Goal Setting As a Leader

When an artist sets out to make a sculpture, he gets a large rock and begins to chip away at it. Each day this rock becomes just a little bit more like the final product the artist has designed. If the average person sets out to create the same sculpture, the process begins the same way. The difference happens after 3-4 days. Most of us would begin to feel like this process is going to "take forever" or "we are not getting anywhere", and we quit and move on to something else.

The artist on the other hand, he has a much different "mind process" about what he is doing. From the first time he looks at this large rock, he doesn't see the rock, he actually has a clear vision of the sculpture he will create. So each day, this rock looks more and more like the sculpture. He has a clear vision of the end result, and stays focused on that image.

That's what goal setting is all about. As a leader, and as part of your leadership development plan, each skill you learn is a small part of your "sculpture" or final product. Your leadership development doesn't just happen, it needs to be designed. It needs to be the result of a clear vision of how you want to be as a leader.

Your end result (sculpture) may be that you have a great team that is self-directed. You spend much of your day supporting and praising your team members. They all love what they do and your work place is positive and productive. You are able to spend your day planning and developing your own skills. You see your team members grow each day, and one after another goes out into the organization and produces yet another great team. Your responsibility grows month after month and your organization greatly values you as a leader. That's the sculpture you have in your mind each and every day.

The "chipping away" process is developing the leadership skills necessary to make all this happen. Learning delegation, not only to get more done but to develop the skills of your team members. Learning motivation, not the kind that rewards cash and prizes, but the kind that creates an internal desire for your team members to do the right thing and help you become successful as a leader. Learning empowerment, allowing team members to act, independent of your direction, making them feel better about what they do and have a sense of "community" that they are contributing to the success of the organization.

Goal setting as a leader is starting out with the end in mind, and day by day learning the skills necessary to create your master piece. Getting hung up on the day to day tasks will keep you from ever accomplishing your vision. Make sure you make a plan for your leadership development, and set aside time each day to learn one skill that will create the type of future you desire.

How to Build Up Your Leadership Skills

Do you want to become a leader in your business or your community? First you must ask yourself exactly why you want this position? Is it for the respect or prestige? Or do you genuinely want to be able to help others and to show others by your example of what they should and can do with their lives?

If you have a genuine interest in helping others and not in glorifying yourself, you are already on the right path. So let's take a look at some of the skills you need to qualify as a true leader:

1. You have to be able to step to every challenge. Challenge should be looked at as an opportunity fro you to really benefit other people. If you are the kind f person who tends to shy away from challenges, then you may want to work on that. Great leaders prove just how great they are in their role in times of crisis. Everyone can look back on a John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis and understand what it takes in order to really be an example of a true leader.

2. You have to be able to convey a message so that everyone understands. You are not just leading a chosen few, you are leading everybody you are representing. Every member of your team and your community should be able to fully understand your message and objectives and should feel represented by you in your role as a leader. A boss who only listens to a chosen few employees has really failed his entire staff. He has overlooked their role that they play and that their voice should be heard.

3. You have to have charisma and charm. You don't have to be the next coming of John F. Kennedy, but you do have to evoke a certain element of what he embodied. A poignant and warm smile and a confident but relaxed walk and posture will help you convey this quality. Think of what it would be like to have an arrogant leader or one with absolutely no charisma whatsoever. It would not cause people to really stand and take notice of this person at all.

4. You have to learn how to gather information from other people and trust their judgment. There is a reason why high level political leaders have aides and staffs around them. You will not know everything and at times you will need the guidance and information that other people can provide. F.D.R. was known to have many people around him guiding him during World War II. Ultimately he made the final call but not without gathering the proper insight and influence from those people around him.

5. You have to know when to step back. At times your leadership skills will call for you to really show the trust in other people by allowing them to have some control and to exercise their talents and expertise. If you are running an office team of employees and they know what they are doing and they are contributing and producing, then at those times you will have to know when to just step back and be an observer.

Use these five skills as a starting point and a foundation to build upon. Ultimately there can be many more markings of a true leader, but without these five basic skills, you will not be nearly as effective and efficient in your role as a leader whether it is in business or community situations or even your own families.

21st Century Leadership? - Have You Got What it Takes?

The secret of leadership is often discussed by entrepreneurs who want to sell us their special formula for achieving leadership success. Many of these gurus, through their very profitable books and seminars - ones that association heads and meeting planners, along with corporate people and self-actualization junkies are so crazy about - should really be called motivation instead of leadership related.

Then there are the Mega leaders of vast enterprises - people whose names we all know who have lead their organizations to greatness - and even to great failures they will now gladly tell everyone how to avoid. Often when you sift through the rhetoric you see elements of their leadership equation that you can not possibly duplicate.

The enterprises they ran have virtually unlimited resources - if you throw enough money at an idea it just may work, especially if its cost is hidden in vast budgets and it wasn't your money anyway.

These Mega leaders have access to other people at their level, they are on each other's speed dials, people with whom to do the deals that made them famous - if not rich to boot. They know these well placed people on a first name basis that the rest of us could spend a lifetime and still not get past the receptionist. They are part of the club.

Why are these leaders, popular fiction for regular folks like us, so incredibly popular? These leaders are charismatic, they are well spoken, and they ARE in fact celebrities. And we all love our celebrities! Even though their ideas are not actionable for us and only a tiny percentage of what they offer is transferable to us does not matter. We feel good hearing their story.

For most of us leadership is defined by our experiences. We are emotionally charged by our individual perceptions when we are asked to define leadership; let's face it, leaders are always looked upon with glamour and awe. Those of us who aspire to be leaders often just copy the actions and behavior of business leaders we respect without ever knowing what it really means to be a good leader.

A great leader listens to the insights of their employees before responding. Your employees want to give you their ideas, share their concerns about the business, and pass along information and general day to day chit chat. Please avoid distractions and interrupting - even when you already know the answer. Always let your employee have their say, especially when you are already prepared to disagree with them - you might learn something that changes your mind.

And be sure to let your employee finish their communication - you must show respect for their ideas if you expect to receive their respect for yours. We all have a natural desire to be heard and allowing employees to finish their thoughts - often something they have put a great deal of effort into, goes a long way in building the respect you need in order to lead.

So what makes a great leader you ask? Are there any proven leadership development formulas that can be duplicated? Apparently there aren't or we would have read the book by now and becoming a leader would be simple, if not downright easy. Let's face it, if being a leader was easy - everybody would already be one and we would not be so consumed with learning the secret - the key, the shortcut to leadership.

The fact is of course that there is no single formula for leadership success. Needless to say when we add the human factor into any formula we have added unique variables into every possible equation. People are unique, situations are unique, and the circumstances of every business are unique. There seem to be as many leadership development formulas for business leadership success as there are successful leaders.

So, what are the characteristics of an every day leader? If you ask anyone about leadership, what it is, how do you get it, and how do you recognize it, you will undoubtedly get so many answers, most of which are probably be right - that you would be no better off than you were before you posed the question.

Many people naturally believe that leadership is a talent one is born with, some think it is a skill that can be acquired. Either way, leadership, particularly business leadership has a single straightforward and simple meaning.

In a nutshell, business leadership is the ability, however acquired, to consistently influence others - especially those who look to us for guidance. In other words, it is the ability to attract followers and influence their actions and attitudes at work.