Ten Principles of Leadership May 30, 2008
Posted by Darth Sidious in Leadership.trackback
When people decide to respect you as a leader, they observe what you do so they can know who you really are.
People then use this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader, or a self-serving person who misuses authority.
A good leader has an honorable character that selflessly serves his/her organization. In your employees’ eyes, your leadership is everything. Your activities affect the organization’s objectives and their well-being.
A respected leader concentrates on three key areas:
1. “Be” – what he/she is, i.e. beliefs and values
2. “Know” – what he/she knows, i.e. job, tasks, human nature
3. “Do” – what he/she does, i.e. implement, motivate, and provide direction
What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by people they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
The Three Most Important Keys of Leadership:
Studies have shown that trust and confidence in top leadership is the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.
Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas is the key to winning organizational trust and confidence, and involves:
1. Helping employees understand the company’s overall business strategy.
2. Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
3. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee’s own division or department is doing – relative to strategic business objectives.
So basically, you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a vision of where you are going.
The 10 Principles of Leadership:
1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement. In order to know yourself, you have to understand your “be”, “know”, and “do” attributes. This is possible by continually strengthening your attributes by reading and self-study.
2. Be technically proficient. As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees’ jobs.
3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, do not blame others.
4. Make sound and timely decisions. Use good problem solving, decision-making, and planning tools.
5. Set the example. Be a good role model for you employees. They will believe what they see not what they hear.
6. Know your people and look out for their well-being. Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
7. Keep your people informed. Know how to communicate with your people, seniors, and other key people within the organization.
8. Develop a sense of accountability, ownership and responsibility in your people. These traits will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. Communication is the key to this responsibility.
10. Train your people as a team. By developing team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.
The Process of Great Leadership:
1. Inspire a shared vision – Next, share you vision in words that can be understood by your followers.
2. Challenge the process – First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most.
3. Enable others to act – Give them the tools, authority and methods to solve problems themselves.
4. Model the way – When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do; a leader shows it can be done.
Encourage the heart – Share the glory with your followers’ heart, keep the pains in your heart.
Human Relations:
· The six most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.”
· The five most important words: “You did a good job.”
· The four most important words: “What is your opinion?”
· The three most important words: “If you please.”
· The two most important words: “Thank you,”
· The one most important word: “We”
· The least important word: “I”
You forgot some time tested Sith inspired words of wisdom:
“I find your lack of faith…..disturbing”
and my favorite
“Apology accepted” (while the apologist chokes on the ground before you).
Great article.
Cheers,
Davo
Very good article. I read it 3 times and enjoyed it more after evry time.
Thank you,
Alon.
Great post. Thanks for this.
Cheers,
-Lui
great article,
it really helped me alot in my college presentation on leadership. 🙂
thanx for this
[…] “Human Relations: · The six most important words: “I admit I made a mistake.” · The five most important words: “You did a good job.” · The four most important words: “What is your opinion?” · The three most important words: “If you please.” · The two most important words: “Thank you,” · The one most important word: “We” · The least important word: “I”” – Ten Principles of Leadership « Sith Sigma […]
Hi guys,
The list of the most important words is a real treasure! I just discovered your blog and I love it!
I am just a young apprentice in the world of the Force (although I am not so young as age) and I still don’t know which is the Dark side and which is the Bright side but I am learning. Keep writing so good!
Mike
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
One of the MOST damaging statements to Leadership,
“but we already tried that” then the challenge really starts.
Then you have to remember, you have a “Brain Trust” in your people,
get them to use it.
[…] 27, 2009 in Leadership, Management, People Management A great short-primer of both the what and the how to leaderhip and management. These nuggets of wisdom particularly […]
That’s very useful for great leaders.
Thanks,
please empower my leadership qaulity because i see the need to upgrade
The 10 principles are an adaptation from the Marine Corps leadership traits.
its wow principles that greatly inspires. I want more regarding leadership.