Who Would Vote For You?

These past few weeks I have watched with fascination as the 7 politic leaders’ battle it out to win our votes. People buy into people – that’s a fact. Without an engaging, likeable frontman or woman you’re fighting a losing battle. A leader needs to captivate their audience by encouraging trust and commitment.

Great leadership is one of those things which is hard to define, and even harder to adopt. I have always been inspired by great leaders and fascinated by their natural ability to really understand and resonate with people. We all know somebody dubbed ‘a born leader’ – someone who we recognise has certain attributes which make them easy to follow.

I think everybody has the chance to be a leader. It’s not a god given gift, leadership is a skill we can all develop and use to our advantage. I recently did some work with McDonald’s and met some of their exec members who started out on an hourly wage as crew members and are now heading up the board of one of the biggest businesses in the world. How did they get there? They demonstrated qualities of leadership.

The election poses the perfect time to ask yourself, would your team vote for you? Do you represent your party effectively?

Complacency in any walk of life leads to a deterioration in performance, and the people at the top of their trade are the ones who are continually honing and improving their skills. This is exactly how leaders got to where they are today; they believed in themselves and they were driven and motivated to succeed.

So, what, in my experience, makes a great leader?

Firstly, it’s all about leading by example. People need to respect you. You have to have some authenticity. There’s nothing worse than a smug ‘wannabe’ leader so don’t let leadership responsibilities get in the way – nobody wants to follow somebody on a power trip! People want a leader they aspire to, someone who sets a great example and regularly communicates their vision with the team. Think about the kind of leader you would like to follow and mirror this.

For example, if you expect your team to be in the office by 9am, make sure you are there too. Turning up half way through the day will only make you look disengaged and make them feel demotivated.

Secondly, you need some strategy in your thinking. There’s nothing wrong with a little impulsiveness now and again but as a leader, you need to be able to plan and execute effectively. Understand the impact each decision you make effects the business; approach situations with a broad mind, ask probing questions, facilitate conversations and identify the key connections, patterns and issues present. Decision making is a difficult skill to master but doing it this way will help cover every different aspect.

As a leader, you are the voice of the business so spend time getting to know your team and keep them updated with future plans. This will help enhance company morale and talent attraction simultaneously – everybody wants to be part of a company culture where they feel valued and appreciated.

Thirdly, and this is critical, is understanding how your work impacts others around you. All good leaders need to demonstrate their ability to think about what’s right for the business and make decisions for the greater good of the team, not just for themselves because if you can’t carry people with you then who are you leading? It is important that you take responsibility for your actions. If you mess up – confess! Failure is sometimes the key to success, the secret is to learn from this experience because there’s no need to be ashamed of it.

Accepting your mistakes will humanise you as a leader and show your team that you are learning every step of the way, just like they are. It also shows that you take responsibility for your actions.

Ultimately, a good leader understands the importance of the 5 essential soft skills; communication, teamwork, taking responsibility, decision making and time management.

Cultivate these skills, prepare yourself for the opportunities they uncover and become the leader you’re proud to be and others are proud to follow.

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