Medghyne Calonge Explains 10 Ways to Become an Effective Leader in Your Industry
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Most workers know that not every leader is effective. Leaders’ weaknesses may contribute to the poor operation of their businesses, and revenue and productivity may be lost. Fortunately, becoming an effective leader can be achieved by following a series of concrete steps. It is possible to refine your leadership skills and make yourself stand out in your field.
Medghyne Calonge, a business expert, and entrepreneur from Tampa, FL, explains the basics of becoming an effective leader and how you can hone your skills for a better position in the workplace.
Becoming an Effective Industry Leader
The following are ten steps that you can follow to make your leadership stand out. Each of these ten steps works with the others in creating a well-rounded leader.
1. Create a Positive Example for Others
One of the most important things that a leader should do is to lead by example. If you want your employees to behave in a certain way, it is ideal to model this behavior. For example, it is necessary to maintain professional behavior rather than letting personal issues get in the way of effective leadership. Approach changes and challenges with an open and positive attitude. This will help you set the standards by which your employees will model their actions.
2. Embrace Failure
Rather than being overly punitive toward yourself and others if you have made a mistake, consider failure a stepping-stone toward eventual success. Negative outcomes can happen even when you have the best of intentions. Leadership means acknowledging that failures can happen and using them as teaching moments rather than impossible setbacks.
Your team needs to know exactly what went wrong in each situation to avoid the issue in the future. If you are not upfront and honest with them, you may create an atmosphere of distrust and cause employees to become disgruntled with your leadership.
3. Put People First
Many leaders do not view their subordinates as people. Rather, they view the people who work for them as cogs in a machine. A human-focused leadership style is far more effective than this dispassionate view, and leaders who can acknowledge their humanity and their employees are more likely to succeed in the end. Get to know your team, from their strengths and weaknesses to their personalities and goals. This will enable you to make better decisions when it comes to delegating work. It will also give you a better perspective on how each employee will handle their given tasks.
4. Offer Encouragement
Recognizing employees’ contributions is another vital part of a human-led management style. Even if it is a simple “thank you for your hard work,” employees appreciate the recognition as a sign that they are doing their jobs correctly. They also gain great personal satisfaction from being recognized in a public setting at work. Giving positive feedback is a great way to encourage employees to work hard for you and build loyalty.
5. Exhibit Decisiveness
Great leaders can make decisions in a timely and efficient manner. If they cannot come up with answers in a reasonable amount of time, or worse yet, if they go back and forth on decisions, the productivity of the department or company will suffer. Indecisive leaders can lead to sluggish responses and confusion in the workplace.
6. Delegation Skills
Great leaders are skilled at delegating jobs. They also must know when it is necessary to shoulder the burden for themselves and help out. When leaders understand their employees’ skills and motivations, they will be more likely to know which types of tasks to delegate to them for maximum efficiency. Delegating the wrong work to the wrong person can lead to frustration and delays.
7. Have a Clear Vision
One of the primary functions of a leader is to unite a workforce to pursue a clear vision of what the company is and what it could be in the future if everyone works hard. Employees rely on their leaders to create a vision and structure their activities to bring it to life.
8. Refine Communication Skills
According to Medghyne Calonge, an effective leader has great communication skills in every medium. Email, telephone, instant message, and in-person chats need to be optimized.
Effective communication includes imparting the most important knowledge first. Leaders need to set their expectations early in the process, rather than dropping them on employees at the last minute. This can build resentment as well as affecting the results of their work.
9. Listening Skills
In addition to communication skills, great leaders must be excellent listeners. When leaders practice active listening, they can build strong relationships with their employees. Be focused on your employees’ words and make sure that you pay attention to their nonverbal cues like body language and eye contact.
10. Give Constructive Feedback
There is nothing more frustrating to an employee than having what they felt was a great idea rejected out of hand with no reason given. This makes employees feel undervalued and disrespected. Employees should be given fair and honest feedback on their ideas and their work in general. Criticism can be constructive and should not be viewed as a punishment.
Enhancing Your Leadership
Medghyne Calonge believes that following these ten steps will help you refine your leadership style and create a more positive work environment for your employees. Caring for employees should be a high priority for all leaders. Teamwork and collaboration can make workplaces more effective
