There is no panacea for great leadership, no magic pill, much of it is down to hard work and investment.
Really get to know your people. To be a great leader you have to be willing to out in the time and effort to really get to know your people so that you can work with them to build on their strengths. So close your laptop, put down your i-phone, walk out of your office and invite one of your team out to lunch. At lunch sit down and really listen to what they are saying. Ask them to tell you about their hopes, dreams and aspirations. Once you have done that, go back to your office and work out a plan to help them and your other team members to achieve that’s important to them.
This is what great leaders do. They continually think about how they can better support their team to achieve greater levels of performance. They are not traditional ‘top down’ leaders, i.e. ‘I am the boss so I will tell you what to do!’, they think in terms of ‘bottom up’. This is where we need to go so how can I best help you?
Invest in the results you want. Too many businesses don’t wish to spend money on investing in their people. However, Team GB didn’t achieve success in the Olympic and Para Olympic games without the help of outside experts. Coaches were provided to the athletes to enable them to continually improve their game.
So spend the money and help your people achieve their potential. Alternatively, if you don’t wish to invest, spend the money instead on recruiting new people to replace the ones who keep leaving!
Give your people autonomy. If you want your people to deliver greater levels of performance get out of their way! People crave autonomy, they want a high degree of control over their working day and do not appreciate being micro-managed or told what to do day in and day out.
Creating great leadership in your organisation requires time, effort and commitment from top to bottom. There is no magic pill to take or panacea for great leadership, so if someone tries to sell you one, you should get a second opinion.