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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

Contents
How to Be a Successful Leader ............................................................................ 3

What Is Leadership? .............................................................................................. 5

Direction Setting .................................................................................................... 5

Gaining the Support of Others ............................................................................... 5

Moving Things Forward ......................................................................................... 6

Results ................................................................................................................... 6

Bringing Out the Best in Others ............................................................................. 6

How Is Leadership Different From Management? ................................................. 7

Are You A Leader? ................................................................................................ 9

What‟s Your Definition of a Successful Leader? ................................................. 10

What‟s My Perspective on What Makes a Leader Successful? .......................... 11

Transitioning To Leadership ................................................................................ 14

Acknowledge Your Role Is Different Now............................................................ 15

Get Clear On How Your Performance Will Be Measured .................................... 15

Consciously Take Control of Your Time .............................................................. 15

Take Your Time Before Making Change ............................................................. 15

Expect, and Be Ready For, a Confidence Dip ..................................................... 15

Get a Coach or Mentor ........................................................................................ 16

Where Are You Now As A Leader? ..................................................................... 16

Next Steps ........................................................................................................... 18

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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

How toBea Successful Leader

Thanks for requesting your free guide on „How to Be a Successful Leader‟.

I‟m guessing you requested this guide because either:

 You are already a leader and want to get even better at leading

 You are a manager who aspires to be a leader

 You have a long term goal to move into a leadership role.

What I aim to do through this guide is to:

 Educate
 Encourage you to reflect
 Encourage you to take action.

Now you might be wondering who I am and what qualifies me to write this guide.

I‟m Duncan Brodie. Since 2006 I have been helping professional people to
successfully transition to leadership roles.

Prior to setting up my own business, I spent 25 years working in large

organisations like the NHS, PwC, EY and TSB.

I first got experience of managing in 1991 and of leading in 1993. I‟ve been
fortunate enough to lead teams as small as 3 and as large as 70.

I have also been involved in leading several projects.

What I do know about leading is that it is tough. It‟s also hugely rewarding too.

Unlike a lot of other activities that you might undertake in your professional field,
it‟s highly unpredictable. What works in one context might well flop in what
appears to be a similar context.

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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

To get the maximum benefit from this guide, I encourage you to take action.
Every reader of this report is in a different situation or context. What works for
one person won‟t necessarily work for another. A bit like leadership generally.

I always value feedback and hearing how you are using what you learned. You
may also have questions which you can email to me at
duncan@goalsandachievements.co.uk.

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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

What Is Leadership?

I love this quote from a highly successful CEO that I used to work with:

“Leadership is hard to define but you know it when you see it.”

Sometimes it‟s hard to pinpoint what it is.

If you Google this question you will get literally millions of responses, most of
which will contradict each other.

If you look on Amazon you will find somewhere close to 50,000 books on the
topic.

So let me give my perspective about what leadership is.

Direction Setting

Every person, whether it‟s at organisational, function, team or even project level,
wants clarity on the broad direction of travel.

It‟s your role as the leader to provide that level of clarity.

In practical terms this means defining the outcomes you want to achieve and by
when you want to achieve them.

This is one of those areas where it sounds simple. In reality, it is much tougher
to do than you think.

Gaining the Support of Others

You might be great at what you do. At the same time, there is a limit to what you
can achieve working in isolation.

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To achieve success you need to be able to win the support of a critical mass who
will help you take it.

Moving Things Forward

I think this is something that a lot of leaders forget or lose sight of.

A significant amount of time of the leader should be spent on moving things

forward.

It is often easy and tempting to get stuck into the rut of being in maintenance
mode rather than driving things forward.

Results

At the end of the day results matter. If you take into account that the average life
of a CEO in a role is 18 months, you get some insight into how important it is to
deliver results.

When making decisions about where you are investing time, you have to be
considering whether the time invested is moving you closer to or further away
from results.

Bringing Out the Best in Others

People want to be part of success. In any organisation there is a whole host of

potential. A large part of potential is untapped.

As a leader you want to know your people, their motivations and how to get the
very best contribution from them.

ACTION: Before moving on, consider whether you are acting like a leader
or not.

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How Is Leadership Different From Management?

This is a question I am often asked.

For me there are 4 major differences between leadership and management.

Focus

As already stated, the focus of leadership should be on movingthings forward.

