True leadership is not defined by position, title, or rank, but by responsibilities, influence, and impact. There are some people who have ascended high-ranking positions, maybe in their places or work, yet there is nothing leadership about them. A successful leader is not just about achieving results, but also includes building people, shaping them, and creating a lasting legacy. Leadership is not gifted, nor does it come automatically but it is a journey of learning, growth, and service. Here, we shall take a few points on how to achieve success as a leader.
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The first point is to develop your teammates. You have to understand that, you are a leader because of your team members. No one leads empty space. The success you experience as a leader is closely linked to the growth of your team members. When you invest in their growth, you multiply the results you see. Just to let you know, if you are the only one growing in your team and you are not making conscious efforts to carry others along, you will be very limited. In fact, a time will come when whatever you thought was a growth will dwindle. Your sustainability actually comes from the people you have trained. If you are not available and everything will simply pause until you return, then you have not raised anyone, and you have a much bigger problem in your hands.
You have to develop your team members if you must succeed as a leader. This includes identifying their strengths and weaknesses, nurturing their talents, helping them to consolidate on their strengths, and overcoming their weaknesses. You need to mentor the people following you, train them, and give them opportunities to grow. I remember where I once served many years ago, the leader would do everything by himself and would not carry anyone along. He believed he was the only one capable of doing it, yet he did not train others to do it. A time came when he was unavailable, and everything paused. It was at that point that he learnt the hard way to develop his team members. When your team grows, your leadership will become more effective and sustainable.
The second point is to practise self-awareness. You have to first understand yourself and know what you are capable of, before you will be able to do so with your team members. This is why I believe that self-awareness is a very fundamental requirement of a leader. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses, know your emotions, also know your values. These are part of what help you to make better decisions. Being self-aware also means that you are open to receiving feedback without seeing it as an attack on your personality. It also means that you are willing to grow.
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As a leader, your self-awareness allows you to understand how your actions can affect others, so you will be able to make adjustments. When you lead with self-awareness, it will be easy for you to build credibility, trust, and emotional intelligence. More so, people will be drawn towards you, knowing that you can be trusted and you are worthy to be followed. You do not enforce followership, rather you earn it by the impact you create.
The last point here is learn to manage changes well. As a leader, you will be faced with regular changes, but it is your actions and inactions at the face of these changes that will determine your success as a leader. Change cannot be avoided, and it is part of your tests as a true leader. Good leaders do not resist change from coming, rather they find a way to manage it with wisdom, clarity, and patience. When you learn to manage changes effectively with confidence, you will create stability even in the face of unstable situations.
The decisions you take in the face of changes will determine how your leadership will turn out to be. As a matter of fact, it will also have effect, not just on you, but the people coming after you. It is true that you cannot stop change because it is a very fundamental aspect of life, but you can manage it well, and turn it to your ally.
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