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In times of change, you know how to adapt

In times of change, a good leader is not only one who motivates his team to achieve the best possible results. What other qualities are necessary?

It is generally considered that a A good leader is one who accompanies his team and motivates them to achieve the best results. possible in order to meet the objectives set by the organization. A good leader is expected to not only know how to lead but also help the members of his team to grow and develop.

However, There are other characteristics of the leader which have to do with the people who lead and about whom little is said. It is not usually taken into account that those people who work with the leader are necessarily an essential “tool” for the development of leadership. The word tool is used in the best sense.

While it is obvious that You can't be a leader without people to lead, It is also important to keep in mind that when someone is described as a good leader, in addition to the qualities and skills that put them in that position, they were surely nourished in the process by the people they led.

¡Leading in times of change!

In today's changing environments, where organizations are constantly changing and evolving, A good leader must be more than ever in touch with these changes to accompany the evolution of the organization and its people.

And while it is necessary for every leader to have a global vision, he cannot fail to look at the internal, to be fully aware of the here and now. This awareness is what will allow him to be immersed in the work dynamics with his team and to be part of it by understanding what motivates them, interpreting what changes are taking place and what their concerns and needs are. Needs both at work and personal level.

This task is not easy, especially when different styles and different generations of the working world must be brought together, or when it is even necessary to lead a team whose members are in different physical spaces separated by geographical distance, or when the changes are very dizzying and require immediate responses. And this is where the qualities I was referring to –people-centered– play a fundamental role in the leader's task:

  • Listening ability, to achieve that interpretation and accompaniment, but also to be able to see what their people can contribute. This ability to listen should be accompanied by the necessary humility to understand and accept that there is surely much to learn and understand from the work team they lead. It is what makes the difference and necessarily implies leaving aside personal egos, which we all have to a greater or lesser extent. If we do not know how to observe and listen, it will be very difficult for us to learn, and this capacity for continuous learning is ultimately what changes and the journey through life itself demand of us.
  • The leader must be one more member of the team and set an example by working alongside its members. Leaders cannot afford to distance themselves from people or lose contact with their day-to-day work, because it is in people that they will find the raw material necessary to face challenges, to create and innovate, to find answers to many of their questions, to think of solutions to problems and to achieve the objectives, which are ultimately the goal of every organization.

These skills, which I believe are essential in a leadership role, are where he stands out. the know-how, because occupying that position gives an additional responsibility to the person leading a work team. This savoir-faire that must prioritize the good as a condition for coexistence and that must lead the leader to be the first to respect the norms created for the functioning of the work team. A savoir-faire with humility, which allows one to accept one's own mistakes and work to correct them within ethics and commitment. A savoir-faire that values the team's successes and shares failures. A savoir-faire with openness, that is capable of understanding diversity and handling it with due respect, and that is capable of getting its people to develop the best version of themselves.

I once heard that wanting to grow a company without growing its employees is like wanting to build a strong building without bricks. And that is a responsibility within the exercise of leadership, exercise a knowing how to be that is consistent with the idea of being human and that gives way to interest in others, helping and allowing people on your team to grow and also take on leadership roles. As Tom Peters said: “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.”