Achieve Success from Leading

Driving high performance and achieving successful business results are the hallmarks of great leaders. In today’s competitive business world great leaders are the enabling force that empower people to realize their potential and organisations to achieve their strategic objectives.

Realizing business success is all about aligning the aims of the organisation with the needs of its people. Leading high performance requires that leaders possess a broad skill set which may not necessarily include technical ability or high intellect, although obviously these things help.

In order to succeed in our current diverse and competitive business environment, today’s leaders require behaviors and attributes which are human focused – in other words they need to understand and interact with other people exceptionally well.

The need for leaders to be continually developing themselves both personally and professionally has only increased. In the past, leaders may have climbed the career ladder based on their technical expertise or experience. However, leaders these days must also have up-to-date and relevant skills. These can be developed by attending a leadership skills course or through good management and leadership training.

There are numerous leadership skills which are vital for success in this role. We have picked 3 leadership essentials below which we believe support high performance:
1) ‘Sell’ the vision
Having a compelling vision for the future of an organisation is only part of the story. Once you have developed the vision you need to communicate it to your people and ‘sell’ the benefits. In order for people to perform at their highest level they need to be convinced that working towards the vision is a positive thing, both for them personally and for the organisation as a whole.
2) Make an impact
Being an impressive leader requires that you make an impact and you can only do this if you are actually visible throughout the organisation. Every great leader has the ability to influence and persuade others and possesses a great deal of personal presence. Leaders of this calibre inspire high performance by modelling it themselves.
3) Develop emotional intelligence

The ability to really ‘get’ other people and understand what makes them tick is an essential part of developing a high performing culture. If you can relate to others’ views of the world you stand much more chance of motivating them. Maintaining control over your thoughts and emotions and being able to manage and motivate yourself is also crucial to effective leadership.

Author: Karen Osborn is a highly experienced Key Account Manager working in the Learning & Development arena on bespoke development programmes and organisational culture. Karen leads and creates effective learning & development programmes for a range of clients at leading training consultants, Thales Training & Consultancy.