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There are many effective styles of leadership. Probably as many different effective styles of leadership as different personality types of employees as well as bosses. That having been said I do believe that there are several secrets to leadership in any organization:
1st Vision.
You must have a clear and compelling VISION for the future
of your organization. I am not talking about benchmarked goals here. I
am not talking about a target gross or active count, but something much
more powerful. Your vision is a picture of where you
want the organization to end up, of the big picture of how it should look
in as much sensory rich detail as possible.
Leadership starts from within. If you have a clear picture
of where you want the organization to end up, then your conversation, actions,
and goals will tend to fall in line with this vision and ultimately manifest
itself.
2nd Communication.
Having a clear vision of the future is valueless unless
you become exceedingly effective at communicating that vision to others.
That does NOT mean that you have to be a gifted public speaker many great
leaders (including Thomas Jefferson among others) were
not gifted speakers. You may communicate your vision through pictures,
public speeches, written communications, or through ANY media, as long
as your message gets through to the intended recipients in as compelling
a way as possible.
3rd Emotional Commitment.
You must lead people from their heart and not their head.
Daily commitment comes from an emotional attachment to the leader, to the
mission, to the vision or to the target feelings conveyed by your vision
of the future. All leadership is based upon the emotional commitment of
the followers much more than an abstract intellectual understanding of
goals and objectives.
4th Values Based.
Although financial rewards help motivate or help maintain
motivation. Ultimately people will get out of bed early and work late with
the highest levels of intensity for contribution to others and contribution
to the community. If financial rewards are directly tied to personal contribution
to others then motivation will remain high. Long term motivation in any
WIN/Lose environment is nearly impossible. Be clear on your overriding
values and, operate on a daily basis within those espoused values.
5th Congruence.
Your words and actions must be congruent. You cannot
motivate people to contribute and encourage them to a higher purpose if
ultimately your integrity is questionable. Although we have all seen managers
(and, certainly politicians) attain high levels with questionable integrity
I maintain that long-term leadership must be based upon honesty and the
highest integrity. If your manager co-opts your help to cover up his extramarital
affairs how much trust will you give him? If your boss has a different
persona in public than in private will you trust their communications with
you to be sincere?
6th Team orientation.
Someone said once you can accomplish anything if you
do not who gets credit for it. In the martial arts this attitude is exceptionally
rare. Many Master Instructors have really started to believe their own
press and, to act as if anything good that happens to them was their idea.
GIVE Credit. Involve the entire team. Work as much as possible to accomplish
new directions through consensus. You are better as the leader to play
a support role in many discussions and let the team members find the means
to accomplish the ends in your vision.
7th Results orientation.
Focus on results NOT process. Create accountability from
every team member and student for the end result not the activity. Many
ideas are good if implemented effectively the greatest idea will fail if
implemented poorly. Allow people within limits to choose their own means
to your agreed upon
end. Manage based upon results not based upon activity.
8th Goals.
Once all of the other pieces are in place have daily,
weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. Make sure that they are all
congruent with your mission, values, and vision. Peter Drucker once said:
What Gets Measured Gets Done. Keep records and statistics on everything
in your business but then boil your operation down into 2, 3 or 4 key numbers
and then watch them like a hawk. Graph them. Post them in your office,
at the reception desk, in the employee break room or, even on the front
door of the school. Nothing motivates action like a huge graph of your
target active count in plain view look at your key numbers daily or even
hourly to maintain focus.
9th Walk Your Talk.
I know this is redundant, but really, nothing de-motivates
employees or students like hypocrisy. Make a decision to live by your values
and to really be who you say you are 24 hours per day 7 days per week.
10th Fairness.
Ultimately everyone must benefit from success and must
suffer from failure. In compensation reward people greatly for successes
and, make sure they have consequences for failure. If you really delegate
authority, focus on the team, and allow your staff responsibility then
they must take 100% of the
responsibility for their outcomes. Be supportive but
not paternalistic. If you never allow anyone to fail, you have never allowed
them to achieve much either.
Suggesting Reading:
Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior by Richard Marchinko
Leaders by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus
Leadership When the Heat is On By Danny Cox and John
Hoover
The Westpoint Way of Leadership By Col. Larry Donnithorne
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