There's a lot of components to being a great leader. And I made a video here that covers a more surgical look at the most vital components to being a great leader.
However, the one aspect that most people fall short with. The one aspect that seems to be the hardest to learn. Is that a great leader is also a great teacher.
SIMPLE concept - but very difficult for non-leaders to understand, and it's a wonderful filter when you're trying to weed out poor leaders from your team - or if you want to be seen as a strong leader yourself...
Great leaders
Currently, in my companies, we have 16 amazing leaders. Every one of them is a great teacher. And I'm not talking about a teacher in high school or college. I'm talking about a teacher of tactics.
I mean that, every leader has the ability to quickly and effectively teach their team (as a group or as individuals) whatever it is that they need to know, to meet or exceed their targets.
In my company, when we see that somebody has leadership qualities inside of them AND a desire to grow within the company... we sit down with them and discuss their future with us. We may offer them access to our leadership training program. And one of the very first things that we talk to them about is the difference between being a good teacher and a bad teacher.
Because this is SUCH an important concept in leadership. But if somebody cannot grasp it, then they'll NEVER be a great leader. In fact, they'll never even be a decent leader if they don't understand this...
The difference between being a good teacher, and a bad teacher, is that...
A good teacher conveys whatever they're teaching as if it's THEIR responsibility to help you understand it.
A bad teacher conveys whatever they're teaching, as if it's YOUR responsibility to learn it.
Great teachers
Let me repeat that, a good teacher, teaches as if it's THEIR responsibility to help you understand, but a bad teacher teaches as if it's YOUR responsibility to learn.
Big difference, big big difference!
Think back to when you were in school... the subjects you loved the most probably were taught by people who were excellent teachers.
I'll bet those teachers were excellent because they made that subject interesting. I'll also bet the reason why they made it interesting was because they truly wanted you to understand it like they did.
On the other hand... I'll bet you ALSO took classes that you THOUGHT might be interesting. But that either you didn't learn much in, or you didn't enjoy, and that was probably because they were taught by teachers who expected you to learn, instead of taking it upon themselves to help you understand.
Be A Great Leader Today
If you want to be a great leader... there's ONE THING you can do that will have a MASSIVE impact on the way others perceive your leadership. And it can create an impact TODAY, not next year, not next quarter, not next month, but people will perceive you as a far better leader TODAY.
It's simply to approach every conversation with your team in a way that not only allows you to convey whatever you're saying, very clearly. But also, in a way that allows you to understand how the people on your team are UNDERSTANDING what you're saying.
You can do that simply by allowing them to ask as many clarification questions as needed until they clearly understand whatever you're trying to convey to them.
Being a great leader is often less about holding people accountable for WHAT you're teaching. It's far more about HOW you're teaching (...and leading by example). Because when you become a great teacher inside of your organization, others around you will learn how to be a great teacher by watching you. Very quickly, the people around you will develop into stronger leaders as well.
That's powerful for any organization - that's leading by example.
And I promise, this happens, and it happens FAST - when you learn this concept...
Lead your team as if it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to help them become better leaders.
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