3 obstacles to great leadership

Becoming a leader may begin at a leadership training course in Melbourne, yet, applying what you have learnt can be tricky, especially if you experience challenges to your leadership.

Here are three obstacles that all leaders must overcome to become great.

1. Absent employees

Absent employees are not those who do not turn up from work, but those who are disconnected from their work.

According to Gallup, only 32 per cent of employees were engaged in the US in 2015. The majority of employees, just over 50 per cent, were not engaged.

As a leader, encouraging performance is a crucial task. One way to accomplish this is through constant affirmation. You will need to be consciously vigilant in an effort to catch good work so you can reward it.

2. Non-accountable leadership

When most people think of accountability, they tend to think of a top-down system of punishment. However, positive accountability does not simply rely on a report card and negative consequences.

Instead, positive accountability can help organisational leaders to accomplish specific team results and encourage greater buy-in by staff.

Positive accountability is built on a number of processes, one of the most important being consensus-driven leadership. Grassroots support for a leader can transform an idea into a movement.

3. Poor communication

In most leadership books, the archetype of leadership is the boss, the innovator and above all else the doer.

Yet, one of the most important aspects of great leadership that tends to be forgotten is good communication with others. Vague and misleading communication damages trust and can be a major obstacle to inspiring people and getting across core businesses objectives.

In an effort to avoid this, leaders should make honesty their friend. While this does not mean releasing commercially sensitive information, it does require candid conversations with employees on topics such as future directions of the company.

Being a good leader is hard and while some people are naturals, a person can learn to be a great leader. If you would like to know more about overcoming leadership challenges, talk to the experts today.