You Can Be a Leader: Leadership Principles to Achieve Excellence

Chapter Seventeen Developing Your Leadership Traits and Skills

A good leader once told me, "If you don't stay relevant, you fade away." Let's face it; we all need continual professional development as our careers progress. Falling into the status quo or stagnation trap is easy to do when things are flowing smoothly. Professional development gives us the opportunity to constantly improve our leadership skills and avoid these traps.

As you read this chapter, look for trends in your workplace or your leadership, to identify where you can improve performance. Also, realize where you can make the most of your strong skills and processes to gain an edge over competitors.

Generational advice concerning leading younger workers is effective to keep some of your leadership techniques fresh, but I believe the core concepts of being a good leader have not changed much since the beginning of time. Most of the contemporary relevant changes happening today are related to advances in technology. We all desire to stay relevant, but how do you do it in today's ever-changing environment? Luckily, there are a variety of ways you can stay technologically relevant.

One way is through reading. Read, albeit with a grain of salt, what past and present successful leaders say about their successes and challenges. Read magazines associated with your industry and focus on leaders who harnessed technology to improve performance. Take the good points from your readings and incorporate them into your leadership or procedures at work. Use incremental changes if possible to avoid upending your company.

Another thing you should do, is choose a mentor whom you trust to offer you sound advice. Set up times for discussion with your mentor away from the desk to seek the help you need to overcome challenges. Many times, just discussing an issue with somebody who is not actively involved in your project can bring clarity. A good mentor can also offer you solid career advice.

Professional classes, conferences, and business groups are great ways to venture outside of your established practices. When you attend these conferences, beware you don't become the Easily Influenced Boss, who grasps every single new leadership or technological fad and immediately attempts to implement it at the workplace. Carefully listen, read, and think before you pick what new methods you choose to improve your leadership skills and procedures.

Another thing we all want to improve is our efficiency. Many times when you come in as an outsider, you can easily find inefficiencies in an existing system. This is why so many companies spend a significant sum of money on outside consultants. Consultants are not married to the system they are trying to improve, so it makes it easier for them to find ways to streamline, or even outright change an existing way of doing things.

As an insider, when you make processes more efficient, you may mistakenly be perceived as lazy or trying to take short cuts. If you are efficient, you are most likely working fewer hours to accomplish the same amount of work as your predecessor, or even worse, your existing colleagues. This may breed jealousy in the workplace when your peers see you leaving work on time. Expect your peers to complain to the boss about your work hours. You can prevent this from happening by showing your results and performance to your boss. Don't hide your efficiencies and innovative ways; market them to help the whole company become more efficient and productive. Most people don't easily embrace change. Those who like the status quo may fight any changes.

I have an additional word of caution. When you are strong, confident, and intelligent you may not often seek advice from your leader. Many times this can be mistaken for arrogance. There have been times in my career when my boss perceived me as being arrogant, because I did not continually ask for his advice. I just felt very confident about what I was working on at the moment and didn't realize not asking for advice would bruise my boss's ego. Sometimes you need to pet the kitty to keep things running smoothly.