Leadership and management is a big part in career advancement for employees and career preparation for students. Even those who are not in leader positions can and need to learn leadership to be prepared in case such opportunity or necessity comes.
Knowing how to become or how it is to be a leader or manager is also important to everybody so that they will know their role, rights and responsibilities as a member.
Students: Join School Organizations
For students who want to develop leadership and management skills, they can join school organizations. There, they will have opportunities to be leaders. For those who do not get officer positions yet, they can start developing the skills by being good members. As members, you can also act with leadership by having the initiative to help in team goals in the organization. Be the “leading” member. This means that you can be the first one to arrive in activities and the first one to think and act during those many times when one is needed. Just be the best member that you can be; you are not aiming to replace the elected or appointed leaders. Your time will come.
Graduates and School Leavers with No Leadership Experience
Employees who do not have leadership experience from their student years can still learn leadership and management skills. This is especially so for those who are being offered or given promotion in the company. There are also those who want to apply to higher positions in other companies. They can learn and train to become leaders and managers.
TIPS FOR ALL
Be Open to Learn
First of all, you need to accept that you need to learn. Even though you are offered or given the promotion in the company or elected in the school organization, it does not mean that you already know everything about leadership and management. You may have already started developing your leadership skills but you still can and need to learn more. You can and need to learn from the environment, other leaders and your subordinates about how to be a better leader to them and in general.
Aside from continually learning about leadership and management, you also need to be open to learn and continually learn about the field you are in. You can learn a thing or two from your subordinates. They may know things about your industry that you do not know. As you further learn and develop, you also need to be patient with yourself.
Motivate Subordinates
Leadership and management is about the organization or the group of people and the resources that they have to work with. The organization share a common goal which the leader and subordinates work together using the resources that they have so that they can achieve such goal. The leader or manager has the role of facilitating the people and resources to work towards achieving their objective. These can never be overemphasized, even in business essays.
So that the leader or manager can facilitate the work toward the common goal, one needs to motivate the subordinates. To motivate and facilitate, one should communicate, be an example to all, be approachable, recognize others’ efforts, be firm, continually develop the people and oneself and guide subordinates.
Communicate
Talk to your subordinates about the goals of the organization and their work.
Be an Example
Practice what you preach. Be the first and example regarding following policies, protocols, in behavior and character.
Be Approachable
Tell and show your members that they can be open to you and communicate to you.
Recognize Others’ Efforts
Acknowledge the contributions of your people in the achievement of progress and goals in your work or projects. You can mention them in your speeches or in gatherings, give tokens of appreciation and give thanks to them through postings in the bulletin board or the team’s white board.
Be Firm
You have to be decisive. You should have a clear resolution of issues. Resolve matters fairly, come up with decisions and stand by them.
Develop Your Team (And Yourself)
Continually enhance the talents, skills and ethics of your subordinates. Facilitate learning and training for these even just on your own. Also, you yourself need to continually develop. Continue learning and advancing in leadership and in the field your career is in.
Guide Subordinates
Be there to help subordinates in their work. Do not stop at checking their work and giving appreciation or warnings and looking at their behavior and giving them disciplinary action. You also need to help them correct what they are doing wrong.
