The characteristics of leadership we expect from the local nonprofit or sporting club, to the largest businesses in the country, to the Prime Minister, are pretty much the same.
Trust.
We need to trust them. Trust is earned by the behaviour we observe, never just given. It is also incremental, built over time, but is also fragile, and can be brought down in a minute by one bad example. The test, if there is such a thing is whether we believe that the private conversations the ‘leader’ is having are the same as the public ones, and would they be prepared to say those private things on the 6 O’clock news. By this test, many in prominent so called ‘leadership’ roles in this country fail. Dismally.
Dependability.
This has many forms, from delivering on the big promises made, to turning up on time for an appointment with the local hairdresser. In any leadership role, no matter the size, when a real leader finds themselves from time to time unable to deliver, they do not walk away from the fact, they acknowledge the failure, learn from it, and move on. To many, this is the essence of leadership, to me, in it’s simplest form, it is just common courtesy painted on a wider canvas.
Competence.
Someone placed in a leadership role, who is an example of the Peter principal is corrosive to the rest of the organisation. Those being led must believe that the leader is someone they can follow, and learn from. That does not mean they never make a mistake, it does not mean they are never unsure of themselves, or exhibit human frailties, it just means that we believe that they have the wisdom, skills and experience to get the job done.
Humanity.
We are herd animals, we rely on those around us for safety, and security. We have evolved and prospered as a species because we are able to collaborate and care for one another and rely on our neighbours in times of stress and crisis. In short, we care about others. Someone in a leadership position who does not care about those being led, is not a leader, at best they are a manager, dispensable and easily replaced.
When an individual displays these four characteristics, followers just seem to appear.
Header by DALL-E, who cannot be made to spell correctly no matter how hard I try to get its digital brain cells to listen!!
NOTE: Before posting this, I saw I had written an almost identical post a few years ago. While the four parameters are the same, the way I expressed them is a bit different. So, rather than scrapping it, as i have done before when realising i am repeating myself, I elected to post it anyway. Repeating a good idea is rarely a bad thing.
