The Most Valuable Lesson I’ve Learned from Business Leaders

When you just start working on a company or have been working on that company for years, I’m sure that you will be led by someone you call a leader. A leader can pretty much affect your performance.

Leadership can impact every aspect of your team, whether it’s the culture, team members’ behavior, work atmosphere, or even ideas and viewpoints when working on projects. Of course, it’s not one-person work to achieve a good culture and working environment, but leadership plays a big part in making it possible.

Several leaders have led me in my career journey. They give me a lot of inspiration and valuable lessons about how a leader should be. If you ask me what kind of leader I want to be, this is my answer.

Know every member’s strengths and weaknesses

Based on my personal experience, I think it’s important for leaders to learn about their members’ weaknesses and strengths. It is essential because it will help them achieve their goals easier. Personally, I like it when my leaders acknowledge my strengths. It makes me able to show my full potential in certain areas. I don’t have to force myself to work in areas I’m not capable of.

Unfortunately, not all leaders realize how important it is to learn about their members’ strengths and weaknesses. Leaders need to know that understanding the strengths of the team will help accelerate the company’s goals. On the other hand, knowing the team members’ weaknesses will help the leader analyze the right steps to develop the team and achieve company goals. Focusing on your strengths is important, but developing yourself from your weaknesses is also essential.

Communication is the key

I have worked with different leaders with different styles of leadership. There’s a leader that we call a “sender” because they only tell their members everything they need to do. And the members, which are the “receivers”, only do what they are told to do. This is what most people think about leadership. But, no, I have seen better leadership.

I’m working with many leaders in Midtrans who communicate very well for every project we need to do in the future. Before working on a project, they will tell us everything about the project, from the background, objectives, point of view, and what leaders want us to achieve. Knowing that from the beginning will grow our understanding of the project and our leader’s mind. We won’t question why leaders told us to do this because we already have the same point of view as our leader.

From good communication, leaders also create habits. Two-way communication will make the members think that not only do the leaders need to have critical thinking and problem-solving skills, but they also need to master those skills as well. A great business leader will collaborate with their team. They will ask their members to not only do their job, but also contribute to the team, give new insights, and engage with the other members.

A good leader has good people management skills

If you want to be a good business leader, people management skill is one of the most important skills you need to have. People management skill is how you manage your team. Implementing two-way communication is the key here. In my opinion, this skill will correlate with other skills.

For example, if you have poor communication skills, your message will not be delivered to your members well, and it can cause a misunderstanding. When it happens in a discussion, members will see you as a leader that doesn’t have good problem-solving skills because you can’t communicate, and you seem like you don’t know the problem they are trying to solve.

Build a great work culture with consistency

Great people management skills will lead the leaders to engage with their members consistently. They also want to make their members know each other and work effectively in a fun environment. As a business leader, you can have an ice-breaking session before meetings. It is a fun way to make the environment less stressful and intense. But the most important thing to create a great work culture is consistency. And this is the hardest part.

Making a work culture is hard work for leaders, but this is important for the team. When leaders want to make a particular work culture, they also need to make a suitable environment to support that culture. For example, if a leader wants his members to submit their report on time, they must make the work environment support them to be on time by consistently showing up on time as well. As a leader, you must show a good example in front of the team members.

I see these skills in every leader at Midtrans. Working at Midtrans gives me a lot of new insights about leadership and what kind of skills I should master to be a great business leader. People management skills, communication skills, knowing your members’ strengths and weaknesses, and being a consistent leader in building a great culture are essential skills that I think you need to apply to your team.