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Most people define leadership differently but “A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” No matter how you define a leader, they can be a difference-maker between success and failure.
In business, your goal should be to become successful. Once you understand that you become successful not only impacts you, your family, and your employees but when you become successful you are now in a place to help others. This would be a great place for a bible study. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ This is true all through business. If your employees do well with the small tasks they move up to take on larger tasks. If you spend what God has given you as a business owner wisely He will help you prosper.
A good leader
A good leader also has a futuristic vision and knows how to turn his ideas into reality. In this blog, we take an in-depth look at some of the important leadership qualities that separate good leaders from bad ones.
Want to become a great leader? Here are 15 must-have leadership qualities.
1. People must know that they can trust what you say.
2. You must believe in yourself.
3. You must give vision to your employees
4. You must have a written goal that you believe in.
5. You must communicate your vision and not just assume others automatically understand.
6. You must not be afraid to make decisions
7. You must hold yourself accountable.
8. You must turn loose and trust others
9. You must be creative and not be afraid to look at a different approach. Create a new path.
10. You must be able to envision how others feel.
11.You must have resilience
12. You must have Emotional Intelligence
13. You must have Humility
14. You must show Transparency
15.You must have Vision and Purpose
The race is on. Learn what it takes.
Honesty
The most important quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether what part of your life you want to look at whether on a football field, in an army, or an office.” Honesty and integrity are two important ingredients that make a good leader. How can you expect your followers to be honest when you lack these qualities yourself? Leaders succeed when they stick to their values and core beliefs and without ethics, this will not be possible.
I worked for a guy once and when an issue would come up, cutting an expensive Tel/Co line, he would ask a series of questions. Did you call and get it marked? Did you make every effort to make sure you surveyed the area? Could this have been avoided? If the answer was we failed in even the smallest of ways he would pay without question and find out who was out of service. If you were home and didn’t have a phone line he would send you a gift card with an explanation of what happened. He turned this mistake into one of the best advertising tools imaginable. If we did do everything possible and still cut a line he would stand by you and not pay for it or let them accuse you of doing wrong.
You always knew what his response would be. If we did it we paid if we didn’t do it he would spend twice as much money standing behind what was right.
When mistakes happened he would never scold you in front of people. He would call you behind closed doors and have a teachable moment. In a calm voice, he would teach you how to prevent this in the future. If the same mistake kept happening you were gone, which he said was fair for everyone. He would not let one bad apple spoil bonus time for everyone. You always knew what his answer about anything was going to be. He was always honest and you knew it.
Confidence
To be an effective leader, you should be confident enough to make sure that others follow your commands. If you are unsure about your own decisions and qualities, then your employees will never follow you. As a leader, you have to show confidence, show some assertiveness to gain the respect of your employees. This does not mean that you should be overconfident, but you should at least reflect the degree of confidence required to ensure that your employees trust you as a leader. Huge note here. You will never fool people. Be confident because you have put the time in to know what you are talking about.
Some people get away by acting confident when they haven’t a clue by talking loud and as a matter of fact but this want last long once you are figured out.
You must also have the knowledge to back it up. Knowledge doesn’t come by accident it comes from, asking the right questions, reading the right books, being around the right people. Knowledge is power and you can be confident when you are sure of what you are talking about.
Inspires others
Probably the most difficult job for a leader is to persuade others to follow. It can only be possible if you inspire your followers by setting a good example. Not telling them you are right but showing them you are the right time and time again.
When the going gets tough, they look up to you and see how you react to the situation. If you handle it well, they will follow you. As a leader, you should think positive and this positive approach should be visible through your actions.
This is one of the top keys and maybe the most difficult to learn. Stay calm under pressure and keep the motivation level up. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” If you are successful in inspiring your employees, you can easily overcome any current and future challenge.
Committed to Passion
Your teams look up to you and if you want them to give them their all, you will have to be passionate about it too. Lead by example. When your teammates see you getting your hands dirty, they will also give their best shot. It will also help you gain the respect of your employees and give new energy to your team members, which helps them to perform better. If they feel that you are not fully committed or lacks passion, then it would be an uphill task for the leader to motivate your followers to achieve the goal. This is so important. People will only work as hard as you do. They will never see what you do behind closed doors or the struggles that you face, but they must understand you can and are willing to do anything that you ask of them.
Until you clearly communicate your vision to your team and tell them the strategy to achieve the goal, it will be very difficult for you to get the results you want. Simply put, if you are unable to communicate your message effectively to your team, you can never be a good leader. A good communicator can be a good leader. Words have the power to motivate people and make them do the unthinkable. If you use them effectively, you can also achieve better results. I struggled with this area more than any one thing. I assumed you already knew or thought I was too busy to give detailed instructions. I eventually learned you always have time to go back and re-do it when you get it wrong. Slow down and spend more time on instructions. It will save time in the long run.
Apart from having a vision, a leader should have the ability to make the right decision at the right time. Decisions made by leaders have an impact on others. A leader should think before making an important decision but once the decision is made, stand by it unless you discover it was a bad decision. Although most leaders make decisions on their own, it is highly recommended that you talk to others and get their input before making an important decision. After all, they are the ones who will benefit or suffer from your decisions as well as you.
