I recently read an article that highlighted leadership principles that were identified during a 1948 leadership study! As I was reading the article, I could not help but draw a correlation between these time tested principles and Etech’s leadership character commitments. Take a look, and see for yourself!
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Know yourself and seek self-improvement (Teachability & Humility)
— understand who you are, your values, priorities, strengths and weaknesses. Knowing yourself allows you to discover your strengths and weaknesses. Self-improvement is a process of sustaining strengths, acknowledging opportunities and taking initiative to develop those opportunities!
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Be technically proficient (Teachability and Accountability)
— before leaders can lead effectively, they must have mastered the tasks required by the people they lead. In addition, leaders train their people to do their own jobs while understudying the leader so that they are prepared to replace the leader if necessary.
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Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions (Accountability)
— leading always involves responsibility. Leaders want people who can handle responsibility and help achieve goals. When you see a problem or something that needs to be fixed, do not wait to be told to act. Organizational effectiveness depends upon having leaders at all levels that exercise initiative, are resourceful and take opportunities that will lead to goal accomplishment and business success. When leaders make mistakes, they accept just criticism and take corrective action. They do not avoid responsibility by placing the blame on someone else.
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Set the example (Integrity)
— people want and need their leaders to be role models. This is a heavy responsibility, but leaders have no choice. No aspect of leadership is more powerful. If leaders expect courage, responsibility, initiative, competence, commitment and integrity from their direct reports, they must demonstrate them. Leaders share hardships with their people and know that their personal example affects behavior more than any amount of instruction or form of discipline.
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Know your people and look out for their welfare (Valuing People)
— it is not enough to know the names and birth dates of your people. You need to understand what motivates them and what is important to them. Commit time and effort to listen to and learn about them. Showing genuine concern for your people builds trust and respect for you as a leader. Telling your people you care about them has no meaning unless they see you demonstrating it.
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Keep your people informed (Communication) –
people do best when they know why they are doing something. Individuals affect the bottom line results of companies by using initiative in the absence of instructions. Keeping people informed helps them make decisions and execute plans within your intent, encourages initiative, improves teamwork and enhances morale.
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Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished (Accountability and Valuing People)
— your people must understand what you want done, to what standard and by when. Inspecting what you expect lets you know if people understand your instructions; it shows your interest in them and in goal accomplishment. Reward performance that exceeds expectations; correct performance that does not. Determine the cause of the poor performance and take appropriate action. When you hold people accountable for their performance, they realize they are responsible for accomplishing goals as individuals and as teams.
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Develop a sense of responsibility among your people (Valuing People and Vision)
— people feel a sense of pride and responsibility when they successfully accomplish a new task. Delegation indicates trust in people and encourages them to seek responsibility. Develop people by giving them challenges and opportunities that stretch them and more responsibility when they demonstrate they are ready. Their initiative will amaze you.
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Train your people as a team (Teamwork)
— teamwork is becoming more and more crucial to achieving goals. Teamwork is possible only when people have trust and respect for their leader and for each other as competent professionals and see the importance of their contributions to the organization. Develop a team spirit among people to motivate them to perform willingly and confidently. Ensure that individuals know their roles and responsibilities within the team framework. Train and cross train people until they are confident in the team’s abilities.
These are some great principles to embrace, which will help you make a remarkable difference in the lives of the people you touch each day.
(Taken from Academy Leadership – Timeless Leadership Principles)
