Principles of Leadership
Principles are the ethics or fundamentals of an object. In the realm of leadership, these fundamentals are meant to help everyone become more effective and successful in the role.
The following are the most common tenets:
Be a role model
Good leaders show their people exemplary behavior that is expected of everyone. As it is said, they walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Commendable behavior from each member of the organization results in better outcomes for the entire organization.
Know your people
In relation to one of the differentiating factors of leadership, that of being people-focused, leaders must create positive and genuine relationships with their subordinates. This helps the leader better to communicate their vision, then, in turn, earn better execution from the members.
Listen well
In relation to knowing your people, listening well does not only include a simple understanding of your people, but empathizing with them as well. That means, more than intellectually and logically knowing them, you must also be able to put yourself in their shoes. This makes your people feel valued and appreciated.
Create change
As with the previous principle, this has already been mentioned in the previous lesson. Leaders are transformational people. They do this to move forward their organizations. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this does not only involve changes made for financial gain, but also changes that could better the organization in general.
Accept your flaws and be accountable
Every leader, regardless of their position in the organization, is still human. That means that they inevitably have flaws and will occasionally make mistakes. As a leader, they must acknowledge these flaws and take responsibility for their actions, especially when mistakes are made. This makes leaders more relatable and gains them even more followers.
Good leaders will then take these flaws and mistakes and learn from them. This enables the entire company to have a better view of which parts they need to look into and improve upon.
Seek self-improvement
As they say, there is always room for improvement. A leader must put on the mindset of never stop learning. There are always ways through which one can improve. As a leader, you do this by improving both your skills and knowledge in your field as well as your leadership skills.
Promote diversity
That is, encourage the teamwork of various types of people. Diverse peoples have diverse ideas. You never know where the next big thing can come from.
In addition to having access to different types of ideas, a diverse workforce will have varied perceptions and understanding of the world. This can then help lead the organization into new avenues for growth that a homogenous group might have never reached.
Strive together as a team
Not only does it mean cooperating and collaborating with members to achieve organizational goals, but it also includes training together so that all members can grow with the rest of the team.
Hold authentic values
Values are personal beliefs that guide our actions and attitudes. They can vary from person to person, as well as between different cultures. These are formed during a person’s growth and development through their personal environment. Consequently, these values guide people in making goals and through decisions. They also dictate one’s ethics.
They could include honesty, integrity, and truth, among others.
As a leader, these values will determine who will relate to you and who will follow you. People will similar values will be drawn to you, and these people become the ones whom you can inspire and motivate.
Take advantage of technology and innovation
Leaders should be aware of advances in technology and should be knowledgeable in using them once they arrive. These technologies are designed to help people, so leaders should use them to their full potential.
For instance, communication, an important leadership skill, is now much easier using various Internet-connected gadgets. People do not have to be in the same room to have a meeting anymore. They do not even have to be in the same building to work on the same team anymore!
A leader who does not care to learn new technologies would be left behind and could potentially encounter problems leading their teams in the future.
Develop future leaders
Organizations benefit when the leader has a plan in place for when it is time to move forward. Having someone to take over immediately during that time ensures that the team will not have to go through a period when they didn’t have someone to guide them. Otherwise, the team could be left scattered and confused.
Having future leaders in the team does not make the current leader replaceable. It makes them stronger leaders because they have a team consisting of members who are ready to take responsibility of their work and themselves.