The 10 Pillars of Business Leadership

Business leadership must be based on solid foundations, on which it is possible to build a firm and resilient strategic path. If you lead a project, a business or a work team, you have to make sure that the pillars of your leadership are well established and assumed, otherwise, you run the risk of seeing how the building you have built falters.

What is labor leadership?

There are many ways to define labor leadership, just as there is also a variety of interpretations about what it means. Once we get away from the theory, we see that the term “leadership” means different things to different people.

The concept of leadership is often used to represent:

• The ability to get others to follow one.
• The use of authority in decision making.
• A personal characteristic was attributable to a leader who configures it as such.
• The ability to achieve effective performance in others.

A general interpretation of business leaders would be what defines it as a relationship in the labor context through which a person influences the behavior or actions of other people, and can be placed at the same or different levels within the hierarchical organization.

This definition shows that any consideration of what contributes to effective leadership cannot be done in isolation from concepts such as:

1. Team work.
2. The organizational structure
3. The motivation.

And, even though the traditional view saw business leadership as a term related to authority and control in decision-making; today, a more modern vision understands that the leader has a broader role, which includes among its functions the following:

• Share a vision
• Build effective teams.

Labor leadership has become particularly important in modern business as a result of two factors:

1. Change of organizational structures. More flat and horizontal structures, like the current ones, require greater delegation, greater use of teamwork, a marked focus on quality assurance and understanding the need for training, support, and empowerment of team members.
2. A quick change in the environment. Change must be accepted as a constant in business life. This implies recognizing that leadership and management skills are increasingly important.

How should business leaders be?

Business leadership must have a vision. The vision is a realistic, compelling and attractive representation of where you want to be in the future. Therefore, it is useful for the leader, when providing guidance, to help him establish priorities and facilitate the monitoring and measurement of achievements.

Business leadership, a matter of values

According to the executive coach, Marta Williams, the leadership is based on a value above all: credibility. Williams explains that it is necessary to rely on six basic pieces. Take note:

1. Ethics: understood as the responsibility to fulfill what is promised and be consistent with it. It is one of the most delicate values since many leaders tend to forget it. Ethics has inherent qualities of justice, integrity, trust, and humility.
2. Capacity: having “capacity” implies being able to give measurable results. A leader without results will not be respected and after a time will be replaced by another. Williams points out that “a leader with capacity can always do what he says he is going to do”, and also effectively and resolutely. Some of the qualities that the capable leader must meet are talent, productivity, ability and above all, intelligence.
3. Value: has to face complicated decisions and situations, demonstrate decision-making capacity and admit their mistakes. He must have the guts to accept criticism and modify those behaviors that produce bad results.
4. Consideration: the relationship with the work team must be one of respect and empathy. All this is achieved by acquiring a listening attitude that is, dedicating time to others, attending to their requests and valuing their opinions. Also, it must be accessible and show a commitment to the development and growth of employees.
5. Serenity: especially in difficult moments or before setbacks. You have to know how to stay calm, control emotions and be stable. It’s no use losing your nerves.
6. Conviction: the good leader must believe in what he does. Commitment, delivery, trust, is all the skills that are generated when there is a conviction. If the leader is not convinced, how can his team be? It must inspire them to follow the same direction.

Take care of your strategic approach to achieve successful leadership

If you have all the skills we have mentioned, you have enough capacity for your leadership to be successful. However, you still have four more strategic features that you must take into account to finish profiling you like the best:

• Strategic vision and adaptation: without a doubt, without a strategic vision you will not get anywhere. It is essential to have it clearly so that you can add value to the client. Also, business leadership experts recommend taking into account the dangers that threaten the strategy that is being followed and recognizing the key moment to reorient it.
• Strategic values: the values must be aligned with the strategy and tend to be constant and lasting. The vision tends to evolve and adapt to the new times and different styles of leadership.
• Investment in talent: you must motivate and allow developing those young professionals who demonstrate talent and involvement and whose work is brilliant.
• Disciplinary and implacable execution: the way of managing the project must be impeccable and must take into account the personal development of employees, the allocation of resources, results, the position of the company in the global field …

Motivation, pillar of business leadership

Taking into account the evolution of business models and project management, right now there is an element that we cannot ignore if we want to succeed in business: the motivation of our teams.

Many industry professionals place it even above other elements such as organization, conviction, and planning.

That is, they consider that without adequate motivation none of the actions that are part of the process can be carried out successfully because it is a factor that crosses the marrow of any business project.

Motivation is as important at the beginning as during the execution of tasks. Management must ensure that it remains in force and that, despite the many obstacles that may arise along the way, the level of involvement of the group of collaborators will not diminish or be affected.