Leadership for Business Success

Business success is essentially the result of successful leadership.

Have you ever heard someone being described as “a born leader?”

While some people have a natural ability, leadership skills can be learned and developed by anyone.

A business is a distinct reflection of its leader. A business is never successful despite the leader, it is always succeeds or fails because of the leader.

I have identified seven key leadership attributes that successful leaders always have in spades.

7 LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES

There are 7 key attributes that a leader must develop if the business is going to succeed.

A leader must:

1. have vision,
2. be values driven,
3. inspire others,
4. set standards,
5. orchestrate methods,
6. understand people and
7. must measure results.

1 Vision

Vision is the attribute that drives the leader and becomes the purpose and motivation driving the business. The leader’s vision allows him or her to clearly visualise how the business will look when it is fully developed. The leader’s passion for the vision creates an intensity or internal drive, that will become an unstoppable force that drives the future of the business. For the leader with intense vision, the business is a means to an end, the vehicle which allows the vision to be fulfilled. The leaders’ function is to develop the business and if the vision is intense, they will never allow themselves to become bogged down by the day to day details. The end result is always the focus and they develop the strategies and the plan to get there.

2 Values Driven

A successful leader always has strong values that underpin the behaviours that people in the business typically display. A successful leader makes sure that everyone in the business is in alignment with vision and values, so that the culture that develops in the business is strong and cohesive. When leaders allow people with different values to co-exist in the business, the people with strong values, especially around honesty and integrity, will be frustrated when others are less careful with the truth or commitments they make. They will eventually leave because of this. When the people with good values leave, what are you left with? Insisting on strong, positive ethical values leads to having a committed and cohesive team that can be relied on to give their best. Who wouldn’t want that?

3 Inspires Others

A strong leader influences others and inspires them to join the quest to fulfill the vision. For the leader, it is much more important that the people recruited to the cause are committed to the same vision, rather than having all the appropriate skills to do the work functions. Skills can be taught, but commitment is inherent.

4 Sets Standards

The leader sets the standards for performance in the business. If this is not planned, performance will be random. The team will naturally follow the example of the leader.To be effective, it is best that the standards are clearly spelled out so there is no misunderstanding of what the leader expects.

5 Orchestrator

To the successful leader, how things are done are important. The quality of the products and service must not be left to chance. The strong leader takes the trouble to determine the best way for things to be done and orchestrates the methods used in the business to perform the work. This allows the business to be well organised. Quality Assurance systems are based on orchestration.

6 Understands People

The successful leader understands that the business must meet the needs of people, it must motivate them. It must motivate customers to buy and it must motivate employees to perform. A leader must have empathy and an ability to get inside the mind of the customers and employees. Ultimately, the leader who cares more about others than themselves will be treated with trust and respect and will attract quality staff and raving fans.

7 Measures Results

Results is what it is all about. The successful leader is results oriented and measures progress towards achieving the results, which leads to fulfilling the mission. Knowing the results allows the leader to redirect employees if results are not on track and to reward employees for good performance. A good leader keeps track of progress and results at all times, so they can make effective decisions.

Leadership is the most important skill for a business owner. Developing these leadership attributes will help you achieve greater success in business. Make sure you set aside time to develop these attributes. Even a born leader can do better by working on themselves in these areas.

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