No, I am not talking about the followers on your social media accounts. I was reading this blog called Become the Leader Worth Following by Lollie Daskal. She highlights what a leader who is worth following demonstrates to their team. Here is a list of the eight ways that are identified in her article:
Leads with ethics
Leads by example
Leads with fairness
Leads with humility
Brings out the best in others
Kindles within others a desire to excel simply by believing in them
Leads with trust
Leads with confidence
A few others came to mind for me as I read through the list.
- Being genuine and authentic. People can see through you when you don’t reflect those traits consistently. In order to build a strong team you need to build trust and you can’t do that without being seen as genuine and authentic.
- Building a connection with people. I enjoy learning about people, what they are motivated by and what interests them. They want to know that you care about them and how they are doing. Pay attention to how the people in your team are doing and look for ways to offer your support when needed.
- The last one may be implied in some of the others listed above, but I am going to call out leading with respect. In order to get respect as a leader, you have to give respect to the team.
These are all the things that I think about when I consider the leaders that I have worked for in the past. I have seen the leaders who have struggled with many of these and the ones who have excelled at them. The leaders that were worth following to me were the ones that I had the most respect for, learned so much from and in many ways emulated them throughout my own leadership journey.
How would you rate your leadership based on this list? Do you see opportunities to make any changes? The best leaders focus on their own personal development on a regular basis. Reach out to me to see how coaching can help you make those changes much more quickly!