My long time good friend and ex-colleague met me recently for a causal chat, she mentioned that her new current job requires her to undertake a leadership role and asked if I could share my experience working and leading teams.
I count my blessings for the opportunity to work with many incredible and brilliant people in the past. When I started, it has been a struggle, because each of us has our unique personality and our thinking differs, however, that makes working with people so interesting as we are able to stretch ourselves at different level. I am also grateful that my leadership mentors John C Maxwell, Robin Sharma and Jim Rohn’s books and coaching programs have helped me to bond and connect with my team mates in an extraordinary ways.
I am still in my learning process, however, I am very happy to share with my good friend what I have learnt in the past and the leadership lessons that will serve me well in the future.
Here are some leadership insights that I have gained from John C Maxwell teaching. With gratitude and humility, his teaching has given me tremendous inspiration and growth in developing my leadership skills both personally and professionally.
1) In Maxwell’s book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, he writes about the Law of Connection, which states, “Leader touch a heart before they ask for a hand.” It simply means that if you do not try to listen to and understand people, you cannot begin to connect with them. Not only it is not fair to ask for the help of someone who whom you have not built rapport, it is also ineffective.Make it your goal to listen and understand them.
2) In his book Developing the Leaders Around You, he writes about building trust. Trust must be built day by day. It has to be consistent. Breaking promises, gossiping, withholding information, and being two faced are actions that destroy trust necessary for the growth of potential leaders. People will not follow a leader they do not trust. It is the leader’s responsibility to actively develop that trust in him from the people around him.
3) From the book The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player, Maxwell explains that team members always love and admire a player who can help them go to another level, someone who enlarges them and empowers them to be successful. Enlargers Add Value to Their Teammates: Adding value is really the essence of enlarging others.It’s finding ways to help others improve their abilities and attitudes. An enlarger looks for the gifts, talents, and uniqueness in other people, and then helps them to increase those abilities.
I will share some more useful leadership lessons on my next blog post! Stay tuned! 🙂
If you would like to read more about leadership and to enhance your learning, you can click the recommended books (above) by John C Maxwell at Amazon website.
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