By Douglas Cline
May 26, 2011
Updated June 10, 2014
Being a leader does not mean you have to be the Chief Alan Brunacini in your fire company. In fact, trying to be a type of leader you are not can cause you some serious problems and get you into deep trouble.
You should develop your own leadership style. You just want to make sure that the style you develop has the four common competencies that are key to being a successful leader.
1. Management of attention
This is described as the ability to draw other to you through an intense focus on attention. If you have the ability to get others to buy into your vision and embrace it as their own, you will be moving forward. Remember, you need to keep your intentions in clear view with total transparency.
2. Management of meaning
This is the ability to clearly communicate visions, ideas, dreams and concepts effectively to your team. In your efforts to do this you must use your entire self.
By using your entire self, you understand that you must talk the talk but you must also walk the walk. Talk is cheap, but actions and appearances speak volumes and is an effective way to communicate. In today’s society we are overwhelmed with data and facts; we are looking for true meaning.
3. Management of trust
Trust is an essential component of any relationship. People must able to trust their leaders or they will not follow. It is even true that people will follow a leader they can trust even if they don’t agree over a leader who changes position frequently, simply because of trust. Remember that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you truly care.
4. Management of self
As a leader you must know your own knowledge, skills and abilities with profound identification of your weaknesses and limitations. Think of it this way: if you can’t manage yourself how will you be able to manage others?
Leaders need to concentrate on positive goals and not get hung up on the risks. Reject the idea of failure. Be confident and don’t worry about making mistakes.