In order to be successful and achieve what you want, you must be able to take responsibility not only for your own life, but also the life of the team, the group of people in which you are currently located and trying to realize yourself. And you can’t do without this, so today I’ll tell you about how to cultivate leadership qualities in yourself so that your every goal is achieved.

A little information

What does it mean to be a leader, and what qualities distinguish a person who is able to take responsibility from someone who cannot handle it? First, let's determine exactly where a person can show his character in order to understand where to start and in which direction to move:

• To myself. This is when a person is responsible for his actions, he is disciplined, knows how to manage his time effectively, understands himself and is able to make choices without fear of responsibility and freedom. They say that leaders are not born, they become leaders throughout life, so this is the first step with which you need to start, otherwise, if you are not able to be responsible for yourself, how can you lead other people and motivate them?
• In a situation. Are you familiar with cases when, for example, someone became ill on a train and people cannot find a doctor? Then some person is called in who has no medical education, but is trying to do something to help. After all, often at such moments thoughts arise that “this doesn’t concern me,” that “what if I do something wrong, and then it will be even worse,” etc. So, the next step is to learn to act, and not stop yourself, and to show your abilities in difficult situations. You may not know how to do artificial respiration, but you have excellent organizational skills and you will be able to stop the panic of others who will help you find a specialist.
• A team. This step is more difficult, but also real. You need to be able to win the trust and respect of your employees. To do this, there is no need to run and shout to everyone so that only you listen, since you know what to do. No, you just need to become efficient. Again, take responsibility for the workflow and consequences.
• In a team. This is already primacy at the macro level, when a person is able not only to inspire trust, but also, thanks to his ambition, to lead.

Top ways to develop leadership qualities

Qualities inherent in a leader and which should be emphasized in the development process.

1.Ability to set goals

Yes, it is the one who knows what he wants and how to achieve it who is able to lead a team. Have you ever met a leader of a pack who does not know what goal he is pursuing? When you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t end up where you would like. And satisfaction arises when you get what you want, and not just like that. So take into account the correct goal setting.

2.Dedication

Do you think all people who know how to set goals become leaders? No, it is also important to be purposeful in order to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise on the way to what you want without going astray. Absolutely everyone faces problems, it is only important to be able to rise after a blow of fate and move on, then you will be able to conquer the world.

3.Efficiency

You need to be not only reliable, but also efficient, so you must have the flexibility to adapt to new conditions. So learn to listen to other people and change your mind and plans if this will ensure the survival of not only you, but also the entire system.

4.Sociability

Agree, it is unlikely that people will listen to you if you cannot string two words together or are afraid to speak to them. Develop sociability, it will help you achieve success and create close relationships, both family and friends. Look at the recommendations in the article on.

5. Confidence

Confidence can be seen not only in a firm voice and calm gaze, but also in gait and gestures; it is read on a subconscious level. And if you lack it, check out the book by the famous psychologist Dale Carnegie, How to Build Confidence and Influence People by Speaking in Public.

6.Activity

Yes, a lazy leader will not last long in his post, he simply must be half a step ahead of competitors, consumers, and so on.

7. Self-control

You must have restraint and control. Otherwise, if you periodically lash out at your colleagues, scream, cry, you will not be perceived as a reasonable person who is able to take care of the interests and future of others. If you understand that stress makes itself felt and pulls the rug out from under your feet, subscribe to updates. You can learn how to put your nervous system in order.

8.Authority

Why do you think people become leaders? But because such people have high ambitions, they are able to offer something new, they plan to change the world, and, of course, they want recognition and power.

9. Ability to refuse

You should not be afraid of losing someone's favor if you refuse a favor. Sacrificing your time and energy, “being fooled” by manipulation will not get you very far, so stop limiting yourself and act as you see fit, and not because you are being pressured.

10. Justice

You will lead the team if they are confident in your fairness, that you will not begin to cover up and push relatives or “favorites” forward, that your decisions will be balanced and honest.

11.Ability to inspire

Leaders also become those people who can inspire accomplishments and actions. If you manage to motivate those around you to act, moreover, jointly and harmoniously, there will be no price for you. And for this, humanity and compassion, attentiveness and good intuition are important. Do you know why? To understand how to reward your employees and how to improve their working conditions. Feeling cared for and with perspective, they will give it their all.

