No matter your job title, age, experience, or circumstance, there is always room for you to step up and lead. Your chance to lead is always there, you just have to take it. Leadership has less to do with your position and more to do with your attitude. You can start acting like a leader today and your life can start to change as your actions do. So then, how does a leader act? Here are a few attributes to strive for:
1. Carry Yourself with Confidence
Your posture speaks for you even when you aren’t thinking about it. When you walk into a room, is your head down? Are your shoulders turned in or slouched? Take a moment to step in front of a mirror without changing how you would normally stand, how are you carrying your body? Good posture, according to the Cleveland Clinic, “Involves training your body to stand, walk, sit, and lie so as to place the least strain on your muscles and ligaments.” So not only does good posture allow you to portray yourself with confidence, it’s also better for your body in the long run. Don’t hide yourself in the way you move, stand out and allow yourself to be seen with shoulders back, head held high, and even your core engaged.
2. Be Authentic
If no one can relate to you because you seem too perfect or too professional, it creates a distance between you and others that rarely leads to positive results. Relationships that are healthy can only stem from both parties being their authentic selves. If you want to lead, you have to be willing to be seen and known. A true leader is not perfect and in a high tower, they’re human and working right alongside their teams. No one wants to follow a robot-they want to follow someone who is authentic and real.
3. Take Responsibility
No matter where you stand in regards to the “workplace hierarchy” you should never be above doing certain tasks. If something clearly needs to be done and you’re in a room of people who are hesitating to take it-take it. Leaders hold more responsibility and if you’re looking to move up, you have to be willing to move more. Likewise, as a leader, you have to own up to any mistakes you make without making excuses or tossing out blame. Your failures say just as much about you as your successes, it all depends on how you handle it.
4. Align Your Actions with Your Words
It’s been said for ages, lead by example, and it couldn’t be more true. Be the worker that you want to see the rest of your team being. Respect doesn’t come with a job title, it’s earned through stepping up in the everyday and having others witness you do so. If you contradict your words with your actions your words instantly lose meaning to any who witness it. If you’re going to lead, lead well, and be the kind of leader you wish you had when you were first starting out. Even if you aren’t an “official” leader right now, live like you have eyes on you already and maintain your authenticity to the end.
5. Communicate Well
If you’re going to speak up, speak clearly, articulate confidently, and don’t let your voice shake. This obviously takes time to master, but a simple first step is working to eliminate “filler words” (ie. like, but, um, etc.) If you are delegating tasks, make sure that you make the objective clear and allow time for any questions. When you are able to articulate needs and goals well, your team has a better chance at fulfilling their duties and can be held accountable for doing so.
When all is said and done, leadership is a choice you have the power to make everyday. I created The Quiggle Assessment to help individuals discover the unique potential they hold to excel, grow, and lead. If you want to lead, it starts inside of yourself and flows out from you.
Lead well,
