leadership

There are a lot of different leadership traits and characteristics that come up when people talk about what it takes to be an effective leader. Of all the leadership traits, I think the most important one is Honesty.

Think about it; would you be willing to follow someone if you couldn’t trust that they were telling you the truth? If he says he is leading you in a direction that will benefit everyone, you need to be able to trust that he really are looking out for you, and not just trying to benefit himself. If he says he has your back, you need to know that he really does, and won’t throw you under the bus at the first sign of trouble.

For you as the leader, this isn’t something you can just say to people and expect them to believe it. Honesty is not one of the leadership traits that people will automatically buy into. You need to demonstrate your honesty on a daily basis. It is something that you have to let your example speak for you. If you say you are going to do something, you need to do it…every time. If you say you are going to look into a problem, or take care of an issue, you need to do it. Every time!

This isn’t something that you can do once, and then move on to the next leadership trait you are trying to develop. When you put yourself out front people watch what you do. Even when you don’t know they are watching, they are. When you do things the right way, they take notice. When you do things the wrong way…well, you get the picture.

Here’s the rub; it takes a long time to build a reputation, but it only takes a second to destroy it.

Steven Covey, in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” writes about an “emotional bank account.” What he means is that over time you make deposits into this bank account by having positive relationships with people. If you mess up, and need to make a withdrawal from that bank account, there better be something in the account to draw from. If you have been making steady deposits into the account it is possible to recover from mistakes, and to rebuild your relationships. If the account is empty, it becomes much more difficult to recover, and your effectiveness of a leader may never be regained with the same group of people.

Remember, you build your reputation as an honest person on a day by day, case by case basis.

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