Cook's Connections (Blog)

From Forbes.com 

 

Glenn Llopis, Contributor

Many people wonder how leaders know how to make the best decisions, often under immense pressure.  The process of making these decisions comes from an accumulation of experiences and encounters with a multitude of difference circumstances, personality types and unforeseen failures.   More so, the decision making process is an acute understanding of being familiar with the cause and effect of behavioral and circumstantial patterns;  knowing the intelligence and interconnection points of the variables involved in these patterns allows a leader to confidently make decisions and project the probability of their desired outcomes.   The most successful leaders are instinctual decision makers.

Here are 15 things you must do automatically, every day, to be a successful leader in the workplace:

1.  Make Others Feel Safe to Speak-Up

2.  Make Decisions

3.  Communicate Expectations

4.  Challenge People to Think

“If you are not thinking, you’re not learning new things.  If you’re not learning, you’re not growing”

5.  Be Accountable to Others;  Successful leaders allow their colleagues to manage them. 

6.  Lead by Example

7.  Measure & Reward Performance

8.  Provide Continuous Feedback

“Successful leaders always provide feedback and they welcome reciprocal feedback by creating trustworthy relationships with their colleagues.”

9.  Properly Allocate and Deploy Talent

10.  Ask Questions, Seek Counsel

“…on the inside, they have a deep thirst for knowledge and constantly are on the look-out to learn new things because of their commitment to making themselves better through the wisdom of others”

11.  Problem Solve; Avoid Procrastination

12.  Positive Energy & Attitude

13.  Be a Great Teacher

“Successful leaders never stop teaching because they are so self-motivated to learn themselves.  They use teaching to keep their colleagues well-informed and knowledgeable through statistics, trends, and other newsworthy items”

14.  Invest in Relationships

15.  Genuinely Enjoy Responsibilities

Successful leaders love being leaders – not for the sake of power but for the meaningful and purposeful impact they can create.   When you have reached a senior level of leadership – it’s about your ability to serve others and this can’t be accomplished unless you genuinely enjoy what you do.

In the end, successful leaders are able to sustain their success because these 15 things ultimately allow them to increase the value of their organization’s value – while at the same time minimize the operating risk profile.   They serve as the enablers of talent, culture and results.

Tagged: Leadership