29.08.2024
CONCRETE STEPS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS AN AUTHORITY AT WORK
And for some it seems like magic - they start a new job or find themselves at a party with strangers and in no time become the center of the company. They are not bosses, they are not the smartest, the strongest, the most beautiful, but they become leaders without knowing how they do it.
Psychologists admit that this requires a certain amount of innate talent. But personal development experts say you can also learn leadership skills. You must have the drive, desire and willingness to put in the effort.
You don't have to be a boss to be a team leader. But if your colleagues see you as an authority figure, it's likely that bigger bosses will soon offer you a higher position.
Don't believe the myth that you need a job. If you're waiting to find yourself in a place or position that will push you into leadership responsibilities, you may be waiting a long time. Leadership isn't something that happens to you, it's something you do, experts say.
They think you will find out if you can become first the informal center of the team and then get a managerial position by checking your attitudes.
There are two foundations on which you will build leadership qualities.
The first is to have a desire to help people be better at what they do. It is your inner motivation that will attract your colleagues. If this basic attitude of self-giving doesn't exist, no matter how hard you try to improve your personal skills, you won't get others to recognize you as the center of the team.
Most people are capable as professionals, but their ambitions are tied to their own advancement. Few are those who think beyond themselves, about the whole, about creating a work atmosphere that leads to success. And this is precisely the initially necessary quality of a leader.
Is it missing, a person can become a chief, but by position. He will order, his subordinates will perform, but they will not consider him a leader, because he does not help them become better at what they do, but manages them.
The second foundation of leadership is trust. It is created with integrity.
It doesn't matter what you do and what position you are in. If your attitude is to consider not only your interests, but also your colleagues, to be responsible, to fulfill your promises, to show respect and empathy, you have a chance to win their trust.
Misanthropes (people who don't love their neighbors), egoists, and those who tend to cheat at the expense of others cannot be recognized as leaders, no matter how many leadership techniques they study.
If you think about your past experience as a working person, you will see the difference between a leader and a boss. You must have been bossed around. You may have had a colleague who you and everyone else saw as an informal leader. It is less likely that you have had a superior who you felt was a real leader, not just an appointee.
This is because of the two basic attitudes in question that many people think they have, but in practice it turns out not to be true. And because of another thing, which, however, is more of an innate quality.
Experts say that leadership skills can be learned by building on self-giving and integrity, but intuition helps immensely. It is precisely because of her that some people seem to have the talent of leaders.
Born leaders are situational sensors, as experts Rob Goffey and Gareth Jones call them. They can collect and interpret the information from the environment in the right way, recognize details and signals, read the non-verbal signs that others leave in order to choose the right moment and the best course of action.
This is called intuition, and in born leaders it is stronger than in others.
However, if you think you don't, don't assume you'll never become a leader. Intuition is not just a sixth sense, it develops with experience. And again, you have to use it properly - not only in your own interest.
Therefore, experts say that it is important, but not basic. Those two attitudes remain fundamental - helping others become better at what they do and building trust with your integrity.
--- What to do to get recognized ---
To be accepted as a leader, you must change your mindset.
Recognize the qualities and strengths that lie within you, give yourself the confidence that you can manifest them. If you don't show them, your colleagues won't recognize them.
It's understandable - humans are social animals. Everyone tends to stick to the herd way of thinking and behaving, afraid to shake established norms and hierarchies in order to stand out from the rest, because there is a risk that this will also lead to his being ostracized from the herd. But a characteristic of a leader is that he is also willing to take risks. No one becomes a leader by following the crowd.
However, you can't listen to everyone's advice, it's a waste of time. To be a leader, you have to learn who to listen to and who to ignore. You must learn and balance between steadfastness in defending what you firmly believe to be right, and wisdom in accepting other people's suggestions, which you judge to be the best.
Constructive criticism is at the heart of being a leader. You remember that the one basic condition is that you want to help them get better at what they do. In practice, it means helping them see their mistakes and rethink their approach. If you're a bossy leader, employees need feedback even more to know exactly what they're doing well and what they're not doing so well.
Feedback is a valuable guidance and success tool that reinforces your position as a leader.
This goes into the second basic condition of leadership - integrity and trust. It builds a deeper connection between you and others.
It is the leader who sets the direction and pace. It's even more mandatory if you're also a boss.
It's human to lose your temper when someone makes you angry. But anger, hysteria, screams are not distinctive features of a leader. Learn to control your emotions and try to think carefully about your words before you speak them.