12.Be confident

It is important to overcome your fears, or at least not to give in to them, hiding from your experiences. How will others perceive you if you nervously huddle in a corner before every speech? You should project confidence and energy, not fear and anxiety. Read about the fight against fears.

1. Be sure to read the book "How to become leaders", which Warren Bennis wrote with Robert Thomas. They studied leaders from different generations, for example, those who grew up witnessing war firsthand and those who fought opponents in computer games. So, together they found out what exactly influences the formation of leadership qualities. A very interesting publication that will be useful for both managers, executives, and all those who just want to get a championship.
2. To cope with enormous responsibility and stress, you must be in excellent health. So take care of yourself, get rid of bad habits, sleep the number of hours necessary for your body, drink purified water, review your diet and exercise. You are a role model, so teach others to lead a healthy lifestyle.
3. Another interesting book worthy of attention is “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” written by John Maxwell. Using simple examples, life stories of other people, with successful and not so successful outcomes, he talks in detail about each law, which will help you understand the very philosophy of primacy and take the first steps towards it.
4. Write a list of reasons why you have not yet won the championship. Think about what was stopping you? And is it possible to transform them into an advantage, your personal feature? Be honest with yourself; at the very least, you can burn this leaf.
5. And make another list of 15 sentences, starting with “I am responsible for...”. Write everything that comes to mind. This exercise will show you how you sometimes underestimate yourself, considering yourself unable to be responsible for various processes.

Conclusion

And that’s all for today, dear readers! I hope the above methods will help you gain primacy, recognition and success. Once you were born, you already won the competition against millions, so you have the experience of winning, remember this.

The material was prepared by Alina Zhuravina.

Each of us strives to be respected, have authority and unquestionable influence on other people. Each of us wants to be a leader, but very few achieve this.

How to become a leader in life? It's not easy, but it's quite possible. Let us discuss with you the main points that are vital to know along this path.

The leader is

Translated from English, a leader is a commander, a leader. It is the person who takes responsibility for the work of the team who is the first to reap its successes and failures. A group without a leader is anarchy, where everyone is on their side, and there is no organization at all.

The concept of leadership is rooted in social psychology. Any group of people consisting of 3 or more people automatically creates a leader. Even if outwardly it is not too noticeable. People listen to him a little more, respect him a little more, and his jokes are always a little funnier, even if this is not entirely true. This occurs due to the need to take responsibility for the group. Below we will look at these conditions and other nuances in more detail.

Types of leadership and qualities of a leader

The concept of leadership has been studied very carefully by psychologists and sociologists. Several large-scale theories of the emergence of leadership have been created, and we will analyze their main points.

Behavioral psychology distinguishes between formal and informal leadership. Thus, there is a difference between the nominal and the actual leader in any team.

Let's take a very simple example: the formal leader in production is the director, but the real influence belongs to the shop manager, who has direct contact with the workers.

If the formal and informal leader is one person, then the team acts harmoniously and coherently, receiving a clear and definite vector of development. If not, conflicts may arise due to different policies and instructions from the formal and informal leader.

If you intend to become a leader at work or in a company, then it is important to first gain authority in the team and become an informal leader. Because personal relationships with the team have a much greater impact than various documents and certificates.

Depending on the environment and the scale of the tasks being solved, there are 3 types of leadership:

• Everyday leadership - in the family, schools, universities, spontaneous groups. It has the smallest scale and is often unexpressed - the leader is not formally elected, but has a greater share of influence than other group members.
• Social leadership - in production, in trade unions, sports or creative societies.
• Political leadership – public and government figures. The maximum degree of leadership, which has a clear hierarchy.

There is a clear connection between these types of leadership. A household leader, with the right level of perseverance, can become a social or even political leader.

If you want to become a leader, I offer you a 10-step program that will help you develop your leadership skills. The examples are drawn from business, but the principles of leadership development are universal.

Step 1. Think about why you need to be a leader?

Yes Yes exactly. You need to understand the reasons for your desires. Despite the apparent simplicity of this step, everything can turn out to be much more complicated. One does not become a leader out of boredom or lack of emotions.

