Chris Farmer asked:
All leader managers share six common characteristics:
1. Purpose
2. Communication
3. Plan Ahead
4. Conflict
5. Inspire Self towards the positive
6. Inspire Others towards the positive
These six can be summarised as;
“Be clear, treat people and problems according to the laws of reason and then, within reason, maintain a positive mental attitude.
Clarity is the most important characteristic of the leader manager.
Clarity relates to developing two specific forms;
1. purpose
2. communication
It means knowing what goals you want to achieve and the ability to focus your mind without distraction for months and years.
Any person, who takes the necessary time to achieve a state of definite purpose, has the potential to lead others to that purpose.
Communication
You may have clear ideas, but you may not be able to express those ideas to others such that they understand the full meaning.
Anyone wanting to develop their skills as a leader should develop their ability to use language:
* With accuracy
* With persuasion
The leader needs to be able to simultaneously be able to clearly explain complex ideas, and do so in language that will inspire other people to act.
Reason is the ability to think clearly
It means developing the ability to build plans of action that are likely to achieve the goal.
There are two main aspects where you may want to use your powers of reason;
1. Planning
2. Conflict resolution.
Planning
Planning is the ability to;
1. Prioritise tasks according to value and deadline
2. Delegate relatively lower value tasks
3. Handle interruptions
4. Make accurate decisions
5. Get the maximum value from every hour spent
Planning is a prerequisite of continued achievement.
Conflict
Conflict is inevitable and even beneficial, provided conflict is resolved rationally with no anger or enmity.
If conflict remains rational, better solutions emerge. When two people’s ideas contradict each other, through synthesis, a new idea emerges.
The team leader must be able to resolve conflict;
1. Quickly
2. Objectively
3. In a factual way
4. According to rational principles
This takes careful thought and careful language.
Emotions
The Positive emotions such as;
1. Enthusiasm,
2. Confidence
3. Energy
Are the spark that transforms logical plans into action.
Most people live in the hope that something outside of them will inspire positive emotions inside of them.
But the environment has a tendency to de-motivate, because bad news sells more copy than good news.
We are fed “fear messages”
To keep going through the disappointments the leader must create enthusiasm
The ability to manage the emotions has two aspects;
1. Your own emotions
2. The emotions of others
Manage your own emotions
If it is the leaders job to inspire others, then who inspires the leaders?
Nobody.
The leaders inspire themselves.
That means;
1. Constantly being positive
2. Setting up challenges that they can meet
3. Expecting things to be better in the future
4. Refusing to accept the words “I can’t” and replacing them with “We can, if…”
5. Taking defeat as temporary and always coming back stronger with a better plan.
This is each person’s individual choice: to be as confident in the future as his or her present circumstances reasonably permit.
This takes mental discipline, the ability to control your own mind, and the constant practice of the art of positive affirmation.
The ability to inspire others.
In this regard there are three types
The person who does inspire you. You may know at least one person that you can rely on to raise your spirits,
These people represent the ideal.
The second type is the person who is up one day and down the next,
On a good day this person is optimistic.
On a bad day this person is equally negative.
This does not represent the ideal because the moodiness creates uncertainty.
The third type is consistent but they are consistently down and pessimistic.
You can present this person with any situation and they will see the reasons why it is bad news.
This type represents the antithesis of the ideal.
In summary these virtues are;
1. Clear Goal
2. Clear communicator
3. Planner
4. Rational conflict manager
5. Ability to inspire self
6. Ability to inspire others
Our suggestion to you is;
Memorise the above six, and consciously develop yourself in each area.