A leadership change in India, with a new government at the centre at the end of the world's largest election has captured the world's attention over the last couple of weeks. Its interesting to reflect on how much hope and positivity good leadership brings to people. Not just for a nation, even in our organisations. And I believe leadership is all about behaviours and actions.
The following model is based on 7 traits that I have observed in Leaders whom I admire.
VICTORS - A behavioural model for leadership success comprises of the following traits:
- Vision
- Integrity
- Communication
- Time management
- Openness
- Risk taking
- Self development
Lets go a bit in detail about each one.
1. VISION
Leadership always starts with a Vision, a compelling one at that and the passion to see it to fruition. Vision does not come without deep thought and introspection and so, leaders who think deeply and can imagine a brighter future tend to come up with a Vision for themselves and their teams. While leaders with a vision are able to paint a picture for their followers/subordinates which motivates everyone to work towards the goal, the ones who do not have one end up being task masters struggling to inspire their lot.
2. INTEGRITY
When I joined my first job at Wipro, we were taught that Integrity is non-negotiable. It's either black or white, there are no shades of grey. That view of integrity came from Mr. Azim Premji himself, who built integrity as one of the core values of his company. It is very important for a leader to have personal and professional integrity. The integrity of leadership shines through more in times of distress than in times of comfort. A leader needs to demonstrate that to his subordinates and have zero tolerance for the lack of integrity.
3. COMMUNICATION
You can have the greatest vision in the world but it would be of no use unless you effectively communicate. The ability to communicate well is key to leadership success as well as gaining the trust and admiration of subordinates. Clarity of thought as expressed through communication captures attention like no other. Communication is not just about the message, it is also about the frequency of communication and appropriateness of the communication. Great leaders communicate often and are able to assess what to say and what not to say. It is also important for leaders to speak the language of the audience. The leaders I have admired over the years are those who are able to give the same message in many different ways depending on their audience, every time getting the crux of the message through.
4. TIME MANAGEMENT
This is an important trait for every leader because a leader has to be available for his people. And this can be achieved only if the leader is able to prioritise and manage his/her time. Good leaders use a combination of delegation and prioritisation to ensure that they are always available for important tasks. Being able to organise oneself right from the start of one's career is the only proven method to be good at time management. one cannot expect to turn into a leader one day and then learn to manage time. But that may not be a problem, you would probably not get there if you are not good at this one.
5. OPENNESS
While we always talk about the ability to LISTEN as a key trait of successful people, Openness goes one step further. It is the ability to listen and comprehend ideas, thoughts and situations with as less of bias as possible. And this holds true to the leader's openness to dissenting voices as well. Openness in a leader encourages everyone to share information and thereby realise potential risks and aid decision making. It allows new though processes to come through and create an invisible safety net for everyone.
6. RISK TAKING
Leaders by operating out of their comfort zones overcome many fears. Risk taking has to be calculated and for this it is essential for the leader to be good at assessing risk and its impact. Risk taking also involves taking decisions with limited information, based on experience and intuition. Good leaders also understand that people will fail at times when the take risks and accept the same from their subordinates. This ability to understand and reward risk takers within their own teams wins them the trust and confidence of their organisations too.
7. SELF DEVELOPMENT
A good leader is constantly learning and improving his/her own skills. By being open to change and learning from mistakes of self and others, leaders constantly strengthen their capabilities. Self development and improvement thus becomes a key trait of a great leader. They are always raising the bar for themselves and for others and striving passionately to beat their own records. By inspiring others to do the same, good leaders bring in a culture of excellence and continuous improvement in their organisations.
I like to call these 7 behaviours put together as VICTORS, because it defines some of the key ingredients for leadership success. Some days back I wrote on the importance of multi-dimensional thinking for leaders - LEADERSHIP AND MULTI-DIMENSIONAL THINKINGJune 12, 2014. The VICTORS behaviours go a long way in bringing about such perspective in leaders, after all, all good things start with our own self improvements.
We see VICTORS around us every day, in many spheres of work and life. Are you one yourself? You can be!
About the Author:
Sidharth is the Founder & Principal Consultant @ Stratshire Consulting. An experienced technology industry professional who specializes in Management Consulting for Business Strategy, New Business Development, Go to market strategies etc.