A leader is a person who leads people towards the realization of a desired goal. Leadership is not the goal itself, but the means to achieve it. What is your goal? A big, inspiring goal will not only activate you and your potential, but will also attract people who will want to go towards this goal with you. Therefore, you first need to determine what you really want.

Step 2: Create a success journal.

This tool is familiar to everyone. This is the simplest and most effective tool for personal development and motivation that will help you become a leader. Get a separate notebook. Write down your successes and victories in it every day. It is advisable to do this more often and as much as possible. Minimum 5 wins or achievements daily.

At first, this may seem like a monotonous and pointless task. But within a few weeks you will see that these successes are a very powerful incentive for further victories. The more confidence you have, the more other people trust (follow you) you.

Step 3: Create a leadership environment.

To be a leader yourself, you must constantly be among leaders. Feel free to make new acquaintances and communicate as much as possible with interesting and active people.

To speed up the process of developing you as a leader, place yourself surrounded by people stronger and more successful than yourself. May you have your own personal leaders. This will help you better understand the psychology of leadership and learn to be strong, following the example of other leaders.

Step 4: Be purposeful.

Once your goal is set, you need to make every effort to achieve it. There is no other option.

It's not scary to fail if you know that you made every effort to achieve your goal. It is much worse if this defeat was the result of negligence and a frivolous attitude towards it. To become a leader, you need to learn to develop clear plans and step-by-step tactics to achieve your goals. Only a serious approach that leaves no room for carelessness.

Fortunately, there are methods for doing this. Use them to enhance your leadership potential. It is important to remember that a leader is first and foremost a role model. You must be the same as your expectations for the best people on your team, only in an enhanced version. If you want your team to be strong, purposeful and achieving goals, become such a person yourself. Everyone looks up to you.

Step 5: Make decisions and be responsible.

This is the most pivotal moment in leadership. In a group of three people, someone automatically becomes the leader. Why? – Because the other two trust the opinion of the group leader more. This feature has a downside: whoever expresses an opinion or plan of action can easily become the leader of the group. “You lead, and there will be those led” is a good aphorism that accurately conveys the very essence of leadership.

I repeat: a leader becomes one who has the courage to set a goal, captivate other people with it and lead (give work) everyone towards its implementation. It is responsibility for one's decisions that distinguishes a leader from an ordinary group member. The ability to take responsibility for the decisions of your subordinates is also important.

The topic of leadership occupies perhaps the first place in the discipline of self-development. Many people ask the questions “How to take a leading position in a team?”, “How to become a leader in the eyes of relatives?” etc. It even goes as far as “How can I learn to be a leader in my bowling team?”

It’s funny, but the person who enters such queries in a search engine, it turns out, believes that leadership is like women’s cosmetics (today I’ll put on good makeup, and tomorrow I’ll keep my makeup to a minimum). I wonder why such irony?

The fact is that a leader is a leader in all areas of life. He cannot be both a doormat at home and a tyrant at work (or vice versa). Such a person has respect in any small/large group in which he may find himself. Therefore, only one question is relevant - “ How to become a leader in life?».

In order to achieve respect in all areas of life, you don’t need to walk around with frowning eyebrows and attack everyone who looked differently, as some people think. To be a leader, you need to develop the appropriate qualities that will not repel, but will attract people to you.

1. Self improvement

There must be no end to it. Make yourself a commitment to always, everywhere and in everything to improve yourself. Read educational literature, try to communicate more with interesting, successful people.

Watch educational videos. Although a leader is not required to have a high level of intelligence, constant replenishment of his knowledge will only strengthen his position in society, and will not allow him to give it up.

2. Be interested in people

There is such a science - typology. She studies personality types. This allows you to determine a person’s character in order to find the proper approach to him. Study it!

The main support of a leader's position is the opinion of others about him. You must win the favor of almost everyone around you. A person who claims that all people are the same will never become a leader.

You must study the people around you. Know their interests, characteristics, strengths and weaknesses.

3. Everyone is equal

This is exactly the position you should demonstrate with all your appearance, and it doesn’t matter that this is far from the case. Never look down on people, even though your stage of development is much higher.

Remember that recognition depends not only on a polite tone. You must win him with your actions. There is no need to be a helpful good-natured person, because in this case, you can forget about the position of a leader. Be yourself, but always come to the rescue in difficult times. Unexpected and effective.

