All really great leaders know the few leadership secrets I am
going to share with you in this article. They know that there are a few crucial
personality traits, which they can use to empower themselves as leaders. These
personality traits or rather personality powers, will help them to increase
their level of influence and as you know leadership is all about a leaders
ability to influence their team to perform optimally.
I am sure you have sat in a room where someone has put their hand
to their mouth and yawned. How long did it take before everyone in the room
felt a virtually uncontrollable urge to yawn themselves or put differently, mirrored
their behaviour? We have billions of mirror neurons in our brains, which drive
us to mirror the behaviour of the people around us. These mirror neurons are
crucial to our development and help us to learn and grow. Any great leader
knows how to use this concept and knows that emotions are contagious, or rather
that the people around them mirror the emotions they project to the world.
Your Emotions are Contagious
When any leader consistently projects an aura of enthusiasm to
everyone around them, everyone in their team, feels more excited and driven to
participate in supporting the team’s success. The more excited a leader is
about accomplishing anything, the more excited and driven everyone in their
team will be to help the leader succeed. Emotions are most certainly contagious
and so, the more passion you have for your life and everything you do, the more
charisma you will project and the more driven people in your team will be to
co-operate with you as their leader. Every great leader, who has lived has been
passionate and driven by a cause greater than them and as a result, has
attracted the support and co-operation of a myriad of people, who supported
them to achieve the outcome they wanted.
As people mirror the behaviour of the people around them it is
crucial that anyone, who wants to become a great leader, must develop expertise
and competence. Any leader knows that their team will very quickly lose trust
and respect in them, if they are consistently incompetent and do not possess
sufficient knowledge and expertise. The opposite is also true. The more
knowledge and expertise any leader has in their respective field, the easier it
will be for their team to trust and respect them, as their leader. When any
leader is consistently competent and leads by example, their team members will
exhibit the same level of competence and willingness to always deliver their
best. When you are a competent leader and consistently perform at a high level,
you will naturally attract a team, who will support you and help you to
succeed.
The Power of Preparation
All great leaders also know the power of preparation. The more
prepared you are to lead your team, prior to tackling any task, the more your
team will respect and trust you as their leader. When preparing to tackle any
new task or project, it is crucial that you research and have a deep
understanding of what you want to achieve. You as the leader must have an
overall vision or direction that you want your team to travel in. Everyone in
your team must know their individual role in delivering on this vision.
As you however introduce any new task or activity, which will
assist the team to achieve this vision, you must be absolutely clear in your
mind about why you need to carry out that specific task or activity. This
clarity must be clearly communicated to all team members. Each team member must
be left with no doubt as to their individual role in carrying out the new task
or activity. Clarity and an understanding of purpose, will act to inspire all
team members and allow them to completely support you as their leader. The more
prepared you are as a leader, where you have invested time to think through
different scenarios, considered numerous possibilities and explored all the
different ramifications. The more you will be able to positively influence and
inform your team about the new project and their role in achieving the outcome
you need.
As any great leader knows, you lead by example. Always strive to
do things right the first time and everyone in your team will soon mirror this
positive behaviour too. You and everyone in your team is a work in progress,
show your commitment to keep growing and expanding and you will very quickly
see all your team members show a willingness to keep growing themselves.
Action Idea: What can you do from today to make a real difference
to you as a leader?
- Get excited and passionate about your teams goals and project this enthusiasm to everyone in your team. You will be amazed at how quickly the members of your team will start to exhibit the same level of enthusiasm and willingness to support you as their leader.
- Commit to constantly grow and expand in every area of your life and encourage every team member, with your example, to do the same. Your encouragement and example will most certainly, over time, encourage everyone in your team to grow, learn and expand themselves.
- Show your belief and commitment to every team member and ensure that they are completely clear about their individual role on delivering on the team’s vision.
- Always ensure that you are adequately prepared and strive to always be the example you want your team members to be.
When you commit to introduce these few new behaviours and you
bring these few new action ideas into your leadership style, you will very
quickly see a dramatic improvement in the performance of all your team members
and ultimately the results you will achieve.
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