When we were children, an all too common question we are asked is, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’  And for some, it’s to become successful leaders in their occupation.

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For those who have achieved their goal to become successful leaders, the question is: How did they achieve this? Was the journey difficult? What characteristics and attitudes are needed to achieve this goal? Are these characteristics and attitudes inborn or natured? The next few paragraphs will answer these questions, by discussing the five steps that you will have to undertake in order to become a leader successfully.

1. Know Yourself

In order to become a successful leader, one needs to know oneself. One needs to know his or her own strengths and weaknesses. We need to improve our attitudes and images. Why is this important? Well, to be a leader you have to lead. Therefore, you need to convince others why they should follow you. You need to develop good values and have integrity. People can talk a lot about integrity and praise themselves for having good integrity. However, our integrity will be tested when we are tempted to “cheat” in order to be successful. Do we do it or not?

One way to know your strengths and weaknesses is by conducting a survey about yourself with your team. Ask them for honest feedback about you. Through this, you get to kill two birds with one stone: Getting to know yourself, and growing together with the team. You will need to create a good approachable personality also.

You may be appointed as leader in your office for a certain project. You may have been given the title of director. Your team may be obligated to follow you because of your title. But if you depend on your title as an influence only, you will not develop any connectivity with your team.

Leadership is not a position but a progression. If you are a positional leader, you will find it difficult to influence others to work with you. You are being an independent leader, and not a leader who is dependent on his or her team to grow.

I am in the wellness nutrition business called Herbalife and I have a team of three under me. When I first took my infant steps into the business, I needed to find a way to get people to follow me. How did I do that? I transformed my body to a sexy one and became fit in order to show that the products really work, and for others to learn how I obtain my customers. I believe in being honest, and I portray my honesty in how I sell and promote my products.

As I have mentioned, I have three leaders under me. How did I get them to follow me? This is explained in the next step.

2. Influence

Before you embark on the second step, it is important that you get the first step correct. You have to ask yourself what you want to bring to the table for your team. For example, if you do not develop good values and integrity, do you want your team to follow your values and integrity? I hope you do not go down this road.

Therefore, in carrying on I am assuming that you will be bringing good values and integrity to the table. Now the next question is, how are you going to influence your team to follow you? You need to have positive connectivity with your team in order to influence them.

Your leaders / team look upon you as someone who will help them grow. For example, you are good in your sales job: they would want to learn from you how to be successful in your job. They want to be as successful as you and in turn you will want them to achieve the same goals as you, or even better.

You need to create a bond with your team. You need to develop your team members and help them achieve their fullness potential. You need to know their strengths and weaknesses. You need them to feel comfortable with you for them to let you in on their strengths and weaknesses, and even life. Therefore, the bottom line is that you need to establish good communication lines. This is why you need to get the first step right in developing a good, approachable personality. I cannot emphasize too much the importance in getting the first step right.

Once there is excellent connectivity with your team, the next step is helping them develop into leaders. This is where personal development plays an important part. I will delve further into  personal development in the fourth step, but for now I will move on to production.

3. Production

In the corporate world, results matter. You cannot escape the spider web trap of producing results. Results shows how successful a team is, but unfortunately does not show how connected the team is. Beyond popular belief, a not-so-connected team can at times produce better results than a connected team but the lifeline of the team would not be long. Therefore, I will go with connectivity.

A team needs to produce results, period. Results are of great influence. Like I mentioned  before, your results will increase your influence, and your team’s as well. If your team members are not producing results, you need to know why. If you got the connectivity part right, it should not be a problem for you to get your team members to explain to you why they are not producing the desired results.

We all want to play the good saints. We want to praise and not criticise. We want to encourage and not discourage. However, we cannot fall into the trap of being too soft. At times we need to take a hard stance. We need to know what problems there are, if any, causing one or more of your members to not produce. If he or she produces the results over time, that’s well and good. If he or she in the long run is going to bring the team down, it is best to dismiss them. Here again, if your connectivity with the team is excellent, they will understand your actions and will not hold a grudge against you. I do hope so.

As a Herbalife independent nutrition distributor and leader, I monitor the sales that my three leaders close every month. I give them a target to achieve. Not all the time can targets be met but I am alright with it as long they are working constantly. If they are not, I will inquire and help them in areas that I can. We have created a relationship wherein my leaders are open in sharing their happiness and sadness with me.

For good results to be produced, communication between the team needs to be in sync. Each other’s strengths and weaknesses need to be understood. We need to enhance each other’s strengths to help the team produce the desired results. This is where personal development comes in.

4. Personal Development

Personal development helps one to capitalise on one’s strengths. It aids in becoming a better person. It helps a person to achieve things that they thought they could not achieve. For example, I managed to encourage one of my leaders who disliked reading to start doing so, and to date she has read 10 books. One can read books on personal development. There are many such books in the market. For example: “The 21 Most Powerful Minutes In A Leadership” by John C. Maxwell & “The Five Major Pieces To The Life Puzzle” by Jim Rohm. Another way to engage in personal development is by attending training courses and seminars.

It is one thing to read or attend seminars in personal development, and another to apply what you have learned. I allow my leaders to apply what they have learned or read about regarding personal development. One major element of personal development is having a positive outlook in life, and my leaders have internalised this element. They are so good at it that even when they face disappointments or difficulties, they either move on or turn their disappointments or difficulties into an opportunity.

A quote by Reed Markham, American Writer, Salt Lake Community College sums it up best:

“Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.”

The leaders under me are able to use their talents. Knowing that one of my leaders is good in writing, I allow him to write up presentations and the details of our sales plans. Another one is good in negotiations so she helps the other team members negotiate sales deals. It is a team effort.

Therefore, if you want to be a good leader you must develop the talents of your leaders.

Allow them to grow. Encourage them to read and send them to personal development courses so they can develop to their fullest potential.

When they feel that you care and are concerned about them, good relationships can be formed between you and your team. Once this is accomplished, they will follow you through tough and good times. They will be more willing to go through the trials and tribulations of life with you.

After you have formed a successful team with strong cohesiveness, how do you ensure the survival of the team? This is where point number five comes in.

5. Legacy
Reaching point number five is equivalent to achieving enlightenment in your life. Many leaders reach point number four but not number five. Reaching number five means you have developed a legacy of becoming a very successful leader, and you have a number of leaders that are capable of following in your footsteps.

One major aspect of being a successful leader is developing many leaders in your image – or somewhat in your image – and allowing them to be successful on their own. Do not be afraid if they achieve more successes than you.

Tom Peters quoted:

“Leaders do not create followers; they create more leaders.”

To reiterate, for your successful leadership to live on, other leaders have to carry on your legacy. This is how a company survives.

General Electric has had a successful business model for decades. It is cited by Fortune Magazine as among the Top 10 organisations for leadership. Why? Because it was for many years led by Jack Welch, a leader who developed other leaders to follow in his shoes – and those leaders developed other leaders. The succession in leadership flows by like an endless river.

Conclusion
To be a successful leader, you have to develop your values, personality, and attitudes. Make sure they are of good quality because you want others to follow you. You have to create a relationship with your leaders and hence they will follow your leadership. In time, they will become successful leaders like you. They will carry on your legacy. Most leaders do not reach to the legacy stage but if you have then you have achieved all that you wanted as  a leader. I hope this article will inspire you to become the leader that you want to be.

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