Successful leaders inspire commitment from a group of people to achieving a meaningful outcome or Vision.

In my recent blog I focused on "the work of a leader" - what the leader needs to do to achieve their Vision. But before you can do the work of a leader, you need a team of people who want to help you achieve the vision and are capable of executing it.

There are four leadership skills that determine a leader's success in alignment and execution - which really is the measure of a leader. Anyone can have a vision of how things could be. The truly successful leader inspires the alignment and execution that delivers the fulfillment of the vision. Those leadership skills are:

1. Build trust - team members do not align with leaders they do not trust. Too many leaders fail to achieve this first step because they assume people will trust them and then fail to work at developing and maintaining trust relationships. See my blog on the Elements of Trust™.
2. Capitalize on talent - every member of the team has talent, but many don't see it in themselves. Successful leaders ignite passion and creativity by helping people believe in themselves and encourage risk taking to develop those talents.
3. Make work meaningful for everyone - everyone's role is meaningful - it has a "purpose", otherwise it would cease to exist. Successful leaders are "purpose-driven", and get all team members aligned with the purpose of their roles to deliver exceptional value.
4. Build a high performing team - turning a group of workers into a high performing team is a skill all leaders should possess. Getting all team members aligned and working together interdependently to utilize their talents makes all the difference in the execution stage.

Keep reading our Weekly Leadership Tips for ways you can create a work environment where all team members are engaged, committed to your organization, and passionate about doing a great job every time.

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© 2007 Keith Ayers. All rights reserved.

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