Right Fit Leading: Leaders Set the Standard

Great leaders set the bar at a very high level, getting out front, setting the standard, making decisions, and either willing or convincing people to follow and achieve.  The way to do this is through need satisfaction, creating energy, and putting people first.

Satisfy their needs.  If you help people find what they seek they will follow you anywhere.  If you can’t satisfy their needs, create an environment or a process by which this can be done.  Emphasize relationships that are physically, spiritually, and emotionally beneficial.  Recommend that your team members focus on the importance of family first, believing in something beyond themselves, and seeking to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Create team energy.  Enthusiasm, passion and commitment are contagious when they are public.  Let your team gain energy as they emulate this kind of drive in their leadership.  Don’t mistake activity for energy.  Do the things that matter and the positive energy that will be created will spark your organization to do great things.

Always, always, always put people first.  Instead of deciding on courses of action and then assessing how people will adjust, think of how it will affect people first.  A friend of mine once told me that the solution to a problem should never be that one person loses at the expense of another.  The solution should always have something for everyone to look forward to.  Then they can take the negative better because there is some positive.  This is difficult but not impossible.  And if you believe you are a great leader, you will find a way to do this.

These actions and qualities put people at ease because they can trust that you will behave in an honorable manner at all times.  They will see that you have their best interests in mind, and they will follow you, and they will crave your counsel.

Get Published: By the way, communication is essential for leaders.  If you have some great ideas, check out the call for chapters for a new book, Returning to Interpersonal Dialogue and Understanding Human Communication in the Digital Age.  Submit a chapter, or get more information, here: Returning to Interpersonal Dialogue.