There’s a lot of talk about what's a boss and what’s a leader. You may have even checked a few of these infographics, videos or articles that give you a list of traits defining what makes a leader different from a boss. As it turns out, a leader is not just a person that tells everyone under him what to do. He’s there to inspire, motivate and lead the entire team!
Speaking of being a good leader, there's no organization that defines leadership as the most important factor above all else than the armed forces. Hence, it only makes sense that business leaders would want to learn from the armed forces leadership training.
So, what insights can we get from such kind of extreme leadership training?
Below are 8 of them:
Embracing Limitation
As a leader, you have to accept the fact that you are human and not a member of the X-Men or the Avengers. This means you‘re subject to vulnerabilities and human limitation. Thus, asking support and help shouldn’t be considered as a sign of weakness. To the contrary, it's actually a sign that you’ve achieved higher levels of strength and wisdom.
Trust the Team
If you’re a leader, then you should learn to fully trust your team to do their job. Double checking the work will only cause inefficiencies. Of course, not all team members will be doing their job as they should. However, don't make it a habit of double checking everything. Rather, divert your focus to fixing the fundamental reason why a team member isn’t doing his job.
Communicate
This is a common advice for leaders, but what does it exactly mean? Effective communication means you’re sending your message clearly. In most cases, this means using fewer words. In addition, it also means rechecking everyone gets the message! When team members are getting incomplete information, it's easy for them to speculate and assume the worst.
Focus on the Objective
Once you and your team know the objective, it's your job to lead them to that goal. You may need to recheck this tip regularly as it's easy to get side-tracked while on route to the objective.
Assess and Analyze
Regularly step back and analyze the progress. If the team's output quality is questionable, then don't think it's caused by laziness, carelessness or inability. Rather, think of it as a symptom that there's a failure with the training, communication, in the briefing or in the system. This way you can already think of ways to improve and try again.
Learn to Adapt
Having a plan is a great idea. However, as a leader, you should realize that all plans will disintegrate when they come in contact with the real world. It's your job to reassess and adapt the plan.
Engaging Allies
Your team may be a system, but it's also a part of a bigger system like the HR, legal or finance department. It's best that you engage these as allies as soon as possible for a smoother sailing in the future.
Get Some Rest
Getting rest is just as important as being productive! Your ability to act and decide will significantly be affected by stress.
