A leader is someone who has passion, energy and the ability to excite others.
Some terms to help you understand the qualities of a leader and skills you will want to develop;
- Energy – Enormous personal energy allowing you to take action.
- Energizer – Ability to motivate and energize others in an infectious way to maximize peoples potential.
- Edge – competitive spirit, instinctive drive for speed/impact, strong convictions and courageous advocacy.
- Execution – Deliver results
- High integrity – Trusted
- Business acumen – must know what you are doing in business
- Change agent – embraces change
- Self confident with humility – sense of humor
- open communicator and good listener
- Business leaders need to be flexible. nimble and entrepreneurial, yet have a strong sense of direction; they are expected to delegate more decision-making authority down through the ranks, yet in the end, you do have to be decisive, you do have to take ownership.
Leadership encompasses employees at all levels of an organization. It is more of a role that a position and leadership should be recognized throughout all positions.
Speak up, lead the way
Every one has the potential to be a leader. You can be a leader. You just have to make the choice to develop the characteristics of a leader. If you are aware of what you need to be like to lead, you can practice and learn to be a leader.
Qualities of A Leader
- Inspiration -Energize and excite people
- Focus
- Directness
- Clarity
- Gift for bringing out the best in others.
- Challenge Processes
- Accept responsibility – step forward and lead the way.
- Elicit the cooperation of others
- Listen well
- Place the needs of others above your own goals
Examples of Leadership
Volunteering makes you a leader because as you volunteer you put yourself out for the good of others. A coach is a leader by taking the lead in helping kids develop their skills. You have shown leadership by taking responsibility and getting someone done.
Leadership IQ Test
We are providing you with a little test to help you determine how much of a leader you are now. It is always important to access yourself by being honest and helping yourself determine areas of improvement. We all have room for improvement.
Give yourself one point (1) if you answer yes to the question all of the time, give yourself a zero (0) if you answer yes to the question sometimes, and take away one point (-1) if you answer no to the question all the time. (You can print off the page and put the points in the Points column or just grab a piece of paper and write down your points for each question.
Give some thought before you answer, and be honest!
| Questions | Points |
|---|---|
| I respond to situations in a very flexible way. | |
| I take advantage of good luck circumstances. (Lucky to be in that situation) | |
| I can make sense out of ambiguous or contradictory messages. | |
| I can recognize the importance of different elements of a situation. | |
| I can find similarities between situations despite differences that may separate them. | |
| I can draw distinctions between situations despite similarities that may link them. | |
| I can come up with new concepts by taking old concepts and putting them together in new ways. (Doing things different ways) | |
| I can come up with new ideas. | |
| Total Points (add up the points from each of the questions) |
When you are finished, add up your points. If you scored four or more points, you are probably a leader. If you scored two or three points, you have good leadership potential. If you score one or fewer, you have some work to do on your leadership skills.
Do you approach your day with enthusiasm?
Do you face each day with an open mind and flexible enough to change what you have planned?
Do you feel that you energize people?
Do you feel that you have the drive, courage and conviction of a truly effective leader?
Activities
- Let’s inspire others. Can you come up with an idea that you feel very strong about. For example; We need to recycle as much as possible to help safe the earth. Think of things to say and a way to say it to people to get their attention and get people interested.
- Make a dream. Figure out how to reach your dream and share it with people in a way that they believe in you and want to work with you on your dream.
- You may not know it but you have assumed a leadership role. If you have ever put your hand up in school and answered a question, you were a leader. You took the lead in answering the question for the benefit of the class. By putting yourself out for the good of the group – makes you a leader. Think of other ways you can take leadership at school. (picking up garbage in the hallway… helping someone with their homework, making recommendations to the school….)
- There are many ways to take leadership with yourself. As you learn to study and manage your homework time, you are leading.
Congratulations! You have developed another life and business skill!!