Tuesday, July 24, 2012

A skill set called leadership

I am not shy to admit that I have always been quite a forward person. I like taking initiative, taking charge and ensuring that tasks are completed on time and with utmost efficiency. I am a firm believer of the old phrase, “If you want something to be done perfectly, do it yourself”.
I am guessing this is the trait that led to me being recently elected as the team leader for one of my varsity big projects. For the project, I and my class mates are required to plan and organise a posh Gala Dinner as a token of appreciation to a group of students representing the university on an international motorsport event.  If you ask me, this is quite a big deal!
Prior to accepting this responsibility, I have never really considered myself as a leader. To be quite honest I absolutely had no idea what a strain it would be. My idea of a good leader has always been someone who makes sure that everything is completed on time. I never thought about the tactics to use in order to make sure of that.
So as I have learnt from my experience, these are the set of skills required for good leadership:
·         An amazing ability to make convincing threats,
·         Veeeery high tolerance of nonsense,
·         Willingness to accept responsibility for other people’s faults,
·         A sharp voice to shout (you do that quite a lot),
·         A semi permanent fake smile,
·         And most importantly, willingness to do the work when someone simply refuses to do it.
*sigh*
But I am a lucky leader; I have such an amazing team! Sometimes I do not have to implement all of the above mentioned set of skillsJ.

1 comment:

  1. From my own experience, I've learned that without communication we can't do anything properly, especially to lead a team correctly.
    At a leadership development program held by http://www.robinsonleadership.com, I also found out that we must be responsible for our acts, capable to reach the company's goals and to keep the team united in different ways.

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