‘Becoming a Leader – First Steps’ is about some simple steps that a person can take to start the process of becoming a leader. The purpose of this article would be to explore some of the fundamental behaviors that would be handy for a leader. Personally, I feel exhibiting these behaviors would be desirable in a leader.
People can live in the past, present or future. When they are doing an activity with focus and concentration they tend to live in the present. When they are thinking, they are living in the past or the future. If you don’t believe this, try thinking about the present. You would find yourself thinking about something that has already happened in the past or speculating about the future of something. But, it is simply not possible to think about the present.
Apart from living in the past, present or future through work i.e. either through action or reflection, human beings have to deal with other fellow human beings and situations. How a person does all these depends a lot on his or her character. Also, it is important to strike a balance in life, wherever possible. Thus, more or less life is about the following four parameters:
1) Time – Past, Present, Future
2) Work – Action, reflection
3) Dealings – People, tasks/situations
4) Character – firm-minded, fair, empathetic, decisive, spontaneous, flexible, options, adaptable, planned, organized, following processes/procedures, principles, values, etc.
Now, let’s move on to explore the primary steps to becoming a leader.
Primary Steps
1) Present moment awareness:
In other words, it can also be called ‘moment-to-moment awareness’. This is a primary step for leadership. A leader must live in the present. Action-orientation, concentration, focusing on the process, experiencing will-power, prioritizing (Covey’s 3rd habit-Putting first things first), all these come out automatically as a natural consequence of living in the present.
An individual through everyday practice must endeavor to live in the present for as long as possible. Living in the present energizes every cell in the body as your mind is temporarily suspended. You are cut off from the regrets/resentments of the past and worries of the future. After reading a good book (it can be a gripping novel), or watching a movie with rapt attention, you come out exhilarated. “True intelligence arises in the now” says Eckart Tolle in his book ‘The Power of Now’.
Listening can happen only in the present. To practice Active Listening, an individual has to necessarily live in the present. The first key skill according to Peter Quarry in his video on five key ‘listening & understanding’ skills is to show interest and this can be done he says by genuinely attending to the other person when he or she is speaking. Attention can be given in the present.
Richard Boyatzis and Anne Mckie while talking about Mindfulness in their book ‘Resonant Leadership’ acknowledge the benefits of personal attention thus: “Attending to ourselves enables us to be clear about what is important to us; it allows us to engage our passion and build on positive emotional states.” This attending to oneself can be done by cultivating mindfulness i.e. by being in the present and now.
2) Exercising the power to choose a response:
Human beings are endowed with the power to choose a response. The second step for a person to become a leader is to exercise the power given to human beings to choose how to respond to people and to situations. Realizing this power is important. Life is full of choices. Everyone has choices to choose from. But, we usually hear stuff like ‘I didn’t have a choice’, ‘I can’t or I couldn’t’, ‘it depends’, …and each time we use such phrases, we are giving up our control to external circumstances. First thing to do would be to start using phrases like ‘I chose ...’ (instead of being apologetic with ‘I didn’t have a choice’), ‘I won’t or wouldn’t’ … it usually does not depend on circumstances, because still it is you who have made the choice.
According to Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist and holocaust survivor, a person can always choose the response, irrespective of his surroundings – situations or circumstances or people dealt with.
3) Belief in win-win negotiation:
The third step for a person to become a leader is to believe that there is a win-win situation most of the time, and having an attitude of negotiation. Everything under the sun is negotiable and situations in life are not always zero-sum games. With this belief and attitude, will come automatically empathy towards other human beings, honest communication, assertiveness, sense of fairness and value-based decisions. A person also tends to be flexible and adaptable to different situations and towards different people.
“Everything is seen through Principles” says Covey in Principle-Centered Leadership when people think win-win. ..”As people become principle-centered, they love to share recognition and power…the abundance mentality produces more profit, power, and recognition for everybody”.
4) Endeavor for a Planned & Organized life:
The fourth and the final step towards becoming a leader is trying to lead a planned & organized life. To focus on timely completion of tasks, being proactive, having an idea of the end-result in mind at the time of beginning (Covey’s first & second habits), thoughtfulness and reflecting in a person are a result of that person endeavoring to be planned and organized.
Here in this step, a person puts to use his will power that is generated in the present moment to realize and accomplish things in life. In a sense, a person programs the mind to achieve things in the present moment.
A sense of hope arises in the mind which keeps a person going forward through life. Talking about hope in their book ‘Resonant Leadership’, Richard Boyatzis and Anne Mckie note “In a hopeful state, we have more physiological as well as emotional resiliency, and we are mentally and physically prepared to deal with challenges.”
Summing up, a person who has decided to become a leader and is on his way to becoming a leader should try to cultivate leadership qualities like firm-mindedness, fairness, empathetic, decisive, spontaneous, flexible, options, adaptable, planned, organized, following processes/procedures, principles and value-based decisions and thereby build his character. And, to initiate the cultivation of these qualities, a person can follow these four steps:
1. Living in the present through everyday practice
2. Exercising the human power to choose a response
3. Belief in win-win negotiation
4. Endeavor for a Planned & Organized life