Take an interest in the lives of those around you (colleagues, co-workers, relatives, etc.). Attention to one's person is very flattering. Realizing this will allow you to better win over the person.

4. Sociability

The main feature of a leader is the ability to find a common language with almost any interlocutor. To do this, you need to improve your communication skills. In other words, learn to communicate.

In addition to the ability to conduct a dialogue, learn to present information in such a way that you are listened to and not heard. Master the art of public speaking. Start practicing this skill first on one person, then on two, then increase the number of listeners. Practice on your family members. Ask them to point out your mistakes if any.

5. Don't be afraid to make mistakes

A true leader must eat more than a pound of salt on his path of self-improvement in order to hone his skills. Many people give up on this idea as soon as they experience a fiasco in some business.

How to become a leader in life and never make a mistake? The answer is no way! Remember that before you lead people towards a common goal, you must experiment a lot. This applies to your ideas, approach to others and methods of solving problems.

Don't be afraid of failure after your efforts. Take this as an indication of what you need to change about yourself. Describe your failed business into four points:

• What was done?
• What wasn't done?
• What should have been added?
• What shouldn't you have done?

After such an analysis, you can safely expect a repeat situation so that you will be well prepared for it.

See also Purposeful and persistent people are guided by a highly set goal, upon achieving which people receive physical and/or moral satisfaction.

6. Originality in thinking

A leader must offer solutions to problems that others would never have thought of. In the face of any difficult situation, a group of people will put forward various options. But only one must offer something that will arouse general sympathy and support.

Develop creative thinking. Read more educational literature. Especially focus on the biographies of great people. You can take a lot of useful things from there. This is one of the main rules on how to become a leader.

Another good technique for generating original ideas is to communicate with others. The fact is that many people have an actual solution to the problem, but not everyone has the courage to offer their own option. Communicate more, listen, complement and suggest. The main thing is to do everything so that it does not look like theft.

7. Motivate those around you

None of the members of the small group in which you want to take a leadership position should guess your plans. You don’t need to do everything for your own good, otherwise those around you will simply turn away from you. Show people that all your efforts are aimed at their benefit.

One of the effective techniques on how to become a leader is to motivate your neighbor. Take an interest in the lives of your colleagues, co-workers and loved ones. Encourage them and instill confidence. Give them the right solutions to problems. Be involved in their lives. And do it for free!

8. Be an organizer

Making a decision is one thing, but implementing it is quite another. When it comes to executing the plan, the team resembles a real clumsy herd. Nobody knows what to tackle first. There are no clear instructions for implementation. There is no sequence of actions.

This is the finest hour for a person who wants to become a leader. Show off your organizational skills!

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To become a leader in a team, you need to literally radiate confidence in your own abilities with your appearance and behavior. It also doesn’t hurt to stand out for your punctuality and hard work, which, contrary to stereotypes, is inherent not only in men, but also in women.

There is an opinion that the ideal female leader is an uncontrollable careerist, a heartless dictator and a flint lady. But practice shows that such “leaders” quickly fade away, their words are not heeded, and the authority of tyrants perishes as soon as they lose power or at least go on vacation. Therefore, in order for a woman to become a true leader in the workplace, she needs to look for other ways than the “iron fist” rule that is familiar to men.

5 steps to help you become a leader in a team

1. Developing punctuality and responsibility. It is these two qualities, found in yourself, that indicate that you have a chance to take the chair of a team leader. After all, it’s not enough to want to be at the helm of a team; in order to be at the forefront, you need to have some inclinations for this. However, developing a love of order is not so difficult; effective time management training or regular willpower training can help with this.

An example of such a “strength” workout: “I will come to the office 5 minutes before the start of the working day every day for a month, and from my salary I will buy myself several new dresses for this.” And, of course, along with punctuality, you will have to develop self-confidence. Because a leader is a leader to solve his problems independently and clearly focus on his goals, and those who prefer to go with the flow may not even aspire to become leaders.

2. The ability to set goals and achieve them. Do you want the team to follow you and catch your every word? Show your colleagues that you can be relied upon. No need for show and bluff. The easiest option is to set a goal for the month and achieve it. But the goal must be large-scale and related to your work, so that the results of your work will affect everyone and, of course, from a good perspective. An example of such a goal could be organizing the automation of one of the routine processes included in your responsibilities: organizing a unified company information base, planning the integration of commercially available software products into the company’s work, simplifying reporting, or simply putting things in order in documentation.

