Many people believe that true leadership cannot be taught; only experienced. I agree with this point. Great leaders aren’t made in the training room they are made in the field doing the job. But in order for people to understand what makes a great leader, it needs to be explained simply and directly.
Here are the three 'Cs' of leadership. They’re three characteristics that pretty much all great leaders possess.
By great leaders, this doesn’t necessarily mean that their intent was for the greater good or actually right, some of the greatest leaders were the most evil men and women ever. We don’t have to agree with their intentions. Here, I am merely defining a great leader as someone who has followers.
Think of any well known leader in history, good or bad and chances are you will see these characteristics in them in one form or another.
Communication:
It is so important to keep your team informed. Lack of or having no information or poor information has been cited as one on the biggest workplace de-motivators, with so called ‘leaders’ thinking that their employees ‘can’t handle the truth’. The greatest leaders through history were great communicators.
Ever sat in a traffic jam, frustrated? Then a report comes over the radio saying there is an accident up ahead and it should take 10 minutes to clear? Suddenly, you feel better because you know what’s going on.
To make a team work, it’s going to take more than just you being in the know. Keep your team informed.
Charisma:
“When we love or hate something in other people, we are seeing what we love or hate in ourselves.”
Take a look back through history at the great leaders. They all had a great deal of charisma. Their followers could relate to them on different levels. Their energy infected their followers. This isn’t to say that to be charismatic you have to bound about all day. But it does mean that you must seek to inspire your team as much as possible. Keep your focus on the goals of the team and display endless amounts of energy.
Cause:
To truly inspire others, you must have a vision to share with others. A leader with no vision is like a game of football with no goalposts. A leader must have a vision and the conviction of character to drive it through to its conclusion. The world is full of strong starters. It is the ones who see something through to the end that counts.
Rich Lucas is Director and Training consultant of Supremacy training solutions.
