Good leaders are never satisfied with being ‘good’. They always know that they can be better. Which is why leadership is a journey, not a destination.
Even ‘exceptional’ leaders want to improve. It’s that drive and commitment that made them exceptional in the first place!
So how do you become an exceptional and even more accomplished leader in the workplace?
Firstly by knowing you are never ‘there’. Wherever you are along the journey, it has not ended. There is always scope and opportunity to take the next step, to improve, to learn. What you think you know today is great, but imagine what you will learn and know tomorrow.
The second thing is to understand that leadership takes courage. It may be the courage to invest in someone who is willing to invest in you – a coach or mentor for example.
It may be courage to try, and fail, and try again… and again.
It may be the courage to say unpalatable things, to fire people, to tear the whole thing up and start again.
Or it might be the slightly less courageous step of telling someone you made a mistake. This may have been when you hired them, that they are not performing as well as you had hoped, or that their role is redundant.
Thirdly, it’s a ‘doing’ thing. You can talk about becoming a good leader until the cows come home. Only by taking actions – with courage – will you know if you are indeed leadership material.
So stop hiding behind emails and reports. ~Stop avoiding the people that make your business work. Get up and get out. Find out what is really going on in your workplace. What’s working and what’s not.
Start your leadership journey exactly where you are, with what you have got and achieved so far. Then you can begin the journey to becoming good, get better, and excellent leader. And then? Who knows!