When it comes to accountability, you need to follow this approach “A good leader takes more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.” Make sure that every one of your teammates is justly awarded and accountable for what they are doing. If they do well, give them a pat on the back but if they struggle, make them realize their mistakes and work together to improve. Holding them accountable for their actions will create a sense of responsibility among your employees and they will go about the business more seriously. Remember you are only as strong as your weakest link.
Remember no one succeeds on their own. It takes many people doing their part to produce a whole. In our electrical contracting business, it all starts with being offered the opportunity to provide a price on a project. This is due to lots of work being in place earlier. Then it takes the right estimate. Without a solid estimate for the foundation, you lose before you start. They after you are awarded the project purchasing the material for less than it was quotes and a good Project Manager managing to make sure the job is installed as it was bid. You also need a great superintendent. If there isn’t a great leader on site this is another place to lose money. You also need journeymen to install the work and helpers doing their thing for it all to come together. No one person is completely in control of the win. It takes a team. Every team needs a leader.
You cannot do everything, right. A leader needs to focus on key responsibilities while leaving the rest to others. By that, I mean trusting your followers and delegating tasks to them. If you continue to micromanage your employees, it will develop a lack of trust and more importantly, you will not be able to focus on important matters, as you should be. Delegate tasks to your employees and see how they perform. Provide them with all the resources and support they need to achieve the task and give them a chance to bear the responsibility.
What separates a leader from a follower? “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” To get ahead in today’s fast-paced world, a leader must be creative and innovative at the same time. Creative thinking and constant innovation are what make you and your team stand out from the crowd. Think out of the box to come up with unique ways to better the process. For example Today you must have electrical estimating software to keep up with the demands of electrical contracting. It is no longer a choice! It is important to be able to create detailed estimates with your electrical estimating software without breaking the bank or going to special classes just to get started.
Knowing the importance of having electrical estimating software makes t is easy to take advantage of the user by charging per seat or per license, for technical support, yearly updates, or ongoing monthly fees that never end. At Best Bid Electrical Estimating Software we are here to help electrical contractors like you with all of your electrical estimating needs and have created a line of electrical estimating software that not only provides detailed estimates but is easy to own and easy to use. Homemade spreadsheets will no longer work to provide you with the speed, accuracy, and details needed to succeed in the electrical estimating environment of today.
The Best Bid Hybrid Pro is the most amazing electrical estimating software for any size electrical contractor and comes with a built-in On-Screen Takeoff at no extra charge. Once you check out the Best Bid Hybrid Pro you will instantly know that this estimating software is just what you have been looking for to produce your electrical cost estimations. You must embrace new technology.
Last but certainly not least, is empathy. Leaders should develop empathy with their followers. Unfortunately, most leaders follow a dictatorial style and neglect empathy altogether. Due to this, they fail to make a closer connection with their employees. Understanding the problems of your employees and feeling their pain is the first step to become an effective leader. Even that is not enough until you work hard and provide your employees with a suitable solution to their problems.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. You might have heard this many times, but did you know that great leaders also follow this rule. They are resilient and have a positive attitude. Irrespective of how difficult the circumstances might be, you will find them rallying their followers. While most people are busy complaining about the problems, great leaders always focus on solutions, not the problem.
Good leaders always have higher influence but how do they increase their influence to the point where people accept what they say. They do this by connecting with people emotionally. That is where emotional intelligence comes into play.
Here are some of the reasons why a leader should be emotionally intelligent.
- Manage emotions effectively
- Better social awareness
- Seamless communications
- Conflict Resolution
Moreover, with emotional intelligence, leaders can control their emotions, which prevents negative emotions from influencing their decision-making skills. As a result, they are less likely to make hasty decisions. Moreover, emotionally intelligent leaders are great at understanding emotions and care about the feelings of others. That is not all, leaders who have this leadership quality not only handle conflict in a better way but also play an important role in conflict resolution.
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real
How would you feel when you are promoted to leadership status? You will feel proud. A good leader is always selfless and always thinks about his or her employees. That is why most great leaders put lots of emphasis on problem-solving and team dynamics instead of focusing on self-promotion.
One of the best ways to win the trust of your employees is by being transparent. Instead of hiding information, you should openly share it with them. By giving visibility to your followers, they will buy into your vision and support you with conviction in achieving the goal. More importantly, it gives your employees clarity and makes them feel more empowered while keeping them engaged.
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion
Good leaders always have a vision and purpose. They not only visualize the future themselves but also share their vision with their followers. When their followers were able to see the big picture, they can see where they are heading. A great leader goes above and beyond and explains why they are moving in the direction and shares the strategy and action plan to achieve that goal.
Conclusion
To join the elite club of good leaders, you must have all these qualities but if you lack some of these qualities, then you might struggle to make the mark in the world of leadership. No one starts perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Knowing what your goals should be is the start to becoming a great leader.
Contact us today for help at http://www.bestbidestmating.com
We will be glad to help you grow your vision.
Offering the best electrical estimating software and On-Line Training for electrical contractors.
