Jack Canfield shares five practices for becoming a leader people want to follow: know your strengths and weaknesses, hold yourself and others accountable, create a clear vision, listen for possibility, and coach team members into leadership roles.
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Hi there. Jack Canfield here today and I want to share with you how you can become a leader worth following. Whether you own a business, teach school, manage a small group, coach an athletic team, or working to advance a worthwhile cause, you need to enroll others in order to achieve the success you want. This not only requires you to hold a vision of what success is, but it also requires you to practice leadership skills that will inspire others to want to help you reach that goal. And because our success often requires the help of others, successful people, not surprisingly, are also successful leaders. They know how to communicate their vision in exciting and compelling terms. And they've mastered the skill of motivating others to jump on board with full commitment. They recognize potential in their people. They we coach their team members to go above and beyond and routinely acknowledge others positive contributions. And while great leaders must demand accountability from the people they lead, they also hold themselves accountable for their contribution to the result. So let's take a look at some of the basics of becoming the kind of leader whom people will want to work with and will follow. First, know your strengths and weaknesses. One of the most distinguishing qualities of a great leader is is their dedication to understanding themselves. And when you have a clear sense of who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, you know the impact your behavior has on others, your ability to lead others will improve. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses gives you the ability to discern when your skills will add value or not, and keeps you open to delegating and listening to people with other points of view from yours. Second, hold yourself accountable as well as holding others accountable. Essential to your success in leading others is a commitment to taking 100% responsibility for your own actions and your own results. And when you consistently follow through on your own commitments, you begin to build others trust in your leadership. To be trusted, you must be reliable, punctual, and a person who keeps their agreements. Do you arrive at meetings on time? Do you deliver your part of projects completed and on deadline? Do you abide by promises made to your team members and others? These are the hallmarks of a leader who is responsible and consistent versus one who is perpetually late, unprepared, emotionally, or continually led astray by the latest fad. Of course, no one's perfect, including leaders. But while perfection might be desirable, consistency will be far more impactful because it builds integrity and reliability with your team and it makes you a trustworthy leader. Number three, Inspire your team with a clear, compelling and a continuous vision to inspire others to work tirelessly. To help accomplish your goal. You must first, have a clear and compelling vision of the future. What will you and your team ultimately achieve and by when? What will everyone gain when the goal is reached? Is it honorable, beneficial, ethical and uplifting? And what's so compelling about it? What else will be achieved as your team is striving for this major goal to get other people's buy in, you'll also need to articulate who your team will become as they learn and grow on the path to achieving your vision. Your team must be able to see themselves in the future as better, smarter, stronger, more valued and more confident and defining that outcome, plus the other benefits that people experience. An important part of your clear and compelling vision. Fourth, listen for possibility. Once people are enrolled in the vision, a great leader will listen to his team not only to hear their thoughts and input, but also to make sure they feel heard. People want to know that they make a difference, that their insights and opinions matter. And when you develop your listening skills, you'll be more present in the moment. You'll be curious to hear others options, and you'll be able to truly hear what emerges from a discussion. And you'll be open to a true dialogue with your team instead of simply delivering orders or explaining the game plan. This requires a willingness to be transformed by what you hear, but more important, it requires you to shift your focus from listening for the right way or the wrong way to listening for what is possible. I call this listening for possibility. Number five Coach Others to Take a Leadership Role Growing a team of your own top notch leaders simply makes your life easier. And the most useful skill for growing other leaders is coaching. Through deep listening and skillful questioning, you can help others discover their own solution to problems and discover opportunities instead of being the only person figuring out what to do next. When you use coaching to help others develop their own solutions, you're also helping them develop their own problem solving skills. To any leader who has been bombarded with the simplest and most mundane problems to solve, this idea of empowering your people with their own leadership skills will be a relief, I promise you. So how can you coach your people to become leaders in their own right? Start by asking your people to correctly define the problem. This gets them fully engaged in the process and helps them take ownership of the problem as one that they need to solve. Studies have shown that once a problem or challenge is theirs, it will be solved more efficiently and stay solved longer. If you allow your team to create the solution, you provide direction only when they've reached the limits of their own experience or training. Give people the tools and information they need to solve problems and then let them stretch. I want to leave you with a bit of homework to complete. After you've done watching this video, ask yourself, how can I apply these tips to my current situation to make myself a better leader? How can I use these tips to help empower others? Go ahead and leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thank you for watching. And remember, nothing will change for the better until you do. Now, if you found this video helpful, make sure you like it. Share it with a friend who may need it. Subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one, and for some additional resources on great leadership qualities, visit my website@jackcampfield.com.
