There are many different kinds of leaders and nearly as many types of leadership. While you can study leadership, read books about it, listen to audiobooks dedicated to the topic or even receive leadership coaching and training, at the end of the day, every leader must decide how they want their leadership to be measured.
Measuring leadership comes in many forms. For some, it’s all about profitability. Others focus on the sheer number of followers they have, or their ability to retain key employees or team members.
There are many great leaders out there, and I’ve learned something from each and every one I’ve read about, listened to or studied. In working with some of the most successful real estate teams in the world, I’ve been able to identify a few key characteristics that all great leaders have in common:
Have and share your vision. Great leaders have the ability to see what the future holds, not only for themselves and their team, but for the individuals they lead.
Be intentional with your core values. Hiring to your values, and being committed to building a culture based on those values, will be the glue that holds the team together. At Workman Success Systems, our core values include:
- Choose to be happy.
- Communicate openly and honestly.
- Have and share vision.
- Integrity always.
- Live with passion.
- Live freely.
- Show gratitude.
- Persist until we succeed.
Create an environment of productivity. Leaders who show up ready to work set the tone for the entire team. As a leader, you can delegate many things, but there are a handful of activities you can’t afford to ignore if you want to be successful. This includes gathering the team together for a daily huddle, reviewing important tasks and resetting expectations while showing your appreciation. You must inspect what you expect.
Use accountability as a tool your team chooses, not something you as a leader do to your people. We used to create penalties for those who didn’t complete assignments or adhere to prospecting rules and follow-up standards. When an agent on one of our teams fell short of these benchmarks, they would lose the privilege of getting leads. Today, our focus has changed to teaching our team members to choose accountability for their own benefit, not because we’re going to take something away from them. Accountability is the greatest choice a leader can help their people make. Teams made up of members who hold each other accountable reflect great leadership.
Clearly define roles and clearly define goals. When interviewing successful teams, this is something they all have in common. They know their goals and they know their personal roles, and everyone on the team is focused on the impact they have in helping the team reach those goals. Great leadership is paramount when it comes to communicating clearly and helping everyone on the team create and stretch their goals.
Leaders often think that leadership is the result of providing insightful direction without listening to what the team has in mind, but great leaders take the time to listen and learn before providing direction based on real information and understanding.
As we evaluate great leaders, the most outstanding quality is their desire to serve. Leading by helping others find success on a daily basis, and then recognizing small victories, is the glue that holds teams together. The greatest measure of success is how you as a leader help others achieve success.
Verl Workman is the founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems (385-282-7112), an international speaking, consulting and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and building successful power agents and teams. Contact him at Verl@WorkmanSuccessSystems.com. For more information, please visit www.workmansuccesssystems.com.
