Theme 17: What does confident leadership look like and why is it an important characteristic?

What does confident leadership look like and why is it an important characteristic?

Confidence grows confidence right?

If you think about leaders you admire, it is more than likely their confident delivery of key messages is one of the dimensions of their leadership that appeals most and makes you feel connected.

Even if you don’t necessarily agree with the pathway, idea or direction – if the message is delivered in a confident manner, it is more likely teams will listen, consider and attach themselves to the strategy.

Confident leadership, powerful delivery followed by actions can positively influence people and outcomes, especially when there are tough decisions to make.

I recently observed a good friend demonstrating confident leadership by making a decision to not participate in or be part of an event that would have involved his entire team. He believed doing so would eventually have a negative impact so he made a tough call to pull him and his team out.

This decision could easily have driven a wedge between him and his team however because he has done his research, had thought through all the implications and delivered his rationale confidently (his WHY), his team accepted and embraced his decision. He helped them believe and understand it was about their welfare – a compelling message.

Leading confidently requires great courage and there will times that we will be ‘knocked off our perch’ when issues and challenges occur. We, therefore, need to develop a toolkit of strategies. Here are 5 approaches I have used in the past.

1. Making sure I lead according to my values. Do you have values that you live and lead by?

2. Being planned and prepared. This demonstrates you take your role seriously.

3. Using positive affirmations as an approach to develop a confident mindset especially when leadership is challenging.

4. Being decisive. This means sticking to what you say and do and not changing your mind unless there is a clear WHY.

5. Thinking about your demeanour and appearance. Great leaders take pride in how they come across.

sean bailey managing director – company owner m +64 21 059 8305  e sean@empoweryounz.co.nz   christchurch new zealand  w empoweryounz.blogspot.com

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