LEADERSHIP-What it takes (EPISODE 22, LIFE LESSONS)

Hi friends and welcome to Life Lessons.

I hope many of us are aware of the process of interviews for various positions. There are various basic requirements that every firm/company expect from an ideal candidate. These may include reasoning, aptitude, leadership skills, communications skills etc. apart from the technical/academic knowledge. Among the above stated qualities, aptitude, reasoning, and communications skills are those that can be learned if the candidate really wants to. But leadership is such an aspect which some people claim is to be a by birth personality trait. But in the course of my experience I have observed some vital attributes which build up to leadership skill for a person. Let us look into this aspect in this episode.

My Chronicle:

Few months ago, I was in a one day internship from a reputed institute. During the training session, I was asked to take the responsibility in taking care of my intern mates. In a nutshell, I was asked to be a leader. I was super excited at the opportunity. I never took responsibility as a leader in my life before.  I started to proceed with my task with fullest josh. But within no time, I felt it challenging. Many of my mates were not ok with my suggestions and they went on doing as they wished during the accomplishment of team assignment. Here was the point where I noticed the importance and difficulty in leadership.

It was not all wrong on their (intern mates) side. It was because I was not experienced compared to them and there was every chance that my suggestion would go wrong. I understood that I have to work on my leadership skills. No doubt I was unsuccessful in being a good leader that day, but definitely I have observed glitches that hamper my leadership skills.

Observations:

From my experience, I felt some important aspects of an individual are necessary to be a good leader. These include:

1.       The person should be personally sound: The person who is going to take charge of team should preferably be more experienced and more organized compared to the other team members. There can be many examples and instances that can actually prove this. For instance, let us consider the leader is a lazy fellow who do not care about his personal health and fitness, and suggests his team mate to maintain his/her physique, it is possible that the person may directly reply to look at himself (herself) first. With this one instance the respect towards the leader is all gone. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to understand that being a leader requires personal organization, so that we can confidently offer suggestions to others in the team, moreover when the leader is organized, the team may also sub consciously start to get organized. Therefore it is said,”A lion leading a group of goats is more dangerous than a goat leading a group of lions”. Because, a lion as a leader has a capability to convert all the team members to a group of lions.

2.       The person preferably should gain hope of the team: This aspect is more or less related to the previous explanation. When a leader is personally sound and well organized, he (she) can easily insist the team members. And the team members may believe in their leader since he (she) is a genuine person in front of them. And it is crucial to note that teams who have believe on themselves and their leader has the largest rate of success and development.

3.       Ready to accept the mistakes of team as personal mistakes: When a team has to represent itself in a bigger platform with minimum crew, a leader is the one who has to do it. The leader is the face of the team in these cases. Therefore it is the responsibility of the leader to rectify the mistakes of the team and make them in the correct direction. On the other hand, in a public/ large platform, when the leader is representing the whole team, a mistake arising is to be taken by the leader himself (herself) and accept as his (her) fault.

This aspect seems very easy. But to possess this practically personality needs more guts. And it is not easy to build it as an individual.

4.       Gaining the loyalty of the team members: When the team members build hope on the leader, they tend to stay loyal to him (her). But to keep them loyal always- is the responsibility of the leader. This is most complex task of all I percept. Because this requires many observations and decisions in the team in different. It implies cares like:

·         Ensuring no teammate is left out

·         Ensuring every team mate is given equal importance

·         Ensuring peace among the team mates by solving disturbances between them

·         Guiding the team in hard times making them believe that leader cares for them etc.

Interpretation(s):

Leadership is a typical personality attribute that is complex compared to others. Despite some people claim that it is a by birth attribute, I strongly believe we can inculcate some behavioral and attitude changes in us to ensure leadership skills at least in times of requirement. After few months, I attended another internship where I requested to offer me the leadership opportunity. And these tips that I elucidated above helped me in being a good leader.

These worked for me and hope will work for you too. Before I wind up, I would like to note that the entire episode is to the best of my knowledge and I have no intention to comment or troll feelings and opinions of others.

Hope you like this Episode.

For more episodes check out my site:                                                                   

ajiteshippili.blogspot.com

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