We need to be the type of leader we would follow.
What type of leader would you follow? Do you possess the skills and behaviors of what you describe? What about during times of crises?
Fortune Magazine’s Geoff Colvin writes about 3 Keys To Leading In A Crisis and shares that leaders will benefit by following a few principles; excerpts include:
People Want To Be Led
No group accomplishes much if no one is in charge. In a life-threatening historic crisis, we want direction more than ever.
We want a leader who has the power we do not, and we look to the leader to assume part of our burden allowing us to sleep at night. If you’re in charge – be in charge.
Be Decisive
In a crisis, even people who would normally be at one another’s throats accepts that major decisions must be made quickly (and possibly debated after the fact).
The difficulty is that just when decisions are most easily accepted, they’re hardest to make. Decisions are made with incomplete information; stakes are high, yet firm (and timely) decisions must be made.
Define Reality and Give Hope
People hunger for the unvarnished truth about their organization and prospects and they can sense evasion a mile away.
The leader’s art is outlining reality unflinchingly and framing it as a challenge that can be met, not as a disaster that must be endured. Effective leaders never make a promise that can’t be kept with 100% certainty; they do offer realistic reasons for hope.
Followers want to trust their leader; they want their leaders to be authentic and lead with integrity. They want their leaders to communicate and keep in touch, they want re-assurance, and they want to know what plans are in place for dealing with the change(s).
Tall orders, and as John Maxwell says “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
Are you the type of leader you would follow?
There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us.
-Simon Sinek