3. Create yourself a “support group.” Even kings had several advisers, for even our ancestors noted the superiority of two minds over one. And it’s good if this group of associates consists of experts in their industries, and not just colleagues with whom you can talk about fashion and have a cup of tea over lunch. In the office, work should always be the focus, and friendly tea parties with conversations about trifles should be left for the weekend. In addition, a group of like-minded people is also good for strengthening leadership positions, because you are confident in your associates, and they are confident in you and can recommend you to your superiors as a valuable employee and a good manager.

4. Become more proactive. A leader knows how to set goals not only for himself, but also for others. Remember this simple truth and try to “plunge” into the company’s problems. It is clear that there is no need to give advice in areas in which you are not oriented. But in matters directly related to your area of ​​expertise, you can insert your proposal. Just before taking the initiative, carefully consider your action plan. It is possible that you will be offered to bring your idea to life, so prepare in advance for the materialization of the idea so as not to be branded as an idle talker.

In implementing ideas and initiatives, the help of a previously organized support group consisting of professionals in related areas of the company may be useful.

5. Get used to striving for perfection in your work. This does not mean that you will have to quickly become a perfectionist and be one for the rest of your days. All you need to do is find time in your schedule for self-education and improving your professional level. Usually people follow people who are constantly learning something new, because the desire for knowledge and personal growth is valued on a subconscious level.

The promotion fell out of the blue. My predecessor, an old maid in her forties, suddenly got married and drove off to follow her handsome prince. Good education, work experience, and, damn it, a wonderful character, played a role.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, I became a middle-level manager of an organization in which I had recently been an ordinary cog. An acute problem arose: how to become a leader in a team that knows you inside and out, without having any experience in leadership work.

Having covered myself with psychological literature, I began to build my own line of behavior. My first education in psychology helped a lot; all the knowledge gained fell on prepared ground. What I firmly decided for myself from the very beginning was that I would never repeat the mistakes of my predecessor.

Looking ahead, I will say that from my own experience I am convinced: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” About hell, of course, this is too much, but the fact that you should not envy the leader’s position too much until you “get into his skin” is absolutely true.

Laws of team building

It is impossible to become a leader if you do not know by what laws the team is built. Moreover, these laws are the same for the army, sports, school, student and industrial teams. Leaders naturally sense these patterns subconsciously. Those who have set themselves the goal of becoming a leader will have to learn this. Management psychology is also a science.

From the very beginning, I thought that giving instructions left and right in an orderly tone was, to say the least, stupid. I didn’t want ostentatious authority, but real authority. And one more aspect: the Big Boss, the one above me, will probably be checking the correctness of his decision on personnel changes at first. This means that there is one more unknown in the equation about the tactics of my behavior.

The team structure proposed by the famous psychotherapist M. Litvak seemed to me to be the most objective. I decided to take it as a basis, here are the main informal groups of any team:

• Educational and career group. A support for any leader, its members strive for professional and personal growth; those who are constantly growing should feel comfortable with them. This means that I won’t have any problems here; my diplomas and certificates of various courses can easily be pasted over one wall of the office. By the way, management psychology believes that the higher the social status of the team, the more careerists there are in it. I also found such clever people, which means I’ll have someone to rely on.
• Cultural and entertainment group. In it, most often those who are at work, but their thoughts are somewhere on the side. This could be a home, extra work, commerce, or other interests. Formally, you can’t find fault with them, they carry out their duties, but not a step to the side, no initiative. There were also such people, some of them were all about the country house under construction, some were thinking about children who had gotten away from their hands.
• Alcohol-sexual group. The most uncomfortable part of the employees, especially in the first, alcoholic part. They are not interested in the goals of the team, these groups are formed gradually, they have an informal leader who “spoils the whole raspberry” for the formal leader. Such groups are almost impossible to imagine in commercial organizations, but we worked in a budget organization, and we also had such a group. Moreover, at its helm was an employee with a very quarrelsome character.

Having promised myself to think about the goals that were important to informal groups later, I decided to evaluate my own chances of success as a team leader.

