Great leaders put themselves second

Great leaders are one thing above all else, selfless. They are successful because they always put the team first. Everything they do is geared towards maximising the potential of their people, thus achieving the best collective result.

As a leader it’s your duty to put aside your individuals goals

Think of a great leader. Abraham Lincoln, Sir Alex Ferguson, the Queen? They are all remarkable individuals, of course, but their achievements would have paled in comparison were it not for the strong network they surrounded themselves with and fostered daily.

Getting the best out of those around you requires a large degree of selflessness. As a leader it’s your duty to put aside your individual goals and ambitions and instead focus on collective targets – you’ll find that the attainment of these often gives rise to the realisation of your own objectives.

Here’s how to put your selflessness into action and become a successful leader:

1. Develop your EQ

It’s essential to distinguish between ‘management’ and ‘leadership’. Management is comprised of successfully setting objectives and working towards the fulfilment of them. Managing a team requires such management competencies such as the ability to time manage, understand the business functions and allocate tasks correctly and so on.

A leader, however, is a person who is able to understand, motivate and direct people – both individually and collectively. Great leadership requires an advanced level of emotional intelligence (EQ). Good EQ is comprised of many components; including primarily the ability understand people and their motivations, sometimes even better than they themselves do. Knowing what your team want and being able to cater to those desires will help you develop your selflessness to a point which will bring you great acclaim and success.

If your EQ could do with improving then visit an earlier blog written by Nick Deligiannis, ‘The one skill set every leader needs’.

2. Establish a collective vision

Another essential facet of great leadership is the ability to define and realize a common objective and lead your team to it in a holistic way. A team which has no mutual understanding will only result in every employee performing their individual function, without common business objectives in mind. Such an approach lacks synergy, which is very detrimental to overall productivity.

You need to get your employees thinking big, and breaking out of silos

You need to get your employees thinking big, and breaking out of silos. Our CEO Alistair Cox believes that, “As a leader, it is a key part of your role to help all your employees to see the bigger picture of what you are trying to achieve and to understand how they personally fit into achieving this vision. Encouraging their thinking about the bigger picture provides employees with context, encourages loyalty and helps to foster a feeling of connectedness and common purpose.” Encouraging such selflessness in this instance is best achieved by demonstrating it; lead by example. Articulate that your primary goals are those of the team and that in order for the team to reach their full potential everyone needs to be willing to put themselves second.

3. Analyse situations impartially

A successful leader carries out constant internal and external analyses of everything around. When presented with a challenging situation, you first should ask yourself:

• Why has this happened and what conclusions should I draw?
• What has led me to this point?
• Which of my decisions or maybe negligence have caused the current situation?

]At this stage you should be extremely fair and segregate external causes which are beyond your control and internal causes which are within your control and analyse the latter in an unbiased manner.

Good leaders take full responsibility for situations of their own creation, both good and bad. By not shouldering the blame where applicable you are both making it impossible to learn from your mistake (and are therefore likely to make it again) and distancing yourself from your team. Even where culpability is slightly uncertain show that you’re willing to take one for the team; helping you both to endear yourself to your team and to encourage a culture which doesn’t obsess over individual errors.

4. Forgive quickly

Everyone makes mistakes and you should be able to forgive yourself for yours and let others make theirs (as long as they aren’t too frequent!). Most of us are stronger for the mistakes that we make; since we are unlikely to make them again we become more adept professionals.

In order to develop ourselves we sometimes need to take risks, and risk can occasionally result in error. Therefore mistakes are natural, and likely, so recognise them as such. Encourage growth within your team by forgiving mistakes quickly, and instead focusing on the lessons that can be learnt from a slip-up.

5. Expand your network of trust

Employees need a degree of autonomy in the work that they do in order to feel satisfied and competent

It’s important to let your team make their own solo flight once in a while. This is the only way to develop an employee’s confidence in their own ability. This is the same as childhood: sooner or later the safety wheels have to come off for us to learn to ride a bicycle properly. What separates a great leader from a good leader is having the EQ to know when an employee is ready to take on extra responsibility. It’s about showing your colleagues that you trust them, in turn making them more competent professionals.

Delegating responsibilities effectively not only creates a cohesive and effective workforce, but also a confident and motivated one. Employees need a degree of autonomy in the work that they do in order to feel satisfied and competent. Getting the balance right between avoiding micro-management and having sufficient oversight on team projects is a principal characteristic of successful leaders.

A final thought

So, whilst you might be a very integral cog within your business, you are a lot less integral without the people beneath you. Pay them heed by showing them you understand that it’s not all about you and that business success is dependent on them as much as it is you.

• 4 ways to grow yourself global
• Training at the top
• Prioritising personality in your hiring process
• Are you a ‘global citizen’?
• Establishing an effective middle management tier
• How to lead from afar
• Successful people create their own luck

Share this blog: