Leadership

Everyone has a chance to be a decision maker, to be a leader. You make decision on daily basis, from which restaurant to dine, to uncountable tasks in everyday lives. You may not born to be a leader, but you can put in effort to train yourself become the one.

What makes a good leader? I got this article from one of forwarded mail, which I would like to share it with you.

(1) Communication
Communication is one of the most key elements of leadership. Good communication skills need to be learned to effectively become a good leader or manager. When communication occurs, as a leader, you will be able to accurately convey your ideas and thoughts to those that work for you.

In fact, a good communication skill puts you in the right direction for leadership. If employees have no idea what is on your mind, your leadership is going to falter. Employees are not typically mind readers.


(2) Motivation
Motivation is another variable that plays into good leadership. Employees tend to stagnate when motivation decreases…and it will decrease, without proper motivation. Many leaders try to motivate the old-fashioned way…through fear. (Do what I say or something bad will happen) This is not advisable, since it tends to only deliver short-term results and cause even less competent work in the long run, due to resentment resulting from the fear tactics. Instead, try adding challenges for employees.

A fresh challenge always adds excitement and spawns creativity. Challenge your employees with tasks that may be slightly out of their range and let them at it! This increases motivation. If they run into a snag, guide them towards a solution but don’t offer the actual solution outright. Coach them into discovering the solution themselves. Once they have, their self-esteem will rise, thereby raising their motivation level.


(3) Teamwork
Teamwork is always something to consider when striving to become a good leader. This means not only teaching your employees to work together but to become part of the team yourself. Use others’ potential. Many times, employees’ potential is wasted. A good leader recognizes and trust his employees' ability. A good leader doesn’t manage every single detail. Use others’ potential to your benefit. You will find that you have become a better leader for it.


I believe in "Praise in public, Punish in closed door". Being a technical support, we expected to fix thing when there is problem arise. For me to start the investigation and fault finding, I always start the question, "what just happened?". I have no intention to know WHO did it, but WHAT has changed and HOW it happened. Blaming cannot get the things back to original, so I prefer to investigate with WHAT and HOW, but not WHO. It works for me most of the time.

Everyone can lead, but not everyone can be a good leader. Are you?