Personal qualities of a potential leader

It seemed to me that a real leader must have charisma - an elusive, attractive charm that acts on others like a magnet. And management psychology considers the following qualities to be leadership qualities:

• High level of intelligence. Hooray! At least here there is complete correspondence - something, but this cannot be taken away. The habit of constantly acquiring knowledge is now more valuable than ever. Life changes rapidly, you need to learn all your life. And for those who love this activity, the golden time has come. Moreover, there are enough sources of information even in the provinces.
• Self-confidence. The category is not exactly mine, but confidence, like a muscle, can be trained. The character of a melancholic person does not contribute to the development of confidence, but since the situation obliges him, his character will have to be adjusted. A leader needs confidence like air, because he will have to make decisions at lightning speed.
• To be a leader means be ready for change. The ability to change on the fly, to maneuver between “possible” and “impossible”, to convincingly prove to oneself the correctness of the chosen path, which yesterday led in the opposite direction - all these qualities are in the blood of my contemporaries of the transition period.
• To be a leader means have character. I did not have a hard hand, but I had a rare persistence in reserve, well disguised by softness and delicacy. As my husband puts it: “It’s soft to lay down, but hard to sleep.” It will do for the first time, then we will see what kind of character is required.
• To be a leader means be able to gather a team of like-minded people. The art of motivation was my strong point, I can set the right goals, and the ability to persuade is also quite good. All that remains is to build a functioning team with a clear distribution of responsibilities.
• To be a leader means to be able to move towards a goal no matter what. This quality has two components: desire and persistence. The desire, aka the incentive, was there, there was no lack of persistence, it seems that everything is “in chocolate” here too. The character of a leader is called upon to bring the work he has begun to a victorious end, not to give in to difficulties, and to be tailored to the system and its goals.

A small piece of paper with this cheat sheet went under the glass on the desktop and was very useful to me later. The work became very interesting; all the “informals” were united by a common goal. And the cantankerous comrade, who was an informal leader, turned out to be very efficient, it was worth noting his achievements once in front of everyone.

Big Boss, making sure that the wheels were spinning as they should, gave unlimited credit and hinted that I had been noticed upstairs. I finally believed that psychology is a science no less important than computer science. With its help, you can correct any character and try to change it for the better.

Leaders are not born

Management psychology has become my next hobby; I wanted to find out whether these laws work in children’s groups, especially since a convenient opportunity for this presented itself. A work colleague shared a problem - her son does not know how to become a leader in the class where he was recently transferred from another school. It turns out that when deciding how to become a leader in a company of classmates, you need to develop the following qualities:

• Self confidence. Such a person will not go unnoticed anywhere; thoughts on the topic: “what if my character does not correspond” are alien to him. If you believe in yourself, others will believe in you. There is no confidence - you can develop it, praise the child and support him (not to be confused with overprotection!). Criticism for failures is strictly prohibited.
• Capabilities. Anyone who is thinking about how to become a leader in life must stand out with some kind of talent. Sing the best, whistle the loudest, tie the sea knots the fastest, jump the farthest, and so on. Developing a small talent into a sufficiently noticeable talent is the responsibility of caring parents.
• Ability to take responsibility. The psychology of team management considers this quality to be perhaps the main one for those who are thinking about how to become a leader in the classroom. A true leader is always responsible for his actions, no matter good or bad. This quality is cultivated from childhood; it is advisable not to scold a child for taking initiative. The slogan “Initiative is punishable!” Only suitable for a construction battalion.
• Be resistant to criticism. Don’t get upset, but take criticism constructively, considering it a chance for self-improvement.

The psychology of team management believes that sometimes the greatest power in a team is not the bright and self-confident “soul of the company,” but a seemingly modest and not particularly sociable comrade. However, it is his opinion that is listened to, it is his word that is decisive, it is his style of clothing and his manner of behavior that classmates begin to imitate. This “gray eminence” keeps everyone at a distance, never imposes his point of view, but has a strong opinion on all important points.

In order to be a leader of any team, you can develop the necessary qualities in yourself. The team is formed according to certain laws, they cannot be ignored. The makings of a leader can be cultivated from childhood, taking into account the type of temperament of the child. Not everyone needs these skills; for some it is easier to be led and live according to the principle “Every cricket know its nest” .