What it takes to be an Effective Leader

In a recent Caliper study, more than 300 president and CEO’s listed what they considered to be the most important and most difficult aspects of being a leader:

• Creating the right vision

• Getting people to embrace that vision

• Maintaining momentum (motivating, influencing and persuading others)

• Managing change (strategic planning, problem solving)

• Surrounding oneself with the right people

• Developing staff (coaching, managing performance, transforming teams)

• Delegating authority

Surrounding oneself with the right people was selected 41% of the time, second only to creating the right vision as one of the most critical parts of leadership. Surrounding oneself with the right people was also selected as one of the three most difficult aspects of being an effective leader. In Northwest Arkansas, we are having a problem with higher unemployment rate, but nothing like in other parts of the country. If you really want a job, you can find one. From the employer’s side of it, however, sometimes the “pickins” are pretty slim. Do you hire the experienced person who has changed jobs about every 2 years for the last decade, or do you hire the “newbie” right out of college? Do you promote from within, or bring in a “fresh face” with new ideas? These are all difficult decisions for leaders of organizations in Northwest Arkansas.

Anyone can become a “Manager”, but it takes a special person to actually be a “Leader”. These same CEO’s in this study said that there are three main factors that keep most managers from becoming leaders:

• Not understanding others well enough (or not trying to understand them)

• Not solving problems quickly enough

• Not taking necessary risks

We have heard from the experts. Now let’s hear from those of us that are in the trenches every day here in Northwest Arkansas. I will give you my opinions, and then I want to hear from you leaders out there.

Here’s my take on how to become an effective leader:

• First you have to believe in yourself, but care more about the people on your “team”. Narcissism has no place in the work environment or on any team. If you are working to help those around you, your sense of purpose is better, the people around you will follow that lead, and you will tend not to quit as easily.

• Then, you have to create the vision for your organization or team. I really believe that it is much more important that the vision be your concept than it is that the vision is “correct”. There is no right or wrong vision… just visions that weren’t followed through and communicated to your team properly.

I believe these are the basic two ingredients needed to being an effective leader. If you really care about the people who work alongside you, it will show every day in how you treat them. In addition, if you believe in the vision you have set forth and they know you care about them; your team will follow you into battle. From there, the war is much closer to winning!

I want to hear from you- what are your thoughts on leadership in your organization or team? What do you believe are the most difficult of being an effective leader? I look forward to hearing from you.

Bobby Bland PWCA, CIC
Vice President
Commercial Risk Service