By contrast, the focus of management is on implementation and keeping things

going.

The distinction sounds simple. At the same time, I know that the change of focus
is something new leader struggle with.

Often they are so used to doing and dealing with volume that they struggle with
the standing back and planning elements.

The leader who keeps getting involved in the detail is often one who has not
made the shift into leading.

Expectations

It‟s fair to say that when you move into a leadership role, others‟ expectations of
you increase.

These increasing expectations can put huge pressure on leaders and even lead
to a loss of confidence and self-belief.

All of a sudden you might feel that you have to have all of the answers.

The good news is you don‟t. So cut yourself some slack.

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Challenges

The more senior you become the bigger the challenges you have to deal with.

These challenges sometimes need fast action and sometimes that is a lot harder
than you might think.

When I was a Board level Finance Director in the NHS I faced challenges in
terms of:

 Not having sufficient cash to promptly pay suppliers

 Trying to get a major change in the way services were set up to work as
they should

 Adverse media comments and perceptions of the organisation,

to name just a few.

Accountability

In a leadership role the buck stops with you. Ultimately you are accountable for
what is or is not achieved.

This really raises the stakes.

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Are You A Leader?

Do you think of yourself as a leader? If you are like most, you probably don‟t see
yourself as a leader.

A lot of people tend to have the view that being a leader is all about your level of
seniority.

I don‟t see it that way. Often people much further down the hierarchy step up
and show leadership even though they are nowhere near being the most senior
person.

When I worked in the NHS in finance we had someone who fell completely into
this category.

Her name was Liz and she was highly experienced but not all that senior in the
hierarchy.

Yet if we had a real problem with some of our key processes, whether relating to
the month end, reporting or budgeting, she was the leader.

What I admired about her was her ability to drive things forward and at the same
time take people with her.

In many ways, the fact that she was not senior actually helped. No-one could
say that she didn‟t understand. She had direct responsibilities for parts of the
process.

As a result, she would call people if they were coming up with reasons that were
really just excuses.

She also did not impose her ideas on others. She listened and was willing to be
flexible and adaptable. Again, all great leadership traits.

Of course at different levels you will have different levels of influence. Yet if
everyone who could influence a little used that influence it still could have a huge
impact on performance.

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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

Very often success is really about a series of small marginal gains rather than
some overnight transformation.

We all are leaders of ourselves. We have to determine our priorities. We have

to be aware of what we do well and what it is best for us to avoid doing. We
need to be aware of our impact. All of this is self-leadership.

What’s Your Definition of a Successful Leader?

I‟m sure you have worked with some leaders who you thought were great at their
job. Chances are you might have worked with others who you did not see so
positively.

When I work with leaders, I split them into two groups. One group focuses on the
worst leaders. The other group focuses on the best leaders.

Usually the group who are looking at the worst leaders have no problems in
coming up with a long list of ideas.

On the other hand, the group who were focusing on the best leaders often
struggled.

Part of the reason I get them to do this exercise is to help them to get clarity on
what a successful leader is like.

Armed with this information you can use it to review your own performance as a
leader and determine what they can do to improve as a leader.

ACTIONS: Create three lists. On the first list write down some of the traits
of the worst leaders you have worked with. On the second list write down
some of the things the best leaders did. On a third list assess yourself
against the best and worst leader lists. Finally, identify a change and take
action on something that will help you to be a better leader.

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What’s My Perspectiveon What Makes a Leader Successful?

I wish I could say there was one thing, or even a handful of things, that make a
leader successful.

So what‟s my perspective on what makes a leader successful?

Skills

It‟s vital that a leader has a breadth of skills. These include:

 Interpersonal skills
 Leadership skills
 Business skills
 Communication skills
 Listening skills.

Attributes

As well as skills, personal attributes are of vital importance. These include:

 Courage
 Resilience
 Empathy
 Drive
 Focus
 Trust.

Self-awareness

The importance of being self-aware cannot be overstated.

I‟m sure we all have come across people who are completely oblivious to how
they behave impacts on others.

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A willingness to learn, develop and grow

A big mistake I see is that as people become more senior they tend to focus less
on their own development.

While the type of development they do might be different, successful leaders

recognise the value of support through a coach or mentor.

Team focus

Any leader who thinks they can achieve anything of significance on their own is
deluding themselves.

