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How To Become a Good Business Leader |
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Written by David Willetts
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A leader will develop a clear mission and vision for the business and communicate them effectively to all stakeholders. This will be an early action to enable the leader to pursue an organizational culture that is centered on being the best – a culture of excellence.
For success to be achieved in most organizations the leader must develop a clear mission and vision, and communicate them effectively so that they are understood by staff.
Another issue of great importance is for the leader to act as the role model, and actively pursue an organizational culture that is centered on being the best – a culture of excellence.
A clear, challenging and quantifiable vision should be developed that will be viewed as achievable by staff and one that can easily be related to. It will be important for the leader to plan, identify and set timings for key stages in achievement of the vision and convey to others the significance and relevance of the vision to the organisation’s future.
The plan to achieve the vision should provide a platform that staff can relate to. Staff should be able to identify the impact they will have on the vision plan and with coaching and encouragement from the leader be comfortable in the knowledge of what is expected of them.
The Mission Statement should set out the organisation’s purpose in society, its values, its standards, the way it will behave and how it will deliver its services and products to customers. The values should reflect commitment to the customers and other stakeholders and offer guidance on the expected behaviour and culture of the business.
With the Mission and Vision Statements in place it will be incumbent upon the leader to demonstrate his/her personal involvement in the development of the organisation’s management structure. It will be necessary for the leader to convey to others the rationale behind the chosen management system and to demonstrate that despite being subject to occasional change the management structure will substantially deliver a consistent approach at all times throughout the business.
Good leaders will also be actively involved with customers, suppliers, members of the local community, trade associations and all other stakeholders in the business. The purpose behind such action will be to:
- enhance the reputation of the business
- grow the business through greater exposure
- work with others to reach agreement on difficult issues
- be the role model for the organization
- be seen as a company others wish to do business with
Change is inevitable and leaders should manage it effectively. Change should be understood, the benefits to be derived evaluated and the change communicated to all affected parties before action is taken. As part of this process it will be necessary for leaders to listen to others, appreciate concerns may exist, overcome objections to change and motivate staff to personal and business success.
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