Instinctive habits of remarkable leaders

Once in a while you meet a leader who stands out - even in a room filled with skilled, experienced and successful people. She hasn't just learned to be remarkably charismatic. He hasn't just learned to be remarkably likeable. You can tell, in an instant, they simply think and act and lead differently than most people.

But those rare individuals don't become remarkable leaders overnight. While some are born with an aptitude for leadership, truly outstanding leaders are made. Through training, experience, and a healthy dose of introspection they learn how to make quick decisions. They learn to truly lead. And in time those skills become automatic and reflexive. While great leaders do a tremendous amount of thinking, that thinking happens behind the scenes. In the moment, in the trenches, when people look to them and need them most, they act swiftly and decisively. Want to become a remarkable leader? Work hard, like them, to do some things naturally, automatically and instinctively:

> They praise.

It's easy to tell when employee recognition is simply one entry on a very long to-do list. We've all been around people who occasionally shake a few hands and pat a few backs. No matter how hard they try to fake it, their insincerity is evident.No one gets enough praise, so truly outstanding leaders see expressing thanks, giving praise, and providing recognition as one gift that can never be given often enough.

> They decide

Ideas are great but implementation is everything. Outstanding leaders quickly weigh, assess, decide, and then immediately act - because decisiveness and action build confidence and momentum.

> They take responsibility.

We all make bad decisions. What matters is what we do after we make those mistakes. Outstanding leaders are the first to say, "I was wrong." They are the first to say, "I made the wrong choice. We need to change course." These leaders instinctively admit their mistakes early and often because they're quick to take responsibility and because they desperately want to build a culture where mistakes are simply challenges to overcome, not opportunities to point fingers and assign blame.

> They communicate

Business is filled with what: What to execute, what to implement, what to say, and sometimes even what to feel. What's often missing is the why. That's why so many projects, processes, and tasks fail. Outstanding leaders explain. And listen- effective communication involves more listening than talking.

> They set the example

Say you're walking through a factory with the plant manager and there's a piece of trash on the floor. There are two types of people when that happens: One spots it, stops, struts over, snatches it up, crumples it like a beer can, and strides 20 feet to a trash can to slam it home. He picked up the trash... but he also made a statement. The other veers over without breaking stride, picks it up, crumples it, keeps talking, and doesn't throw it away until he comes across a convenient trashcan. He's not thinking about making a statement. He just saw a little trash... and picked it up without thinking. Simple example? Sure. But extremely telling.

Why? Employees notice what you do. When you're in charge, everyone watches what you do. The difference lies in how you do what you do... and what that says about you.Outstanding leaders do what they do simply because it's important to them.

> They give feedback

We all want to improve: to be more skilled, more polished, more successful. That's why we all need constructive feedback. Because they care about their employees, not just as workers but as people, outstanding leaders instinctively go to the person struggling and say, "I know you can do this. And I'm going to help you."

The author is Jeff Haden, owner, BlackBird Media. Re-printed with permission.
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-instinctive-habits-remarkable-leaders-jeff-haden?trk=prof-post