Creative ways in which successful leaders get things done
“A leader is someone who knows the way, shows the way and goes the way” — John H. Maxwell
There are two ways of getting things done from the team. First one, which no one likes, is to give strict orders and make the team do it. The second one is to make the team accountable for each task so that you don’t need to force anything. The second way is, I’m sure everyone would agree, far better than the first one.
So, what does it take to bring the sense of accountability in the team? How do successful leaders get their people to go over the board and achieve the results? Here is what I’ve learned and observed over the years -
They care for people
No one likes to work for/with a brash and bossy manager. They are the ones who can get things done, but only from machines. People following orders from a manager and spending their 8 hours working on them without blinking an eye! What else would you call them? Trust me, you cannot expect any innovation from them.
Great leaders, on the other hand, care for their resources. They know the real worth of human resources. That’s why they take time to talk to the people. They care for their team. They make sure that there’s a healthy environment to work in. They don’t treat their team members as machines.
And, that inspires the team to not just get things done, but go over the board in doing them as well.
They empower team members
Great leaders are always great with people. As the saying goes — “true leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.”
You can expect a good leader to always empower each person in the team to strive for more. And, they get them to do is by obliging them with responsibilities. They do it by showing trust in each individual of the team. While ordinary leaders give orders, great leaders discuss things. They don’t shoulder the entire burden on themselves. Rather, they divide responsibilities to multiply the chances of success.
That’s why their teams are always on the lookout for bigger and better opportunities!
They look for problems
How do you improve something? You find a problem in the system and then try to change it with something innovative. Right? That’s exactly what great leaders do and inspire their team members to do the same as well.
They know that you cannot achieve greatness by doing what everyone else is doing. So, they study and analyze the current state of affairs. And, then identify the areas of improvement. Once identified, they work on those areas. That’s how they bring change!
They KISS (keep it short and simple)
Good managers just beat around the bush, great managers keep it short and simple. Successful leaders know the importance of time and value it. Ordinary managers on the other hand always waste time. Organizing daily status meetings. Asking for hourly work reports. They leave no opportunity to waste time.
Great managers are just the opposite. They focus more on getting things done and less on blabbering about it. They have a system in place for everything — whether it assigning tasks or distributing the workload and keeping track of things.
So the team can focus more on work and less on time wasting activities like status meets and work reports.
They know when to bring a change
The most significant difference between a great leader and an ordinary one is their vision for change. While regular managers don’t challenge things, great managers always look for change. And, they bring the change for good.
There are managers who are still stuck with old school ways of managing projects using emails. And, we all know the confusion and that this email bombardment brings along. Smart managers move with time. They simplify things and use a project management tool for managing their teams.
And, that’s just one example. There is a never-ending list of scenarios where great managers know how to get things done from their team. That too without being bossy or brash!