There are so many approaches to leadership that you can be confused with what is the best one to take for you. Each piece of learning material you come across will teach you the value of targets or learning to speak to people with the right tone of voice, and learning which buzz words inspire the most. These are all valuable tools, but the one thing you need to learn before you embark on any of those lessons is how to trust in the one thing that will get you and everyone in your team through tough times, deliver projects on time, and encourage great working relationships, yourself!
Trusting your instincts as a leader is a trait that we can all benefit from, and it’s amazing that so many of us simply do not have this skill. Great leaders all have a crisis of confidence, but they are able to give out an image of unwavering belief in their teams. This is what will help your colleagues to trust you above anything else. You can learn the importance of developing great working relationships through fantastic online resources. You can learn about collaborative relationships through organizations likeCMA Learning, and their value. The importance of collaborating will help to nurture future working relationships with colleagues, and further strengthens the organization as a whole, but if you don’t have the necessary belief in your abilities first, the rest is almost meaningless.
So how can we develop this belief in ourselves? The cynical amongst us think that we are unable to change and we just deal with what we are dealt. That is not true, but as long as you can lead with a firm belief in what you are doing is correct, then the rest falls into place. The one thing to further this is simply gaining life experience. By learning from your own mistakes and human errors, you are simply strengthening your skills as a leader. You can learn about leading out of books and apply certain techniques in the workplace, but in order to have the “abilities” of a leader, you have to learn by doing. It is a fact of life that we learn best by making mistakes, and to learn how to lead, you need to do just that.
It may sound like a lot of hyperbole, but to become a leader you don’t necessarily have to fulfill a certain profile, but you do need to trust yourself. And that is what really matters when making important decisions that affect your staff. The modern workplace is full of people that are willing to rat out their best friend just to get a minuscule promotion. Are they made of what it takes to be a proper leader? No, they will get found out eventually, that they have lied their way to the top. But if you want to be a real leader, and do it with honesty and integrity, then you have to learn to trust your instincts. It may be a simple answer, but it’s the real one when it comes to leading!
