The four pillars of great Leadership

Decide

It is important that a great leader decides what to do and is decisive. This means that they think things through carefully and then make considered decisions. They will consult with others as appropriate – team members, colleagues, managers, experts – but they will make their own decisions. Whether right or wrong they will take responsibility for the decision. Deciding where to take the team has to be the starting point. Without good decision making you can still lead a team but you won’t lead it to success.

To be decisive you will need to be able to make hypotheses and then research, communicate, ask questions, observe and listen well. You must then take the knowledge you have gained and use it to decide the best course of action.

 

Direct

Having made decisions you then have to direct the team to execute the plan to carry out the decisions.

To do this you need to set the direction and delegate tasks to the team. You will need planning skills as well as good communication skills. You will need to delegate and you may need to coach team members to bring their skill levels to the required level.

 

Drive

Having directed the team you then need to drive performance. You must motivate the team and individual members so that they themselves take on ownership or to quote Lao Tzu from the quotation above: “The great leader is he who the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” . You need to develop a cohesive team. You need to manage performance. You will seek to monitor, review and continuously improve performance and introduce innovative ways of doing things.

 

Deal

Finally you need to deal with issues and challenges that may arise. These may be people issues. You need skills in listening and holding difficult conversations. You may meet challenges along the way and will need resilience to deal with these changes.

 

That’s all there is to great leadership really. Simple!

If you would like further details on leadership development please contact the Frontline Management Institute at fmi@fmi-au.com or phone +61 2 9660 0199. We can help you analyse development needs in your organisation, contact us for a free initial consultation.