Based on Robert Steven Kaplan’s Book, What to Ask the Person in the Mirror.
So much is written about leadership that makes the task seem so complex and hard to grasp. I am of the opinion and strongly believe that this is not true. Leading teams and working with others is very simple task and can be boiled down to a few concepts that are simple to grasp but sometimes hard for many to put into practice.
What is leadership?
Leadership is articulating a vision, setting priorities and adequately allocating time to accomplish the vision.
It doesn’t matter where you are, you could be a leader of your household or leader of a multinational company, all of us are leaders in one way or another. However there are people at positions of power who do not exude the characters of leadership while there are others who hold no positions of power but practise leadership.
Leadership is not telling people what to do and ordering them around, I think the worst thing you can do as a leader is ordering people to do something and find that you are wrong.
On the contrary being a great leader is about asking the right questions and being open to learning. There are times to state a clear way forward but most times its about asking the right questions and a great leader clearly differentiates the two situations.
Questions to ask yourself to help you be an outstanding leader?
The questions to ask yourself in order to lead you to become a great leader are simple that doesn’t mean they are easy to do.
Following our definition of leadership there are three aspects that one has to be clear about to be a great leader;
- Vision / Strategy
- Task Priorities
- Time allocation
1. Vision / Strategy
Ask yourself: Do I know what the vision is and if I do can I write it down clearly?
For each of us as individuals or as business leaders the first step to being great leaders is ask yourself what your vision is and what your strategy is towards accomplishing your vision. Knowing what your vision is a powerful impact on what your outcome will be as a leader.
To be clear on your vision ask yourself these questions
- Have you developed and communicate a vision for your business?
- How often do you articulate your strategy to your people?
- If asked, would your people be able to repeat it?
2. Task Priority
Ask yourself: What are the three to five most important management tasks to achieve the vision and can I write them down?
Common pitfall is we know the vision but we are not clear on the priorities and this holds us back from effeciently and effectively attaining the vision allocating resources to accomplishment of the goal.
Also having more than five priorities is the same as having no priorities, this is because the way our minds work we cannot effectively concentrate and deliver on more than three priorities at any given time.
3. Managing your time
Ask yourself: Do I know how I spend my time towards the three to five priorities and can I write them down?
To help you get started on managing you time, use a notepad to track chunks of your time for one week and map them to your three to five priorities and you will be surprised how badly you spend your time. Doing this simple task
Most times you are stressed out and overworked juggling too many things without a clear goal on how they contribute towards that vision, or you are not clear on how much time you are spending on each priority.
Note that the most important asset you have on this planet is your time once it has passed it cannot be redeemed therefore how you manage your time is extremely important. The best way to go about is to equate your time to a very large sum of money which will help you think carefully about how you spend your time.
Setting your priorities and allocating time to them helps you say ‘NO’ to people because you are clear on where you time should be spent.
Conclusion
Leadership is about taking time to get a conviction on what you believe and having the courage to act upon it.
As a leader you are never quite there, because everyday is about being better than you were yesterday. This is just but a simplified starting point once you accomplish the three steps you have set yourself on a sure path to being a great leader.