LEADERS H. E. L. P. OTHERS

Put really simply , the difference between leaders and non leaders is that leaders HELP others.

HONOUR - leaders honour others. They respect them. They treat them as humans, not as ways of getting things done. They recognise diversity and difference.

ENGAGE - leaders are about others. They try to understand what motivates people. Instead of telling people what to do they start by telling them why.

LISTEN - leaders take time to listen, truly listen, not just hear. Listening to others is one of the most powerful ways of showing respect and engaging others.

PROMOTE - leaders care for their people. They support and actively encourage them to be more than they could otherwise.

What are you doing to H.E.L.P your people?

CAN YOU H.E.L.P ME?

I am exploring the concept of 'Leaders H.E.L.P' others and I want to invite you to participate. Send me as many leadership words as you can start with H, E, L or P. Either email me (greg@licencetolead.com.au or go to Facebook - see the link to the right).
H words - eg, honesty, hustle, heighten
E words - eg empower, enthusiasm, encourage.
L words - eg, love, lift, leverage.
P words - eg, passion, productive, protect.

Everyone who contributes will go into the draw for a copy of my book, 'Road Rules for Leadership'.

FIVE STEPS TO BUILDING TRUST

In his book, 'The Speed of Trust', Stephen Covey makes the point that where trust exists in teams and in relationships, things happen faster. Where there is a lack of trust, things take longer to do as people slow down as they are not sure about who and what they are dealing with.

Team members who trust each other are happier and more effective. As with most things that happen at a cultural level, the leader is responsible for establishing trust with a team. 

Here are five things you can do to promote trust amongst your team members.

1. Tell it straight. Be a straight shooter and a straight talker. Make sure that everyone believes that what you say is the truth. Ensure that they don't have to second guess what comes out of your mouth.

2. Clarify expectations. Make sure that everyone knows exactly what you expect from them and exactly what they can expect from you.

3. Be reliable. Deliver on your promises or don't make them. Letting people down will lead them to doubt you and your intentions in the future. Don't give them reason to do this.

4. Be accountable. Take ownership of the outcomes of your actions. Put your hand up if you stuff up.

5. Face the tough stuff. Don't dodge difficult decisions or conversations. Show others that you have the courage to lead by facing up to difficulties.

These should be the actions of you as the leader, but you should create an environment or culture where everyone buys in and creates trust in the team.

YOU ONLY BECOME A LEADER WHEN YOU REALISE THIS

We become leaders the day we decide to help people grow, not numbers

Simon Sinek

I have been emphasising with the aspiring leaders I work with lately, that leadership is not all about us, but what we do with and for the people we lead. Simon Sinek's recent Facebook post absolutely resonates with this. We all want to be good at what we do. We all want to be the best we can be. But if we want to maximise our leadership influence, we must understand that it's not all about us.

True leaders understand that leadership is not about them, but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves, but about lifting others up

Sheri L Drew

Strive to be the best you can be, but realise that a leader's most important responsibility is to lift and inspire the performance of others.I have been challenging leaders to ask this simple question of their people. "What can I do to help you do your job?" Are you game enough to ask it?

5 SIMPLE STEPS TO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

If you Google 'leadership book' you will find 425 million search results. 'Leadership program' will get you 447 million results.  I guess you can't blame people for feeling overwhelmed. I reckon one of the reasons people shy away from leadership responsibility is that they think it is hard. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be.

If we had to boil leadership down to its purest essence it would look something like this.

Care about others. Leading is all about helping others achieve good things, so being selfless or at least not being self absorbed will help. I once heard Wayne Bennett say "if you don't like people, then leadership is going to be tough for you".

Have a plan. Be prepared to say “this is where we need to go and this is how we are going to get there”. People want to see a clear and exciting vision for the future. Show them one and take them with you.

Get things done. Leading is about communicating but it is also about doing and getting results. Leaders have to back up their talk with their walk. Make sure that your time management and your commitment to planning mean that you get stuff done.

Shoulder responsibility. Show others that you are prepared to be accountable for what you and they do together. To make this even more effective, be crystal clear about what you expect from them, then hold them (and yourself) accountable.

Lift others. Somehow, leaders get others to try harder than they normally would. They are able to ‘lift’ performances because they understand what motivates others. They show others that they care. They grow and develop the skills of others.

We tend to over complicate most things, but if you want to be a more effective leader, KISS!

271 MILLION DEFINITIONS OF LEADERSHIP, BUT THIS IS THE ONLY ONE YOU NEED

Click here if you want to watch the video of this blog (2 min)

I am often asked for a definition of leadership. People tend to like to define things so they are easier to understand. I just Googled 'definition of leadership' and I got 271 million search results. As you know, I like to keep things simple and straightforward, so here's the one I use.

Leadership is 'positive influence'.

Years ago I read a book by Robin Sharma called 'The Leader Who Had No Title'. It greatly influenced the way I think about leadership. In the book Robin makes the point that you don't need a title or position to lead. Anyone can 'positively influence' others.

Think about this for a minute. Many people (maybe even you) think that leadership is not their concern as they aren't the boss (or don't have a title). But what if we all adopted the concept of leadership being positive influence? That would mean that everyone in your organisation could be a leader. Everyone could focus on positively influencing everyone else. In my mind, that would be a game changer.

Who can you lead, or positively influence? If you have people reporting to you, what can you do to positively influence them? What about your peers or even your manager? Certainly you could focus on positively influencing your customers and even suppliers.

Just imagine what your organisation would be like if everyone was focused on positively influencing everyone else!

What can you do today to positively influence those around you?