Shawnee Love   •
April 22, 2021

Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, positions and titles. They are not necessarily the one’s in charge, but they are always the ones with influence.  In my opinion, the job of a great leader involves the following critical activities:

Inspire: Leaders have a vision or purpose that they can effectively describe and get people excited about. They may not know the exact way (or be able to predict all the steps to get to their destination) but they can get the right people on board to get there.

Role Model: Leaders are responsible for not just what to accomplish (i.e., their inspiration) but also for how to accomplish the goal.  As teams go through forming, storming, norming and performing stages with all the associated trials and tribulations,  a leader’s job is to ensure the progression through the stages doesn’t degrade into negativity, nastiness, abuse, harassment, bullying, etc. that so many people are apt to display when they feel challenged by uncertainty, change, or fear. To do so, leaders model their own beliefs and values which people and organization align around.

Care: Leaders show in word and deed that they care about their people, the organization, customers, suppliers, and what the organization is trying to accomplish.

Decide: Lets face it. Leaders have to make tough decisions, usually with imperfect information. They go on “gut instinct” which is really a way leaders describe their knowing developed over years of experience and the lessons learned along the way. Upon making a decision, they move forward. They may pause in the future and consider whether the decision needs modifying in light of new information, but they don’t waste time wallowing or beating themselves up.

Execute: Leaders make stuff happen. They don’t settle for “I will get to it”, or “I can’t do it”.  They find a way to move forward.

What activities would you add to a leader’s repertoire?