Navigating the Leadership Landscape to be an Authentic Leader

Defining Leadership 

Leadership is defined as possessing a certain set of qualities and skills that encourage other people to align in collective direction to achieve common goals. It’s about the influence and impact of people, not solely about their position. 

People are not born leaders, but they mold themselves in a particular way to lead for the common good, here it’s working towards company’s vision and mission. 

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
-Jack Welch, Chair & CEO of General Electric .

Leadership’s Superpowers 

Every leader possesses multiple superpowers or special qualities to influence, persuade and inspire others. Let’s discuss a few below-  

• Modesty: Modest leaders are not commanders but mentors; not lead by speaking but by preaching. Irrespective of position and authority, leaders must be humble enough to give another chance and take the onus if anything goes beyond planning. 
• Vision: Visionary leaders are always one step ahead, as they have analyzed the past results to make their teams future-ready in present times. A clear vision of leaders can help keep teams motivated, aligned and productive. 
• Optimism: Optimistic leaders can keep themselves and their team in the worst of situations as they are confident of successful outcomes. This superpower can help great leaders to achieve their goals beyond turbulent obstacles. 
• Focus: Focused leaders have the natural ability to clear the clutter amid the lost directions and achieve specific goals. They help their teams to move ahead by resolving their distractive challenges. 
• Communication: Leaders who can clearly communicate their goals, intentions, and directions with their team members are true leaders. Communication must be clear, two-way, build trust and aligned with the common interest of the team. 
• Emotional Intelligence: Irrespective of expertise and experience, leaders must have high EQ that must be reflected in their actions. They must be aware of their self and social setup and their actions reflect management at every core. 

How to Lead Successful Teams? 

Leaders must lead with the aim to achieve authority rather than power as per servant leadership philosophy. This philosophy speaks to achieve visionary goals by offering strong support to team members.

Let’s discuss principles of servant leadership in detail: 

Empathy: When you are a leader, it’s highly necessary to understand your people, to step in their shoes, empathize with their challenges and help them strive to move ahead 

Listening: Leaders who listen to their team’s opinions and feedback, not just to react but to consider as valuable input, would lead with minimal friction 

Building community: Trust is the foremost quality that a leader must establish with their actions to build relationships and strong connections, for collective force 

Commitment to the growth of people: Leaders who walk alone are not true leaders. They must consider about upliftment and individual growth of their people 

Stewardship: Preach what you teach- must be the motto of leaders. They should not lead by words, but with their actions- so that their team could respect their decisions 

Foresight: Learning is a continuous process, and it is important for true leaders to learn from their mistakes and similarly encourage their team for same 

Conceptualization: Leaders must be able to conceptualize or show the bigger picture to their team what, why and how they have to achieve their common goals 

Persuasion: Everyone in the team must be on same page and that’s the leader’s job to persuade and influence their people to coordinate with each other 

Awareness: Leaders who are self-aware and recognize their own strengths and weaknesses can move ahead easily to overcome any unforeseen challenges 

Healing: Everybody has their own healing time and way, and leaders must understand and give themselves and their team time and space to heal when they fall  

Wrapping Up 

There is a common belief that leadership is about being in-charge. However, it is much more than this convention. 

Leadership is actually about- 

• Empowering team 
• Articulating vision 
• Listening first 
• Passionately serving 
• Embracing empathy 
• Inspiring action 
• Developing talent 

If you are navigating leadership landscape at your workplace, start understanding the people around you, your team members and C-suite. Becoming a leader is not a one-day task but requires perseverance and enthusiasm to imbibe required qualities.