Reliability is as Leader Does

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Reliability is as Leader Does

Gone are the days of blind leaders ahead of blind followers. Modern teams have a greater consciousness and are seeking reliable and authentic leaders of integrity that are worthy of trust.

Leaders can no longer treat people’s trust and respect with reckless attitudes and behavior. A leader must recognize that the position is one of accountability and responsibility.

Does that mean a leader must be flawless, never making an error in judgment?

The oversight leaders often make is believing that no one witnessed their mistakes, but people know. Often they wait for the leadership to own their error. Team members will often forgive and overlook occasional laps in operational judgment, but character errors are viewed with greater concern.

One mistake may not necessarily break the team’s trust, but repeats will crack down their confidence in your ability as a leader. Areas a leader should pay special attention to include:

1.       Authenticity: Often leaders will call others to be authentic in their lives. This causes those same people to observe the leader’s ability to be authentic and will follow his or her lead. Read On Authenticity Here. Read on Authentic Leadership Here.

2.       Respect: Feeling your position or title earns you the right to be respect will not earn you respect. Actually, it is likely that the opposite will happen. Treat others with respect, regardless of their position in life. Acknowledge others, adding value to them. Read Adding Value Article Here. In time you will earn peoples respect by; being consistent, by making healthy decisions, by acknowledging mistakes, by giving recognition where it is due and by putting the vision and needs of the team ahead of your own.

3.       Integrity: Do the right thing, even if no one is watching. Be the kind of person that if you have said it – you will carry it out. Say what you mean and mean what you say. You will be surprised at how good people’s memories are at remembering promises and commitments.

4.       Consistency: Take time and make effort to develop who you are as a person, since Leadership relies on one’s ability to perform consistently. Weak leaders cannot be counted on from one day to the next as their personal resource is low and they lack inner strength. Personal courage, peace of mind and self confidence go a long way to growing your personal inner strength.

When the rest of their world is crumbling, the team members will look to the leader to be solid ground upon which they can rely. Being this firm foundation will require the leader to function from a place of personal strength. Such leadership will bring calm in times of trouble, direction in times of confusion and confidence in times of weakness.

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