Previously, I’ve covered leadership in smaller businesses and the importance of having a team that wants to go somewhere. What I haven’t yet discussed is the attributes needed in order to be a ‘leader’.

Here’s my view on some of the important characteristics.

Knowledge
As you know by now, I’m a great fan of Ernest Shackleton. I suggest you read about him.

One of the most important things that Shackleton had was knowledge of what to expect. He knew about currents and winds, weather, the territory for hundreds of miles. He was also an exceptional psychologist, so he also knew how his people would behave and work together. Ultimately, these factors, combined with experience and discipline, contributed greatly to his survival.

Time spent on building knowledge is time well-spent. I suggest putting time aside constantly for developing relevant knowledge. Study, read, or talk to people, but always build your knowledge resource. If you think it’s important enough – and it is – you’ll get into the habit. And it will pay dividends in your ability to lead.

Decision making
People appreciate a clear decision, even if they don’t agree. It sends a clear signal that the leader knows what he wants and where he’s going, and it improves the team’s understanding of how they may contribute. (Incidentally, I use ‘he’ only because ‘he or she’ is tiresome and hard to read).

The clear implication of this is that a decision should be made quickly and communicated clearly so that everyone knows what it is. It’s optional to justify it, but best avoided. Why? Because it opens up debate with those who don’t agree, and that slows everything down.

Gather the facts, make a decision and tell everyone. If you feel the need, tell them why. If you don’t have enough information, delay a decision until you do, but still tell everyone that that’s what you’re doing.

And be prepared to be unpopular with some.

Ruthlessness
The dictionary definition of ‘ruthless’ is ‘Have no pity’, and that doesn’t sound like a nice characteristic to have, does it?

You run a very real risk, however, of things happening that hold back the success of your business. You can’t afford to let situations drag on.

Fixing them may mean letting people go or ending supplier relationships, both of which have serious implications for the other party, but you have to deal with these situations with your business’s best interests at heart. In dealing with employees or suppliers under these circumstances, the decision you may face is between your success and happiness and theirs.

The trouble is, decisions are usually made based on emotion, not logic. Pity is an emotion. So is guilt.

The extent to which you let these emotions influence your actions is where your character emerges. If you take pity on someone rather than act in the best interests of your business then...well, you’re not acting in the best interests of your business.

It’s easier to avoid upsetting people. But leadership is about doing what’s best when it needs doing, and that means whatever is most closely aligned with your and your business’ goals - even though that may upset you as much as the other person.

And if it’s any consolation, it will make you stronger knowing that you dealt with it.

Planning
Leaders often plan, but don’t always write it down in a shareable form.

That’s fine, but the lesson on planning is that it should happen and it should be communicated. And there should be some consideration of what to do next if the plan doesn’t go as...er, planned.

It’s about the discipline of recognising that it’s necessary to make time for the less urgent things that are still vitally important (of course, whether planning is ‘urgent’ or not depends on your mindset, but it’s often treated as something that can wait).

As a leader you’ll be expected to be working from some sort of plan. It’s best if you can prove that you’re not just making it up.

My advice is to make time, communicate, be prepared to use the best ideas and suggestions that those around you can come up with, and seek the advice of trusted advisors.

You are leading. Your people expect you to know the way. Find it before they do.

Self-discipline
Brian Tracy has a nice definition for self-discipline; doing that the things that you know need doing, even when you don’t feel like doing them.

Often it’s scary or boring to do certain things, but to be a leader you have to be prepared to get on with them anyway. If you don’t it looks like there’s no leadership going on.

There are two aspects to this self-discipline. One is about recognising the tasks that need doing and having a system for scheduling those tasks. The other is about having the willpower to overcome your natural tendency to do easier things.

Find a time management system that works for you, and use it. As for actually doing the hard things, that’s down to you. Here again I refer you to Brian Tracy, who holds that if you ate a live frog first thing in the morning the day could only improve (except for the frog). The analogy should be obvious; do the ugly job first.

Leading by example
You have to be consistent with your business’s values. If you expect people to treat your customers with respect, make sure you also do this. If you expect your people to have respect for each other, then demonstrate respect for them at all times. If you expect people to invest time in developing their skills and capabilities, you should be doing this too.

People will work harder and go through more pain if they know that the person leading would go through exactly the same hardship in pursuit of their own goals.

And yes, you can set bad examples, and I’ve seen many. If you’re doing that you’re still leading – just in the wrong direction. The standards you adopt will be followed. You could hold a set of values that disregard people’s time, encourage mistrust, promote verbal abuse, and regard self-development as a waste of time. Don’t laugh; I’ve seen them all.

You’re a role model. Be a good one.

Seeking counsel
Believe it or not, your people are likely to be very well placed to help you to make good decisions. Be prepared to ask their advice and take it. Just because you’re in charge it doesn’t mean you know everything.

In my experience those leaders who practise this are more successful in the long run.

Communication
This is a ‘challenge’ in most businesses. The trick is more about how to communicate rather that what. Like the situation where you have to discuss something important with someone close to you, it’s often because it’s hard to pick the right moment.

So it’s best to invent ways to do this, like monthly get-togethers, regular internal newsletters, or regular team meetings (it surprises me sometimes how many reasonably-sized businesses don’t do this).

It’s best face-to-face though, in my opinion. Memos and emails don’t get the message across (remember that something like 67% of communication is via body language, and you can’t do that in a memo).

And finally, find a way to make the communication two-way. Invite questions, create a suggestion box, start conversations with people.
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If you’d like to discuss leadership in your own company, why not get in touch? You can email me at leader@markkeohane.com.