The Four Skills for Powerful Leadership

In leadership, we see people who are highly effective at execution and are capable of influencing others. For them to be at this state of influence, they are often the embodiment of what they do.  They have personified leadership to their core and have no aspect of their personality working against their goals.

If you have decided that you want to become a leader or want to be a better one, you must do the same and address your own perceptions and behavior that are not adding up to leadership. In doing this you must reveal your shortcomings. There is a risk of scrutiny, rejection and failure in this process. It can be very painful. However, there are four proven skills you can learn to enjoy this process and become a strong leader you want to be.

The key is to believe in and continually practice these skills.  As you do, your attachment to limiting beliefs about what is possible loses its power and your old way of being and detrimental habits will become a distant memory.  As it does you will have literally redefined yourself as a leader.

1. Shed restricting beliefs and embrace empowering beliefs

Many people have had some element in the past that has kept them from success or realizing themselves as effective. When you become a leader or try to influence others, this cannot be running in the background. It cannot be running in your subconscious as you try to convince other people of the potential of the program or goal you are trying to achieve. This limiting belief must be eliminated, as the old model of, “fake it until you make it” just does not work in today’s society.  You must be authentic to be influential. The negative effect of the past must be taken out of your personality so that the promise of the future is more real to yourself and in turn more real to the people you are trying to persuade.  To clear this up you must consider any and all attitudes and resulting behaviors that keep you from feeling excellent about yourself and convinced about your future.

2. Clarify your vision of the future

Once you have cleared your mind and are able to be present with confidence, the aspects of your goals for the future must be detailed significantly. This can be done through brain storming sessions with like-minded people or on your own with a lot of creativity and visualization to develop a strong detailed understanding of what that future goal will be.

This brings credibility to the possibility of the goal.  For example, the statement from a new business owner, “I am going to be a millionaire in five years.” sounds lofty, as well as a bit naive.  However, if they stated, “I am following the prescribed business model of a renowned  consultant and have resolved to treat each and every customer with the highest level of service so that in five years’ time my company will net me one million dollars.” sounds far more significant and believable.

If you do detail your goals like this, it will open up two possibilities. The first is that you will see the opportunities available that align with this future much more clearly.  The second is that you will be able to tell others about it in such a way that they will be eager to support or even participate with you. This enthusiasm reinforces your belief and brings it into the realm of the tangible.

3. Learn to tell your story so that others are inspired to get involved

Once you can visualize the story in detail, it is important you are able to tell the story in such a way as to develop the interest of others. This is where people get up against the feeling of being uncomfortable and where the negative experiences of the past becomes the present. Fear may become an issue for you.

The change in thought to quell these issues is this; Presenting is not a performance context. It is a relational one. When you give a presentation it is always about having a rapport with the audience. To start, there must be a background of relatedness. You must create familiarity with the audience so they can relate to you.  A story about why the goal is important to you. Why you got involved in the first place. Then about what was missing in the past, why things where not as good as they could have been, and finally, why the new goal will be an improvement over the past.  This establishes a future that is better and intrigues the audience, perhaps to participate. Change makers like Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi did this, as well as companies like Apple and Tesla.

4. Request participation as an invitation not an expectation

Once people are interested in what you are presenting, their encouragement to join must occur as an invitation not an expectation. Your invitation must be casual and the value of your relationship with them must be the same as before the invitation, regardless if they say, “Yes” or “No”. When you approach presenting a goal to others in this fashion, you appear as someone that has real power because you express in your invitation a respect and value for the people who might participate.

Being a person that is insistent, manipulative or demanding is off putting. Inviting participation from a state of confidence and ease is much more attractive and will win more people to the goal. When you request participation in this fashion, even the people that say, “No” will feel valued and possible refer the program to others or may change their minds in the future.  Either way it is a win win for you as leader, because of the integrity bring to others your goal develops even more certainty.

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When you have mastered these four skills, you will have an excellent foundation for powerful leadership and can achieve whatever you want. Teach these skills to your team and their effectiveness will be significantly improved.

To learn more about each of these skills, you may click the links below or contact me directly.
1. Shed restricting beliefs and embrace empowering beliefs
2. Clarify your vision of the future
3. Learn to tell your story so that others are inspired to get involved
4. Request participation as an invitation not an expectation

Adrian Wild
Success Coach