Leadership - Long term investment

Long term investment

Leads to long term success

In order to benefit from leadership you will need to persevere over a long period of time gaining knowledge and experience.
A short term solution is not realistic and you should plan for the long term.
This supports other investments you may make in your career and training.

It is rather like being a very good poker player. It is no guarantee of success for any particular game.
However, in the long term you might expect to win far more than you lose.

Born or learn

It is often said leaders are born not made. This aphorism is often applied to many areas when considering the very best.
For example, many would say that you could become a very accomplished pianist with suitable practice, however the truly great are born with a talent that is then honed. Fewer still end up as a Mozart or Chopin.

Whilst leadership is characterised by ‘influence’ it also involves many other attributes. These can be improved by training and practice and this applies equally to leadership. Many may be born with traits that give them a head start but training and practice will be needed to reach the highest levels. A few of these might be perseverance, experience, communication skills etc.

Existing resource

Naturally, you can learn a lot from trial and error. There will be many resources to learn from.
One of these which may be overlooked are those people who already command respect as leaders.

These could be senior managers or just a friend who seems to have good leadership attributes.
Try to use this resource by asking them about their experiences and how they cope with leading.

Simple plan

When people have an aim to achieve anything they tend to go through a few steps.

They are often ignorant of their lack of knowledge and wonder why things are not going as planned.
There is then a realisation that they have a gap in their knowledge and experience which would prove useful to fill.
Training is carried out and knowledge and experience is gradually acquired over time.
Any time knowledge is increased and experience gained leadership training is progressed.
The training is then applied with more confidence.

Many people in a team will believe that you can only lead if you could demonstrate that you could do the job of any of the team members if necessary.
This can not always be the case if you are to travel higher in an organisation. Although a leader should have some idea of what is going on below them.