Articles - Leadership and Public Speaking

Written by David Mudie

Thursday, 26 April 2007

The three characteristics are like the legs of a barn stool. If any of the legs are missing the stool will fall over. If any of the three characteristics are missing in a leader, his influence will also collapse. The characteristics are...

The Three Characteristics of a Leader

The three characteristics of a leader is one of the most powerful secrets that I know. Start implementing them and you will be well on your way to being a truly effective motivator.

Competence

It is difficult to be inspired by people and follow them when you don’t have any faith in their ability. If a supervisor is not capable of doing his job, his people are usually covering for him, or worse, trying to avoid the blame that is being directed towards them for his failures. Either way, it is not going to be a motivating experience for them.

Competence does not mean that a supervisor is technically capable of doing the job that his staff is doing. As previously mentioned, being able to perform the task can actually be a hindrance for a supervisor if he will not let his staff perform it. Leaders need to be competent at supervisory and leadership skills. They must know
• What the team’s responsibilities are
• Who is looking after each aspect of those responsibilities
• How to delegate responsibilities
• How to create a vision and communicate it.
• How to track progress and setbacks
• How to give feedback
• And most importantly, how to motivate and inspire the team.

It is this sites’s purpose to give you these skills. Remember though, you must do more than know them; you must put them into practice.

Integrity

Competence deals with a leader’s ability to carry out responsibilities and whether he is able to make the correct choices. Integrity deals with motivation and whether he will choose to make the correct choices.

People typically make decisions based on what they believe is best for them. Fortunately for most organizations, their employees believe that as the organization prospers, they too will move ahead. If an employee believes otherwise his is most likely to make decisions contrary to what will benefit the organization.

It is therefore imperative that the employee experiences integrity of the leadership in dealing with the employee himself, other employees, customers, suppliers, the community, and the owners.

Any lapse in integrity will cause damage to your credibility that is almost certainly irreparable.

I once reported to a supervisor who continually lied. At one phase of my career she blocked my application to transfer to another team. This was not because I didn’t deserve the transfer or that I didn’t have the required skills.

She blocked it because the skills that I had were irreplaceable to her. The only software tool that she understood was being phased out (and I was one of her developers with this tool). If she lost a developer she wouldn’t have been able to justify a replacement.

Since this toolset was the only one she understood she was fighting to keep it in use.

She told me that I had not been accepted and that the manager of the new team had made the decision. What she didn’t know was that the manager and I were friends. He told me that she had informed him that I was a terrible employee, did not show initiative, and that she would not allow me to transfer to his important new team because I would jeopardize it.

To be honest she didn’t have a lot of credibility with me to start with, but any that she did have was lost with that incident. She may have blocked me within the company, but she could not block me outside of the company. Any comments, promises, and direction given to me by her were taken in the context of her credibility. It was not long before I was in a much better position in a new company with a supervisor who maintained integrity in every situation that I saw him in.

So what is integrity? One description that I like describes it as the consistent exhibition of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility even when facing adversity.
• Honesty. A refusal to cheat. A commitment to act in a truthful manner.
• Trust. Confidence in the character, ability, or honesty of someone.
• Fairness. Impartiality. The absence of self interest, prejudice, bias, or partiality
• Respect. A high value or regard. To hold in esteem.
• Responsibility. Willing and able to take accountability for his conduct and obligations. Able and ready to fulfill duties.

Develop these five personality attributes and you will develop a strong character; a character of integrity, a character of credibility, a character that has the ability to lead others.

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm: A persuasive excitement.

Enthusiasm is probably the easiest to understand of the three characteristics that are required of a leader. It may also be the one that is most overlooked.

If a supervisor announces to his team that they have to accomplish a project but it is doomed to failure because of:
• The staff’s attitude
• Technology problems
• Political problems
• Or any other range of impediments
the team is certainly going to be influenced, but of course in a negative manner.

If you want to motivate people, you have to be motivated yourself. You need to help them believe that what you are asking them to do is worthwhile and achievable. If they are not convinced that you really believe in the goal, they are not going to believe in it or be motivated either.

One of the most interesting places to watch leadership is within volunteer organizations. They do not have two of the most common negative motivating tools to use, the reward and punishment (or carrot and stick).

Volunteer organizations of course do not have either to rely upon. If the members get frustrated with the organization or the leadership, they can simply leave, perhaps looking for a similar organization with stronger leadership. If you see a successful volunteer organization that has many cheerfully involved people, it will have strong leadership.

The church that I currently attend has two pastors who are both fantastic leaders. They both exhibit the 3 characteristics; integrity, competence, and enthusiasm. They both have extremely high credibility because of their integrity and are extremely competent, each in his own area. One is a very skilled teacher while the other is a wonderful small group and one-on-one pastor. Finally they have an enthusiasm that is contagious. It is because of these leaders that I enjoy this church more than any other I have attended.

Develop in yourself the three characteristics of being a leader and you will become one.

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