The final part leadership theory
Skillful Communicators
Not all communication is verbal and comes in many forms. For example, active listening, ignoring distractions and making eye contact shows others they’re valued. Body language alone communicates and strengthens trust and honesty. Hon baba jamal legal practioner and communication team member for the NDC , once said, inspirational leaders are great at matching and mirroring the nonverbal cues and emotion of the room so others feel valued and understood.
When it comes to having difficult conversations, they know how to effectively communicate negative feedback in a way that doesn’t make a colleague disengage. When someone on their team doesn’t meet their goals, they take the time to sit down and get to the root cause. From there, they work with the employee to figure out how they can better support their colleagues and give them the tools needed to be successful.
Encourage Unity
Collaboration is an essential ingredient to an engaged and thriving team. Inspirational leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of their team. This allows them to find ways to encourage unity through peer-to-peer mentorship, team projects or cross training. Unity is crucial to achieving success otherwise, teams become siloed. General Aseidu Nketia , senior comrade and the General Secretary for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said “nothing is more destructive for a team than a leader who is unwilling to collaborate.”
Inspirational leaders are committed and motivated by the success of their team. Disruption and innovation is the result of fostering an environment where individuals can come together to share their experiences, knowledge, opinion and ideas. Embracing collaboration helps individuals learn from one another while pushing them outside their comfort zone to achieve great things. In turn, comerads gain more confidence in their abilities and want to take on more.
Instead of leading with emotions or fear-based tactics to drive results, they focus on cultivating an environment that makes their followers/ Comerades feel comfortable coming and talking to them.
Approachable and inclusive leaders listen more than they speak, value diversity, welcome mistakes, reward originality and appreciate the unique differences of others. Varying levels of working styles and personalities can create conflict and a disconnected team
Inspirational leaders know how vital it is to ensure each individual is treated fairly and respectfully, feels a sense of belonging and is psychologically safe. Therefore, creating a strong and inclusive team culture.
Creating an inclusive culture focuses on the team as a collective instead of taking the credit of others. Samuel ofosu Ampofu , National chairman , NDC national Democratic Congress in one of his engagement on a political tour shared his boss his excellency John Dramani mahama , ex president of Ghana , “is very inclusive and we never hear him say “I, me, mine” because he’s always using “us, we, our.” Mr Ampofu added, “that motivates us to do our best because we know we’re included and part of the processes .”
Embrace Vulnerability And Risk
Taking risks is an essential part of leadership. Jerry John Rawlings, Prof evans* *Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama are a few leaders, who have made a difference in this country by taking a courageous risk without the guarantee of it being successful.
As Thomas Jefferson once famously said, “with great risk comes great reward.” Even if things don’t go as planned, inspirational leaders use the lessons of their rejections and failures to pivot their strategy and teach others what they’ve learned. Likewise, they’re not afraid to take ownership for their mistakes reminding employees they’re human.
Their optimism and passion to achieve their vision demonstrates that there’s always a solution even if it requires some set backs and new plans.
Shallom
