Anybody can work on himself to acquire leadership qualities. Leadership does not necessarily have anything to do with noble birth, intelligent, how good- looking one is, and other inborn personal characteristics. But by going after certain golden rules in running any human organization to achieve success, success is never far-fetched.
First of all, an efficient leader must have a good vision for the organization, conceiving the destiny of the organization with a clear perception of how to reach it. But it is not enough for the leader to have vision; he must communicate the vision effectively through the necessary channels of communication throughout the organization. He must take this a step further, he has to take the major stride by single-handedly, taking the major actions that will take the vision to the next level of success. By way of illustration, the manger of a medium-sized pharmaceutical enterprise could dream about expanding the company into a big multinational company then carry every employee along to see this dream and work for its accomplishment. After this, he must communicate it effectively through the necessary channels of communication. He then goes a step further to do the major tasks involved in achieving this goal and motivate the workers with the right incentives.
There is no gainsaying the fact the success generally is a function dedication and commitment. A car without fuel will go nowhere; vision is not an end in itself but a means to an end; dedication to its attainment is the fuel that will get it to its destination. Dedication requires you as a leader to go all out, putting as much energy and resources into any task at hand. Success lies in the ability of the leader to be dedicated and inspire the whole team and employees to be committed as well. He must lead by such examples as diligence, punctuality and timeliness to show everyone in the organization a good example of seriousness. If you are the first person to get to the office every morning, no worker will want to come late to work and get the frown of his or her boss. In the same vein, you should also do the most difficult but technical tasks in any mission at hand giving you subordinate the chance to understudy you and learn on the job. Action is the mark of a leader as he is always passionately pursuing the vision of the organization with all his vigor. In this way he can enthuse his subordinates to do the same and drive them towards the company’s objectives, hence success in inevitable.
Openness and transparency are an essential “distinctive label” of a successful leader. All employees must be carried along concerning the success of the organization in such a transparent fashion. It is quite “unique” of a leader to give all workers a sense of belonging and make them feel certain that the success of the organization largely belongs. This is especially important in a small company, unlike in big ones where everybody is restricted to his own unit. In a small business, if the boss buys a new house, for example, and the atmosphere in the company is not so transparent; employees may think that he has embezzled the funds of the company to his own pocket. This will do nothing but demoralize and demotivate them as they will have a feeling that ‘they are holding the cow by the horn and their boss is only milking it’. But when they are well-informed with the necessary things they need to know about the company, it builds trust and mutual respect.
Last but not the least, a leader must be a motivational and not de-motivational one. The best way to measure demotivativation in any company is a high incidence of employee turnover as a consequence of their dissatisfaction with the managers’ approach to business management and leadership style. Also, he must be a bit democratic when dealing with workers who are skilled and professional, but a little autocratic, but not harsh, dealing with less skilled ones.
