Leadership Attributes for Business Success

Business success is essentially the result of successful leadership. Contrary to the popular myth, leaders are not just born. Leadership skills can be learnt and developed. A business is a distinct reflection of the leader, who may be the owner or manager. A business is never successful despite the leader, it is always successful or otherwise because of the leader.

7 LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES

There are 7 key attributes that a leader must develop if the business is going to succeed. A leader must have vision, must be an entrepreneur, must inspire others, must set standards, must orchestrate methods, must understand people and must measure results.

1 Vision
Vision is the attribute that drives the leader, the reason for existence and motivation behind being in the business. The vision the leader has allows him or her to clearly visualise what the business will be like when it is fully developed. If the leader is passionate about the vision and allows that passion to create an intensity or internal drive, then that drive will become an unstoppable force that drives the future of the business.

2 Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is someone who creates a business. For the leader with intense vision, the business is a means to an end, the vehicle which allows the vision to be fulfilled. The leaders' function is to develop the business and if the vision is intense, they will never allow themselves to become bogged down by the day to day details. The end result is always the focus.

3 Inspires Others
A strong leader affects others and inspires them to join the quest to fulfil the vision. For the leader, it is much more important that the people recruited to the cause are committed to the same vision, rather than having all the appropriate skills to do the work functions. Skills can be learnt, but commitment is inherent.

4 Sets Standards
The leader sets the standards of performance in the business. If this is not done deliberately it will happen by default. The employees will automatically follow the example of the leader. It is best that the standards are clearly spelled out so there is no misunderstanding of what the leader expects.

5 Orchestrator
To the leader, the way things are done are important. The quality of service the business provides must not be left to chance. The leader takes the trouble to determine the best way for things to be done and orchestrates the methods used in the business to perform the work. This allows the business to be well organised. Quality Assurance systems are based on orchestration.

6 Understands People
The leader understands that the business must meet the needs of people, it must motivate them. It must motivate customers to buy and it must motivate employees to perform the work. In the orchestration process, the leader establishes systems that are designed to motivate both customers and employees to produce the required results.

7 Measures Results
Results is what it is all about. The leader is results oriented and measures progress towards achieving the results, which leads to fulfilling the mission. Knowing the results allows the leader to redirect employees if results are not on track and to reward employees for good performance.

Developing these leadership attributes will help you achieve greater success in business.

Greg Roworth is the Managing Director of Progressive Business Solutions Limited, a business development consultancy firm with branches in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand. Greg has created a unique business development program that assists business owners transform their business from a state of total dependency on them to a state where the business works so well they don't have to.

Greg is also the author of "The 7 Keys to Unlock Your Business Profit Potential," which descibes the fundamental keys a business needs to achieve this transformation. Find out more, get 2 free chapters, or buy the book online at http://www.small-business-success.ws

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