Looking over the course of my career, all of the significant achievements were
delivered as a result of teamwork and team effort.

Don‟t be the leader who talks about the value of teams then does everything that
actually stops teams performing to their potential.

People focus

People, rather than machines or processes, deliver results.

If you want to really deliver success, look after people. Learn about them, their
motivations and aspirations. Help them to deliver to their potential. Listen to
them, involve them, consult them as much as you can and chances are change
will happen.

Only you can determine whether you want your people to be an expense or an
asset.

Recharge routine

Being in a leadership role is demanding and challenging. It can be all consuming

if you allow it to be.

It‟s vital that you have some sort of recharge routine if you are to perform to your
potential.

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ACTIONS:

1. Self-asses your skills and determine your best skills.

2. Self-assess your attributes and determine your best attributes.

3. Determine and take action on a recharge routine.

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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

Transitioning To Leadership

I think if you ask most people about their biggest career challenge, making the
transition to leadership may well feature.

In many ways that‟s not surprising. It‟s probably the biggest career step you
have taken.

So why is it such a big challenge?

I think at least in part it is due to the fact that it is the first time when your
technical expertise or expertise in your professional field is not enough.

You also are in a position where you have to let go and trust others if you are
going to be successful.

Up until this point you probably could get stuck in and really drive things forward
through personal intervention.

Now you have to facilitate, orchestrate, enable and achieve results through
others.

Now you have to focus on the wider strategic agenda rather than just your own.

Now you have to earn credibility amongsenior peers, many of whom are much
more experienced than you.

Now the buck stops with you.

So is there anything you can do to overcome these challenges?

I believe there is:

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Acknowledge Your Role Is Different Now.

Many new leaders struggle to come to terms with the fact that the role is hugely
different.

The sooner you accept that the role is different the better.

Get Clear On How Your Performance Will Be Measured

In the ideal world your boss will sit down and do this with you. In reality, you may
well have to initiate that discussion.

Without this clarity you will struggle.

Consciously Take Control of Your Time

Time is your ultimate limiting factor. As a result you have to invest in the areas
that matter most.

Take Your Time Before Making Change

There are things that mighty need change. It can be tempting to start making
change because you want to be seen as making an impact.

Resist the temptation to make change just for the sake of it.

Expect, and Be Ready For, a Confidence Dip

Immediately before you moved into leadership, you were probably at your peak.

Once you step into leadership you are at the bottom of a new climb.

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Don‟t be surprised by the confidence dip. Expect it and recognise that you will
get through it.

Get a Coach or Mentor

It can be really lonely as a leader. Having the support of a coach or mentor who
you can discuss things with informally can really make a difference.

Where Are You Now As A Leader?

One of the most vital things you can do to find out how you shape up as a leader
is to actively seek feedback.

What I would encourage you to do is identify about 9 people; 3 people who are
more senior than you, 3 people who are at a similar level to you and 3 people
who are at a lower level than you.

Send them an email or get them to complete a survey using something like
SurveyMonkey.

Focus on just 3 questions:

Question 1: What are 5 things that I do really well?

Question 2: What are 3 things that I need to improve?

Question 3: Of the 3 things I need to improve, which one should I work on

first?

When you get the feedback, focus your attention on those areas where a high
proportion of people are highlighting strengths and improvement areas.

ACTIONS:

1. Set up your feedback email or survey.

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2. Identity those who you are going to ask for feedback.

3. Send your email or survey.

4. Analyse the responses.

5. Identify and take action to play more to your strengths and work on
those areas requiring improvement.

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Guide - How to Be a Successful Leader

Next Steps

In this guide I have shared some insights to help you to be a more successful
leader.

I‟ve encouraged you to take action and hope that you will.

If you are one of thosepeople who is most likely to take action when working with
someone, I invite you to get in touch to set up a Leadership Success Session.

During this session we will look at your specific challenges, what you want to
achieve and if appropriate how working together might be of benefit to you.

This is a no cost, no obligation session, which I offer on an application only basis.

If you feel that this might be of interest to you, please email me at

duncan@goalsandachievements.co.uk.

I also regularly post to my blogs and share content on LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook. You can follow me and get the benefit of this content at the following
links:

I wish you success in the next steps in your leadership journey.

Duncan Brodie

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