There are many good leaders in the world, but a scarcity of great ones. So what separates the good ones from those leading on an elite level? The following are steps leaders can take to fill this performance gap:
Great Leaders Are Rare
The most important decision an organization makes is who it hires as its leader. Leadership determines direction. Leaders who are about others and wholeheartedly own the results of the organization, either good or bad, are in short supply. So when you find one, you cannot overpay them.
Great Leaders Have A Clear Vision and Identity
The leader you have will be the embodiment of your organization’s culture and philosophy. They must know who they are and who the organization is.
Jurgen Klopp, the charismatic leader of the Liverpool futbol club, is an elite leader. He said, “My teams must play at full throttle and take it to the limit every single game. It is important to have a playing philosophy that reflects your own mentality, reflects the club, and gives you a clear direction to follow.”
Klopp leads at full throttle and his players follow suit. He has an infectious personality who views those on his team as people and not just elite athletes. Klopp never calls out his players publicly. The club’s playing philosophy truly reflects its manager’s personality and core values.
Great Leaders Build A Team Who Reflects That Vision and Identity
Your people are your only appreciable asset. Everything else depreciates. As a result, people are your greatest resource but be careful.
You create culture by who you hire. Let me repeat that – you create culture by who you hire. Great leaders practice careful recruitment. The team members you hire should reflect your vision. Hiring someone who is talented but does not reflect the future you wish to create is a recipe for failure.
Great leaders also focus on unity and alignment. They focus on creating harmony with all members of the organization, from entry level all the way to the C-Suite and Board of Directors level.
Great Leaders Practice Patient Urgency Regarding Results
There is a tension in leadership rarely discussed and it is because few practice it well. It takes time to develop your leadership identity and for your vision to fully-form and become reality. There is a maturation process which must take place.
Your vision will also need a resource strategy. Where there is no vision the people perish but where there are no financial resources, the vision perishes. Dreaming is free but there is a significant cost for vision to take place.
The incubation of a leader takes time and resources but there also exists an urgency to produce results now. This is why the great leaders practice Patient Urgency.
Patient Urgency is progress-based, not outcome-based. It asks the questions, “Are we making positive progress and actually taking steps towards achieving our goals?” Patient Urgency understands the value of time. It is more about who and what you are becoming rather than who and what you currently are.
Leaders with Patient Urgency give organizations a great sense of hope because everyone knows good things are already happening and they are on a track to even greater success.
Conclusion
Great leaders have an identity and clear vision, build teams who reflect that vision, and then practice Patient Urgency. If you do these things, you have a chance to become a great leader as well.
The Top 75 Leadership Quotes From 2021 Part 2 is my latest ebook. For many entering a post-pandemic environment, leadership looks completely different than the pre-pandemic world. People are more broken now. They are more uncertain. Fear and anxiousness are unwelcome constant companions. Cultures are more unhealthy. Relationships are more dysfunctional. Hope seems to be in short supply. Every day seems to bring a new hacking, natural disaster, or unexpected calamity.
Therefore, the fundamentals of leadership are more important than ever. The quotes in this book deal with the basics of leadership. If you want to be the best leader you can possibly be, click HERE or on the image provided to download this FREE resource. The lessons learned from last year, if applied, will sustain you for years to come.