How To Go From a "Good" to "Great" Leader

by COOKIE TUMINELLO

"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves." - Author Unknown

Being a terrific leader takes commitment, confidence, and clarity. It doesn't matter if you're a supervisor, CEO or entrepreneur - the steps you need to know in order to motivate the people who work with you are the same. The old school method of employing ?scare' tactics, i.e. "If you don't do what I TELL you do, then there's the door!" doesn't cut it anymore in today's business world. Besides, if you still subscribe to the "It's my way or the highway" way of thinking, you're going to alienate everyone who works in your company or organization and nothing will be accomplished except for making enemies out of your staff.

Here are 4 steps that will take you from good to great leader.

1. Set a clear direction for your team. Clarity begets desired results. If you aren't clear about where you're going, do you think your team will be? As a leader, your role is to be the visionary who paints the picture for them to follow. If you aren't clear about the necessary steps your staff need to take to accomplish a goal, then a lot of time is going to be wasted running around in circles. Create a clear action plan - one that shows exactly how and what you want to get done. If needed, draw a roadmap diagram on paper outlining the full process, starting with the objective and detailing what each person is responsible to complete. The better your directions are, the easier it will be to get the goal finished.

2. Make sure your actions match your intentions and visions. You, as the leader, need to know what you envision being the final outcome of the project/task you're asking your employees to work on. Do you want to ?wow' a client with an exceptional product presentation? Can you see the final project completed? What does it look like to you? Are YOU excited about this task? Your own level of commitment and enthusiasm needs to come across loud and clear to your team. If you're ho hum about the outcome, then guess what - that's the attitude that will be adopted by members of your team. Some of us are ?big picture' thinkers. We forget about all the details on how to get to that big picture, but as the leader you can't allow yourself to let those minute details slide. If you do, then the final outcome will definitely not be to your liking.

3. Create a cohesive team. You must have confidence in your team and their abilities. Knowing who fits in where in your team is crucial to creating success. You need to assign the ?right' people to the ?right' tasks. If Suzie doesn't like concept writing, but loves to work on graphics, then make sure you assign her that portion of the job. Knowing the strengths of each member of the team is crucial in achieving a super end result. No one likes to work on something they detest doing. By forcing them to take on duties they absolutely hate creates resentment, and resentment either slows down the entire project or provides a poor performance.

4. Work smarter, not harder. I know you've heard this phrase a million times, but it bears repeating. By learning to delegate the workload to the right person will lift some of the weight of turning in a top-notch end result off your own shoulders. Your role is to be the visionary - not the micro-manager! You role model what it means to be a leader and a follower, and in turn you inspire and create great leaders for the future.

And isn't that the purpose of being a great leader?