Thought for the Day - Good Leadership is About Holding the Energy Together

Good leadership is about many things. But mostly it is about holding and harnessing the energy of the team together. How does one do it? Normally by the leader's intent and desire, clarity of goal, beliefs and conviction, and the process he believes in. That is the framework really for the rest of the team. But that is a subtle matter and must experience it really.

But on the other hand, leadership is also about certain basics that can and must be done. These are

• Having a clear goal
• Having clear plans for the team and resources to achieve the goal
• Communicating the plans appropriately to the people concerned
• Knowing each one of the team and knowing what makes them tick
• Assigning roles clearly to each one with no space for miscommunication
• Assigning targets clearly
• Monitoring the performance and looking for areas of improvement all the time
• Being available and approachable to the team
• Making people accountable for their jobs and ensuring that they deliver

On a slightly more evolved level it is about

• Being secure as the leader
• Taking responsibility for the team and its performance
• Getting the best out of people through various means
• Investing in people so they deliver better performances
• Investing in people and showing them the path to reach their potential 
• Being genuinely concerned about people's growth 
• Trusting people to do their jobs
• Empowering them through proper inputs and clear communication of expectations
•  Understanding the reasons for mistakes or low or no-performance and taking corrective action
•  Allowing the team members to make mistakes, to fall, and to rise on their own yet mentoring and supporting them fully through the rough phases

Somewhere up there it is all about holding, controlling and directing the energies of the team for optimum result.  It is about getting them all to believe in the cause, in the boss, in themselves, and making them better people for that.

On the highest level it is really as Lao Tze puts it, empowering people so much that in the end the people say, we did it ourselves.

• Total transfer of ownership of the cause to the team so they say they have done it themselves

 You cannot, as a leader, get more committed workers than those who are fully committed to their cause and who feel it is their 'own'.