of the organisation. They know that people and process is needed to move the organisation frictionlessly towards the corporate vision and mission.

Great Leaders understand that it is the people in their organisation who ultimately determine if the world views them as a Great Leader.

This Leader makes sure everyone knows exactly what is expected of them and how that will be measured.

They know that people want clarity of expectation and to know when they are achieving what is expected.

Performance metrics are the tool that allow individuals to focus on leading indicators of success. That way they, and others, can determine whether they, and the organisation, are ‘on track’, or not. If we are ‘off track’, we can then determine what is needed to get our organisation back ‘on track’.

Leadership is a discipline.

It is the discipline of creating and maintaining the road their organisation is on, so that it can achieve excellence.

The individual Leader needs to be passionate about achieving the vision ad mission they have set for their organisation.

They are continually planning and adjusting to keep the organisation moving forward.

They are continuously communicating the direction and progress of the organisation, in the quest of attaining that vision.

They have the passion to achieve the vision and share a roadmap that shows the organisation how to create an excellent organisation.

The organisation in turns knows where it needs to go and how to design the journey to get themselves there.

The best Leaders are relentless in their pursuit of excellence