Article Series - Entrepreneurship for Dummines = Five Core Disciplines of Leadership

Leadership! What does this word mean to you? For most, the word leadership is reserved for the elite, the few special people with extraordinary skills and gifs. Leadership is not a gift or a position; it’s a state of mind. Always remember, the disposition of a leader is different from that of a follower.

The first thing that must be understood is that leadership is a choice. Leadership starts in the mind. It’s your thought patterns that separate you from those that follow. Being a leader is about you as an individual, not the position you hold as CEO, pastor or supervisor. No matter what position you hold within an organization, you are able to be a leader if you think like a leader. Leadership starts with a revelation concerning who you are as a person. Understanding who you are is crucial to your role as a leader.

Every effective leader has a vision. A vision is a goal to reach for. It’s an image that must be manifested. As a leader, your followers are looking to you for direction and guidance. To lead a group of people effectively, you must have a destination in mind. You have to have a picture of the future you are working on bringing to life. This will take imagination, creativity, insight and intuition. Having a compelling vision for your organization is a major key to your leadership. The future must be so bright that your people will buy into it. It is only when your followers have bought into your vision that they will invest their time, energy and creativity into making it a reality.

This moves us to the skills of the leader. Your leadership will not be effective if you are basing your role as a leader on a set of gifts (being charismatic, smooth talker, etc). Leadership is about competency and skill. All skills can be practiced, developed and enhanced. There are five skills that must be learned to take your leadership to the next level. The five core disciplines are: integrity, planning, communication, encouragement and perpetual learning.

Integrity is about wholeness, completeness and keeping your word, so you can be an example to your company. Integrity is a discipline that must be practiced. A leader that has integrity has consistency, they don’t move as the wind blows. People who are consistent can be gauged, you know what they will allow and will not allow. As a leader, your walk must match you talk. Your integrity extends to those around you. The culture of your department or organization is a reflection of who you are. It is an extension of your character. The lifestyle you have and the way you interact with the people you lead will determine how much your business will achieve.

Planning is the next skill to learn. Planning deals with the path you will take your company down to arrive at your destination, your vision. Creating a plan takes imagination and making educated guesses. Your plan is your playbook for your organization. As with any sport, the plays you run on the field are taken from the team’s playbook and executed with as much accuracy as possible. But we must realize that plays in the book cannot take into account for all of the different variables that are possible on the field. The same is true about your plans for your business. When you are planning, allow your game plan to be flexible so your organization can handle the unknown things that will come your way. Understand there are some things you will not know until you are playing the game.

The discipline of communication is a necessity. All good leaders are good communicators. You must be able to tell your followers where you are leading them. Allow yourself to be open, honest and candid about the opportunities, obstacles and rewards that awaits your company. A leader must constantly work to improve all facets of communication, including tone, verbiage, body language and writing. There are many things you can do to enhance your communication skills. You can enroll in seminars or writing classes, or read books on how to become a dynamic communicator. Remember, as the leader of your organization, you are the message of your company. Your walk, your talk and your level of writing ability will communicate to the world the caliber of your company.

Encouragement deals with you motivating the people you lead to pursue your vision along with you. As a leader, you have to learn how to equip your staff for the roles they will play within the organization. This is done through training and delegation. Your staff must be taught how to succeed within their positions. Then you must empower them to use the information they have received by delegating to them the responsible to doing the job correctly and the authority to get the job done. Responsible and authority must be given simultaneously and the authority must match the level of responsibility. You must encourage your people to take on tasks that will stretch their thinking and capabilities and utilize the training you have given them.

A leader is a perpetual learner. They are focused on self-development and personal growth. This discipline of continual learning will speak volumes to those within your organization. It shows that you understand that you don’t know it all. In order for your business to keep up with your market and competition, you must keep up with the changes. Leaders are readers. Commit to learning. We must learn about our competition, the up coming trends and fads, as well as the many changes that are occurring within the economy.

Are you practicing the five core disciplines of an effective leader? If you are ready for your organization to grow you must practice these necessary disciplines. Your integrity will declare that your enterprise operates at a high standard. When it comes to planning remember the old adage, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. With your communication, continue to develop your ability to communicate your vision effectively. Encouraging the people within your organization through proper delegation will set your company apart from your competition. Finally, you must be a seeker of knowledge as you lead your organization down the path to greatness.