As a leader, you are expected to give guidance to people who have diverse thinking and characteristics, which make it hard to balance between all the parties you lead. Everyday leaders are faced with formal and informal life and career situations that need them to come up with sound judgments to avoid making mistakes that may compromise their leadership. As a head of a group you may be faced with a situation where you do not have anything to guide you in making a decision; hence, the need to have the basic leadership principles that can be called upon in such tricky situations. When leaders use the principles, they help to have an insight of the situation, and then using their abilities they can come up with the best action to take (Campbell, 2013). When a manager applies the leadership principles well, there are high chances of gaining strength and power because they gain confidence, and the followers respect them and their decisions fully. Many principles exist, but different leaders have to choose the one to use based on the people they lead and the environment. Some of the primary principles are listed below;
Achieve Professional Competence
It is not possible for any person to be excellent in all the fields of life, but leaders must make sure they are competent in the activities they perform. In the workplace, the managers and leaders are tasked with deploying and organizing all their subordinates. In addition, they supervise the staffs that may be more skilled in some areas compared to them. An excellent leader will not remain ignorant, but will seek the essential understanding of the necessary values of all the fields they govern, and this will make it simple to establish their leadership across all sectors (Aurini, 2014).
Seek and Accept Responsibilities
In the current situation, most managers fail because they seek glory and not responsibilities they can handle. A good and efficient leader seeks a responsibility he or she can handle and does all that is possible to perform it adequately. As a leader, you should not create or avoid problems, but when faced with one, you should try all the possible mechanisms to solve it to a satisfactory level and not leave it for others. Real leaders will not seek responsibilities that they cannot handle and then start delegating to their subordinates, but they will ensure they can handle their tasks.
Lead by Example
Leaders are supposed to lead from the front, not to send out their soldiers for a battle and then remain at home. A true leader should not be a downward push, but acts as an upward pull by inspiring their followers (Aurini, 2014). A manager who wants the staffs to be hard working and deliver effectively, should show them an example by ensuring all his or her tasks are done well and should always work hard. When the subordinates observe his or her hard work, they will be motivated to put an extra effort without having to be pushed around. Good leaders should be the solution to problems and not the problems themselves.
Know Your Soldiers and Promote their Welfare
When working as a team, it is necessary for the team leader to identify all the individuals involved and create a good understanding with them in person. When you know your followers, it becomes easy to interact since you know their strengths and weaknesses and work towards making them better than you found. A good leader will always serve justice to the subordinates when it comes to rewards and punishments and will avoid being biased.
Appreciate Personal Strengths and Limitations and Pursue Self-Improvement
Leaders should understand themselves before trying to understand their staffs. With a good knowledge of oneself, it becomes easy to interact with others because before demanding more from the workers you will start by pushing yourself to the limits. Leaders should admit their limitations such as arrogance and put their best effort to try minimizing it when interacting with their subordinates since it is a negative picture to the people they are leading. Weaknesses are typical in every human being, but a humble leader always seeks the best mechanisms to improve in character and leadership.
Let your Followers Know your Intent, then Lead Towards its Accomplishment
Leaders who want to be successful should not act like the boss and assume the followers to be minions, but should create a collaborative environment. You should let your followers know what you intend to achieve by involving them in open talks and strategic meetings because they can bring new ideas and information that is critical and you could not have had time to outsource (Gupta, n.d.). When the employees are involved in the decision-making process of an organization, they feel part of it and work towards achieving the set goals with minimal objections. On the contrary, the employees who are not involved in decisions feel detached from the firm and work just to fulfill the tasks they are given.
Sound and Timely Decisions
Decisions are crucial in the well-running of any organization. Heads of companies should ensure all the decisions they make are sound and sober and should not be delayed. Perfection should not be the key, because a right choice at the moment is better compared to a perfect one made later since time will have elapsed (Aurini, 2014). When a time to make a decision comes, the leader should consider all the available options, and then act swiftly, which gives confidence among the followers. It is simpler for a worker or any stakeholder to forgive a mistake done by a manager while trying to save the organization that when the leader fails to act and the company goes down.
Train and Work as a Team, but Know the Individual Capabilities
When people are employed to work in the same department, they are expected to perform similar roles, and the input should be equal. However, this is not possible because every person has different capabilities. During training, the leaders should ensure all the workers get sufficient skills necessary for their tasks and ensure the individuals can work as a team. In addition, a good leader knows the capabilities of every member of the team to avoid straining them with tasks they cannot handle efficiently.
Conclusion
Good leadership is a core value for every organization that intends to be successful. However, achieving a perfect leadership is not easy; hence, the need for leadership principles that are used to guide the rulers on the primary actions to take in different times. When the principles are well followed, the rate of success is high (L. Francis, 2002) because most of the ineffective acts and behaviors are eliminated and the individuals work collaboratively with their leaders
References
Aurini, D. (2014). The 10 Most Important Principles of Leadership. Returnofkings.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016, from http://www.returnofkings.com/24767/the-10-most- important-principles-of-leadership
Campbell, K. (2013). Mythology as the Original Framework in the Development of Leadership Principles. Journal Of Leadership Studies, 7(2), 48-54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jls.21290
Gupta, S. Key Principles of Leadership. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.638404
L. Francis, D. (2002). Practicing leadership: principles and applications. Technovation,22(3), 200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0166-4972(01)00080-3
