Focus Magazine - Summer 2015 - 24

FEATURESTORY

* Relationship development
* Equipping team members
* Attitude adjustment
* Leadership levels

Developing Relationships
Why are relationships important to
success? When asked what one
characteristic is most needed by those
in leadership positions, chief
executives of major companies
replied: "e ability to work with
people." Until your people skills are
strong, your influence will be weak.
Only a modest vision can be
accomplished alone; to achieve
anything worthwhile involves working
with a team. To multiply our
influence, we must learn to connect
with others in mutually productive
ways.

Relationship Rules:
1. Put energy into relationships.
2. Focus on their interests.
3. Request help of others.
4. Add value to people.
5. Look for common ground.
6. Respect people more than opinion.
7. Listen.

Equipping (Training) Team
Members
Why do I need to equip others?
Eﬀective leaders grow their vision
from me to we. Trying to do
everything on your own leads to
frustration and limitation. If you want
to reach your potential and build
something of lasting value, then you
need to become the team leader who
assembles and equips a talented team
who will help you accomplish your
vision.

Equipping Tips:
1. Be intentional about training your
team.

2. Assume your people are up to the
task.
3. Give up ownership of the tasks you
like to do.
4. Look for signs of potential leaders
around you.
5. Focus on the outcome - not the
process.
6. Dispense with the idea that to be
the leader, you must always be
right.

Demonstrating the Right
Attitude
How does attitude impact
leadership? In a team setting, attitude
always plays a role. Negative attitudes
can wreck a team, whereas positive
attitudes can make even a team with
average talent accomplish amazing
things. Leadership has less to do with
position than it does with disposition.
As a leader, your responsibility is to
set the tone for the team's overall
attitude by staying positive,
persevering during hard times and
believing the best about each person.

Understanding Attitude:
1. Understand that the attitude you
begin with, aﬀects the outcome.
2. Your attitude toward team
members aﬀects their attitude
toward you.
3. Your attitude can give you a
winner's mindset.
4. Your attitude - not your
achievements - gives you
happiness.
5. Your attitude is contagious.
6. Words have impact. Use positive
verbiage: I can, I will, absolutely, I
am confident, I will make the time.

Understanding Leadership
Levels
Why should I grow as a leader? A
person's impact is only a fraction of

what it could be without good
leadership skills. e higher you
climb, the more you need leadership
and the more you need your team.
What you ultimately accomplish
depends upon your leadership level.
e law of process says leaders
develop daily, not in a day. e level of
leadership you attain has everything
to do with your vision, your
relationships and how you equip
others.

Five Levels of Leadership:
1. Position. People follow you
because they have to.
2. Permission. People follow you
because they want to.
3. Production. People follow you
because of what you have done for
the organization.
4. People Development. People
follow you because of what you
have done for them.
5. Pinnacle. People follow you
because of who you are and what
you represent.
So a leadership opportunity is the
ultimate development opportunity. It
does not come with the title - it comes
with being intentional about growth.
Bruce Springsteen said, "A time comes
when you need to stop waiting for the
man you want to become and start
being the man you want to be." I

Tom Kukla is principal and founder of Credere Leadership. Email Tom at tom@credereleadership.com.

FOCUS | SUMMER 2015 | www.L-TEN.org

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Focus Magazine - Summer 2015

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