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LEADERSHIP


FIVE QUALITIES OF A LASTING LEADER


By Barry Banther


LISTENING BEING OPEN APPRECIATION INVESTING TIME ENCOURAGEMENT L


eadership isn’t just something you do; it’s someone you become. It requires a personal transformation, not just a personal agenda. Roger hadn’t learned that les-


son. During an interview for a new leadership position, the hiring manager asked why he switched jobs and sometimes companies every three to fi ve years. Roger blamed the employees who stopped growing and doubted ownership’s commitment to the goal they asked him to reach. In other words, it had to be the environment because Roger was a “good” manager. Roger was half right — it was the environment. However, he failed to recognize that he was responsible for creating that situation. Lasting leaders, those who can weather economic


downturns and even seismic market shifts in their employees or customers, are the ones who know how to assemble a diverse team and bring out their very best. If you’re not building relationships that will last with your associates, even your fi nancial success will be short lived. If we want to understand what really defi nes leaders,


then we have to start by looking at their followers. The old motivational tricks no longer work. Employees have become jaded from broken promises and failed dreams. Today followers are drawn to leaders who show openness,


invest time, listen, encourage and show appreciation for the strengths their employees bring to work. These are qualities that are developed intentionally over time but they pay dividends in both fi nancial and personal performance for a lifetime. Leaders who are held in the highest esteem for their success on both the bottom line and with the people they


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lead epitomize these fi ve qualities. From their followers you will hear phrases like these: “he was always there for me,” “I felt like she really listened,” and “he valued my opinion.” The result is employee engagement at the highest level. These qualities are gifts that a lasting leader is willing to give freely to the people he or she leads.


THE GIFT OF BEING OPEN TO OTHERS Every leader claims to have an open-door policy. It’s not a leader’s door that needs to be open — it’s an open mind that matters! Openness encourages employee engagement and that is fundamental to business success. The Gallup Organization’s study of employee engagement in 7,939 business units in 36 diff erent companies found that “employee engagement was positively associated with performance.”


THE GIFT OF INVESTING TIME IN OTHERS Leaders are usually not solo inventors or lonely creative thinkers. They are called to assemble a team of people and enable them to be more productive together than any of them could be alone. Leaders can’t create time, but when they invest their time to build profi table relationships with their employees they are multiplying the results they can achieve. Choosing to spend time with their employees daily is a leader’s best return on time.


THE GIFT OF LISTENING TO OTHERS. Trust between leaders and their associates is built upon a transparency that refl ects a freedom to speak and be heard.


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