|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
DIVINE INSPIRATIONDo you have what it takes to be a leader? Jill Acheson reveals how effective leadership and multi-tasking go hand-in-hand when starting your own business The role of leadership in business is unquestionable; great leaders create great businesses while moderate leaders create moderate businesses. But what are the essential leadership attributes and what does it take to be an effective business leader? Essentially the new leaders of tomorrow are visionary and must combine an ability to learn and teach as well as being able to manage, motivate, influence and persuade. Leaders are rarely born, your life and work experiences influence your ability to lead. MULTI TASKINGWhen setting up a business, your leadership skills will be tested as it will be necessary to multi task during the start-up stages of business. According to Liam McMahon, Managing Director of New Horizons Ireland, “leadership is essential in starting your business if the nature of your business involves hiring and growing a team of people. The most important leadership aspect in the beginning is to have strong clear direction and have the ability to communicate that to your team.”He continues, “if each individual has the clarity of what the direction is and objectives are, they can take ownership of their actions to achieve the company’s goals. Finally with the correct leadership skills, you should be able to motivate and enjoy a strong team spirit for success.” McMahon, who runs New Horizons Ireland, says that during his college days he was always interested in running his own business. His main break came when he was appointed Managing Director and Vice President for a multinational which was establishing a large base in Ireland. He was given full autonomy to build the company’s division from a green field site and within 18 months there were 100 people employed in the business. VISIONMcMahon says that during his entrepreneurial career he has continued to develop his leadership talents. “Vision, mission, clarity, structure, process, team building and communication are some of the many skills which I learnt during my years with larger companies,” he says.When he set up New Horizons Ireland, a centre for business learning, he utilised all his leadership experience and more, to grow the company. The Dublin based centre offers many course options of differing durations, mostly one to three days in length. They offer a suite of courses in their Business Skills Fundamental series. For leadership courses, they offer executive leadership, manager leadership, frontline leadership and practical leadership, delivering these on a dedicated company basis. NATURAL STYLEPotential leaders need to know their strengths and abilities, while leaving other elements of their leadership to others is another vital part of being a great leader. Whether you are managing a team at work, captaining your sports team or leading a major corporation, your leadership style is crucial to your success. If leaders can successfully understand their natural style of leadership, and explore how that style might be altered to fit different circumstances and different people, then their leadership is much more effective. A natural leader will have the ability to form a trusting bond between them and their team. In the first years of business start-up it is essential to build a team who can trust and follow their leader which will help the business to achieve its targets.If your goal is to become a leader, it may help to develop particular areas of your personality that you feel may not be up to scratch. For instance, if you have all of the basic traits but do not consider yourself a people person, you may need to brush up on your management skills. Alternatively, if people are your forte, but you lack logical decision making skills, it may be your strategic planning that needs some tweaking. It is vital to remember, that anyone can do anything they set their mind to. However, in the start-up stage of your venture it is helpful to already have competent management abilities, as well as a mind for figures and budgeting. LIFE CHANGINGA recent survey by the UK based Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) highlights how important any previous team and leadership involvement has been and its role in developing the leader within you today.The survey of 500 UK business owners and managers by ILM revealed that many were marked out as future leaders from an early age with 44 % being past school prefects, and 22 % captaining a school sports team. ILM’s survey reveals that anyone who was involved in team sports has the edge on other would be leaders and managers today. If you were a well behaved youth who captained a team, then you should already have an inbuilt ability to influence and lead your business team. As a leader it is vital to try to encourage team communication to build a team identity. Plan and organise the team by setting realistic goals. However do not give too much or too little guidance, experienced workers may resent you treating them like new-recruits, and this can undermine your leadership. When goals are achieved recognise and reward the team. Do not expect the team to exceed them, this will undermine your leadership and the team will lose trust in you. RECOGNISING WEAKNESSESAccording to McMahon, “the most important leadership aspect in the beginning is to have strong clear direction and have the ability to communicate that to your team. If each individual has the clarity of what the direction is and objectives are, they can take ownership of their actions to achieve the company’s goals. Finally with the correct leadership skills, you should be able to motivate and enjoy a strong team spirit for success.”A good leader must be able to recognise and admit their weaknesses in order to be able to compensate in other ways, according to McMahon. “One of the biggest challenges for an entrepreneur and leader is to be able to cope with change in the size of the organisation and understand that as the company goes from five to twenty people, the dynamics change and therefore as a leader, they must adapt to the differences,” he says. GUIDANCEThere are a number of courses available in Ireland to help you develop your management and leadership skills. Many are quite short in duration and offer an intensive opportunity to fine tune your leadership skills. The Enterprise Boards offer a number of different opportunities to develop your leadership and managerial skills.Training content can be tailored to the particular knowledge and skills requirements of individual people. Certain common themes are ever popular and in high demand, including the start your own business programmes, management development courses, sales and marketing courses, financial management training, e-commerce and IT skills training. There are also women in business and ethnic entrepreneur initiatives and networks in place which aim to encourage higher participation in entrepreneurial leadership and business activity. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONMany problems that occur in start-ups can be a direct result of people failing to communicate properly. Ineffective communication can lead to team confusion and can cause a strategic plan to fail. McMahon says that everyone has a different leadership style, personal attributes such as being able to communicate on many different levels, listening to people, trusting, making the tough decisions and being able to change as your company develops are important for small growing businesses. It is useful to identify team members and resources willing to support your leadership strategy.Published in the September 2007 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur | back to top | back
to Start-Ups |
|
|
|
|
| © 2007 Irish Entrepreneur Irish Entrepreneur is published by Morrissey Media Ltd. 3 Dublin Road, Naas, Co. Kildare. T: + 353 45 866200 F: + 353 45 883709 E: info@irishentrepreneur.com |
|
Irish Business Magazines Get Real Run For Their Money Ireland's Top Distributed Magazine |
 |
