How to be successful as a leader

Influence and leadership are synonymous terms. Good leaders not only have influence based on their job titles but also they establish it through the way they lead others. Leadership can be a challenging role to navigate.

Leader vs. Manager

Not to be mistaken with management, leadership is key to organizational success. As a manager, there are specific roles that you are expected to fulfill. These tasks are the functions of management within an organization. The main job of a manager is to complete organizational objectives. The focus of leadership is to guide people as they accomplish those objectives.

Effective leadership

Effective leadership consists of two invaluable components: service and support. Leaders need to possess these two qualities to ensure the success and well-being of their followers. Understanding the complexities of how to get a job done is only half of any leader’s problems. Convincing followers to adopt an initiative as if it was their own is the other half.

Motives, behaviors, and competing ideologies are just a few factors that must be considered in leadership. Your success as a leader may depend on how well you understand these factors. This is why it is wise to develop your education in organizational leadership. The leader often determines the success of a project.

Motivational leadership

Successful leaders motivate others. Leaders who communicate the importance of the organization’s values and garner their followers’ support powerfully affect followers’ motivation. How a leader motivates the team determines how team members perform the tasks given to them.

Effective communication between leaders and followers is crucial. Open communication makes it more likely that the team will trust their leader, and feedback is invaluable to the leader.

Aligning values

When leading, the organization’s values must be clear. Aligning the follower and leaders’ visions can often be a challenge, but achieving alignment has been shown to be effective in improving performance.  

Leading others

A leadership position can be confusing. Like every other difficult job, the sooner you begin to practice leadership, the better your chance of being effective.

Leadership is not a position; it’s a decision. It is easy to lead those under you, but you must also learn to lead up and lead others across the organization. You never stop leading.

Leadership is not loyalty to an organization; it’s loyalty through support and service to the people within the organization, and this distinction makes the difference between average leadership and effective leadership.

An Organizational Leadership Degree

One of the benefits of an Organizational Leadership degree from universities with Christian roots, such as Charleston Southern University, is that it emphasizes a leader’s fundamental responsibility.

Every leader’s fundamental responsibility is to serve those they lead. Servant leaders support others first. They focus on follower development in the process of goal attainment. Servant leaders empower others to find meaning in their work, and thereby they create a more effective organization. The success of an organization depends on the people within it just as their people’s success depends on their leader’s support and service.

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