I am extremely excited to welcome guest blogger Bill Petrie (from Brandivate) to my blog! Today Bill shares his years of wisdom on Leadership and 6 traits we can all embrace to become a better leader. Take it away Bill!
There have been countless articles about what makes a
good leader and experts from Henry Ford to Richard Branson and everyone in
between have weighed in on the topic. So when Kirby asked me to write on this
subject, my initial thought was “what in the world could I say that hasn’t
already been said?”
To get my mind in a creative place, I surrounded myself
in silence and allowed my thoughts to wander: I thought about effective
historical leaders and their personality traits, reminisced about impressive
bosses I’ve had the pleasure to work with, and mused about sports heroes who
led their teams to victory despite overwhelming odds. While it was a great
exercise, it didn’t result in any conclusion other than that there are a myriad
of traits that effective leaders possess.
With that in mind, I decided to shy away from listing the
attributes that that famous leaders have displayed throughout time. Instead, I
thought it better list a few key qualities that I not only admire in leaders,
but aspire to myself:
1. Listen – This is a fairly obvious
quality for a leader, but a difficult one to master. Too many times we appear
to be listening while we are really formulating our response. Take steps to
ensure you are listening with the intent to understand rather than with the
intent to reply.
2. Get Uncomfortable – Ask your associates
for honest feedback – and mean it. When you put yourself in a position to be
exposed, you become a real person to your subordinates. This vulnerability
gives you the opportunity to connect on a human-to-human level from a position
of confidence. Weak people don’t ask for or want candid feedback.
3. Care – Take time every day to see your
team members as real people. Ask sincere questions about their family, their
passions, and their personal goals – and look them in the eye when they answer.
Your associates have lives outside of the work they do on behalf of your
passion – express a personal interest in the people they are beyond that work.
4. Embrace the Oops – Grant your team the
security to make mistakes and learn from them. By allowing your team members to
make the occasional blunder and, more importantly, learn from them, you both
empower and develop them.
5. Be Slow to Solve for People – When team
members invariably ask you how to handle an issue, situation, or business
matter, resist the urge to tell them how you would do it. Instead, ask them how
THEY
would handle it. It not only provides you with some great insight to how your
team members problem solve, it creates a true culture of collaboration where
people feel valued.
6. Protect the Culture – There are many
job functions that can be taught: processes, procedures, systems, forms, etc.
However, no matter effect the teacher, attitude cannot be learned. Show your
team that you will preserve your culture by bringing in the right people, not
just the right skills.
Obviously there are endless attributes exhibited by
effective leaders so this list is not exactly exhaustive. The five points do,
however, are great reminders as business owners and leaders continue to press
their organizations forward.
One final thought – don’t confuse management with
leadership. Management is focused on tasks. Leadership is focused on people.
And people should always trump tasks.
Bill Petrie has been a LEADER in the promotional industry for over 15 years. He is the CEO and Founder of Brandivate, a company designed to help YOUR company stand out in a crowded market place. You can learn more about Brandivate here.
You can connect with Bill via:
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