Every leader needs a following! Good leaders are supported because people trust and respect them, not simply for the skills they possess.

Leadership is about behaviour first … skills second

You manage things … but people must be lead

Leadership relies on management skills, but far more so on qualities such as integrity, vision, courage, commitment, passion, confidence, enthusiasm, innovation, determination and sensitivity.

Use these 5 Tips to develop your leadership ability and C.O.U.R.A.G.E.

1. Manager to Leader

Not all managers are leaders. But being a great leader… starts with being a good manager.

Leadership gets you from 0-1… then good management then gets you from 2-10.

Managers focus on DOING:

• Implementing
• Tactical
• Detail
• Shorter-term
• Hands-on
• Directing
• Task focus
• Doing things right

Leaders focus on ENABLING:

• Planning
• Strategic
• Big picture
• Longer-term
• Hands-off
• Inspiring
• People focus
• Doing right things

As a leader, your role is to create a compelling vision that your people want to be a part of. You need to decide ‘which wall to lean your ladder against’. Involve your people where appropriate, in how you will achieve your goals.

2. Letting go

Consider the balance between the level of freedom that you choose to give to your team, and the level of authority used by yourself. As your team's freedom is increased, so your use of authority decreases. This is a positive way for both teams and managers to develop.

As a manager and leader, one of your key responsibilities is to develop your people. You should delegate and ask your team to make its own decisions to varying degrees according to their abilities.

The 6 levels of delegated freedom:

1. Leader announces their decision.

2. Leader 'sells' their decision to the team.

3. Leader suggests a provisional decision… and invites discussion about it.

4. Leader presents the situation, gets suggestions… then decides.

5. Leader explains situation, defines the parameters… then asks the team to decide.

6. Leader allows team to identify the problem, develop options… and decide on action.

It’s extremely important to remember that irrespective of the amount of authority, responsibility and freedom you delegate to your team, YOU retain full accountability for any problems that may result.

YOU are ultimately responsible for judging the seriousness of any given situation – including the risks entailed – and the level of freedom that can safely be granted to the team to deal with it.

3. 3 key responsibilities

As a leader, you have 3 key areas of responsibility:

• Achieving the TASK
• Building & maintaining the TEAM
• Developing INDIVIDUALS

Taking action in each of these 3 areas (and keeping the balance right), gets results, builds morale, improves quality, develops people, teams and productivity, and is the mark of any successful leader.

Achieving the task:

• Define tasks and objectives
• Produce a workable plan
• Communicate clear tasks and objectives
• Allocate work and resources – get ‘buy-in’
• Set standards of performance
• Review performance against plan
• Adjust the plan if needed

Building the team:

• Uphold agreed standards
• Maintain discipline
• Resolve conflict
• Build team spirit
• Encourage, motivate, give purpose
• Delegate – appoint sub-leaders
• Ensure communication with the team
• Train, coach and develop

Developing each individual:

• Attend to personal problems
• Appreciation and praise
• Reprimand and redirect
• Appraise performance
• Recognise and use individual abilities
• Train, coach and develop
• Encourage and motivate
• Communicate

4. Confidence

Confidence is essential. People will rapidly sense whether you have it or not. So building self-confidence is always the starting point in becoming a leader. But never let it become over-confidence, the first station on the track leading to arrogance!

• How would you rate your self-confidence (1-10)?
• How do others rate you?
• Which aspects of your role do you feel confident about?
• Which aspects do you need to build more confidence in?
• Where might you be in danger of being over-confident or complacent?

5. Opportunities

Leaders create opportunities for both themselves and others and are quick to grasp new opportunities as they arise. They are proactive and recognise there’s a big difference between doing things right (efficiency) and doing the right things (effectiveness).

• What was the last opportunity you created for yourself or one of your people?
• Who should you be talking or listening to, to seek out new opportunities?
• How could you be more proactive in creating new opportunities for yourself or others?