Good morning, could you tell please does your company need leaders and why does it need such people?
Good morning, to begin with, I’d like to say that each company needs a leader as it helps the company to develop and grow. Considering our company, I want to say that leadership is the central link in the company development as the whole company operation processes are based on the leaders and managers of the departments who are submitted to the main leader. Being the leader, I am not the head of the company, but my presence is inevitable.
You know, being a big company we need to establish order and the completion of the tasks on time. Of course, the work may be structured by the managers and the results may be delivered directly to the head, but the necessity of a leader cannot be questioned due to several facts. First of all, the leader in our company performs the role of the person who motivates and directs others. Giving the task and setting deadlines is not that important.
People should understand why they do it and, what is more important, they are to understand how they should do it. Performing such function, I want to say that much time is devoted to motivation and explanation of the reasons and the importance of the new project. Our company understands that leadership is the future and pays much attention to looking for new leaders and supporting others. The leader creates a positive environment in the company which is important both when the previous project succeeded and when there are some troubles.
Can you say that you are exactly that person, a leader, and why do you think so?
Being a leader is not a profession or a position, it is something more. A leader is a person which knows for sure who, when, and what should do. A leader is a person who is responsible for the actions which are done and bear all the responsibility for the actions which go wrong. A leader is the one who makes decisions. It is really important to do this task and I believe that I am a leader as apart from my direct working responsibilities I also perform the task of the person who decides when risk should be taken, whether it is high time to start the project and who is going to work on it. The leader can make others do exactly what is necessary and I am a person who encourages employees on performing these tasks.
I see how people become inspired after I talk to them, I notice how the working results are increased and improved after several pieces of training I have with the employees who seemed to feel disappointment because of some failures. I believe that I am a leader as I can make a difference. I can encourage people for performing the tasks in such a way that they believe that it was their idea and complete the task exactly how I want them to do. All people are different and it is necessary to find the way for each person individually. Additionally, I would not be that sure in fact that I am a leader in the company if the employees did not believe in me in such a way as they do.
What techniques do you use to make people do what you need, to guide the employees?
Motivation is one of the main techniques applied while any particular meeting. I just know what each person wants to achieve and try to do all possible that the corporate interests meet their ones. However, I also apply to some theoretical practices. Here they are. I refer to coaching as one of the ways to help employees connect their purposes with the employees. I am sure that coaching at least twice a year is a great opportunity for the employees to learn more and to disclose their potential.
I try to use the leadership styles of motivation depending on the situation and people I have to work with as some techniques may be used with the concrete people and others will be useless. Therefore, applying to affirmative, democratic, pacesetting, or commanding leadership styles, I try to make the task implementation the most effective. I strongly believe that there are people who can be motivated only by commanding techniques and the democratic style will only allow them to do nothing. To make sure that you understand what I am talking about, let me say a couple of words about each of these styles. The affirmative style presupposes the stress of teamwork.
Using the democratic style of leadership, I usually encourage each employee to make decisions individually. This is important when the situation is urgent and fast decisions should be made. I use the pacesetting style when I see that people can work productively when they are set too high goals. The goals are unreachable, but at the same time the employees do all possible to become closer and as a result, show their best performance. Commanding style is similar to the military one when people are to obey by all means.
Have you ever thought that you will be working as a leader in a big company?
Frankly speaking I dreamt of it. I always remember the example of my father and his friend. The simple story that happened to my father became my guide for the whole life and even now I am sure that the situation impacted my decision to work with people and encourage them to work great. My father was a trade agent and worked with his friend. They were not the competitors, but it happened that my father had more clients even though his prices were higher.
The secret was in communication and in the desire to impress and encourage people to buy his products. He raised the price on some items and it helped him make discounts on others. The scheme worked even though people paid the same price. This helped my father to become a manager in the future and give me the understanding that encouraging and motivating are the main issues that.work with people. Studying economics, I still wanted to work with people more than with the numbers even though I am good at calculations and can easily create the budget for a company. Working as an analyst, I have an opportunity to use my knowledge in practice at the same time I also have an opportunity to work with people who trust me and who are ready to go with me as they believe in what I do.
Which skills a leader should possess? Do you have them? Do you have the goals to reach in your personality formation or you think you managed to reach a lot?
Speaking about a leader, it is impossible to use work professionalism in the way it is commonly used for describing employees’ responsibilities. Being a leader it is more about showing personal characteristic feature, however, professionalism should be present as people want to work with those who know what they should do. The main features a good leader should possess are as follows. I believe a leader should be honest with the employees and if the project seems to be complicated and failing, a leader should confirm this, however, the ability for inspiration and motivation should remove negative feelings. A leader should be forward-looking and competent as without these features no one is going to follow the leader.
Straightforwardness is the ability to make decisions at the right time is exactly what a leader should be able to do. Such features as imagination and courage should also be present as the leader should make risky decisions and remain firm.
The skills of fair-minded and broad-minded thinking are inevitable as leaders without such skills cannot be respected. As for me, I have already said that people trust me and this is one of the strongest confirmations of my leadership in the company. I think that I possess all the features described above, but at the same time, I cannot say that I have managed to reach a peck where everything is achieved. The sky is the limit and I strongly believe that there is always something to reach and something to strive for.