Becoming a Better Leader: The story of Bill Gates stimulates even the strictest of his critics. The young college dropout teamed up with his friend Paul Allen and originated Microsoft from a tiny garage. With no money and only a hard vision, Gates propelled Microsoft to develop the main software company in the world. At the time of his stepping down as CEO, Bill Gates had 128,000 employees.
While we can’t all become Bill Gates, George Soros, or Jeff Bezos, we can study important lessons about leadership from their achievement stories. The following are 5 quick tips to become a better frontrunner at your workplace.
Tips to Become a Better Leader
1. Don’t Give Orders, Teach
If you are continually barking orders, you are on the wrong trajectory. Expectant military correction and trying to control people to do things in a convincing way is counterproductive for several reasons. First, it makes an environment of distress and restrictions on creativity.
People will be scared of thinking out of the box for fear of creating faults and will not go the added mile when looking for solutions. Secondly, you will end up with deprived employee engagement. Disconnected employees are likely to be less productive and more likely to leave the organization.
If you need to be a good leader, train your team members. This means knowing that they have a mind of their own and letting them take ownership of their schemes. Be available to offer guidance and inspire growing by teaching. At the end of the day, you will make loyal and inspired employees.
2. Lead by Example
Being a manager does not give you special freedoms to disrupt the code of conduct. For example, if you are repeatedly speaking against using the company capital for your own gain, don’t use the company car to run your personal errands. This will disrupt trust and can inspire dishonesty.
Operating with high values will set the pace for everybody else and will create a culture of honesty and a value system that adopts accountability, honesty, and responsibility. Yes, a location of leadership permits you to shape the movements of others with words, but it is your movements that have the most impact.
3. Develop Yourself
The age-old discussion of whether leaders are instinctive or made has never been correctly settled. However, research proposes that leaders are most likely made. The fact is that leadership needs a multifaceted set of skills that can only be learned through education, mentorship, and experience.
While you do not essential a stellar academic best to make a good leader, you must make a continuous exertion to obtain as much knowledge as possible. Therefore, take relevant online courses from time to time, appear in industry actions and workshops, read books, reach out to fruitful leaders for mentorship, and so on. Becoming a better form of yourself will stimulate others to become the best they can be.
4. Set Clear Goals and Involve Your Employees
For employees to be successful in their jobs, they are essential to be conscious of the goal they are working towards and what the forecasts are. Do not make any assumptions; you must communicate obviously and expressively so that everybody is in the loop. While goal setting is typically a management function, it helps to comprise employees in the process. Therefore, instead of bombing them with expectations, allow them to ask questions and give feedback.
Further, share your dream and help them understand how their efforts will help the organization get there. This will help them appreciate how important their roles are and will make them feel valued.
5. Give Constant and Honest Feedback
Most people will appreciate knowing how they are faring. If a new employee has to wait till the quality of the year to know what you think of them, they might not be confident about their abilities. Therefore, give feedback from time to time. Be up-front about presentation and other metrics, and do not be scared of communicating undesirable feedback. If someone can do better, point out to them how they can improve. Likewise, good performance needs to be recognized and rewarded.
You Can’t Do It Alone
Successful leaders agree that leadership is more about authorizing others and creating interactions than being a boss. It’s about selling your dream and moving others to help you become there. This is not something that you can study in a day. To become a healthier leader, you must be self-confident enough to start.