LEadership skills for SMEs transformation in Nigeria (V)

• That the leader be able to motivate and direct others. This is very important. Leaders are people who motivate others to do what they ordinarily might not want to do. They guide their followers and in this case workers to aim higher than they would ordinarily aim for and to achieve what they thought was impossible. Nations that have been transformed were able to do so because they had a visionary leader whose enthusiasm for change and transformation permeated the entire national fabric bringing about nationalistic fervour for change. In business, too, when leaders catch a vision of a great future or what management scholars call the “big picture”, they not only stop there but also motivate their management and staff to believe in that vision and be led to accomplish it. Examples abound. Microsoft today, Oracle, Apple, Coca Cola and other leading global brands were businesses that their owners thought would someday rule the world. And each of these brands has just done that in their own way. If you can catch a vision for your SME organisation and lead your people to buy into that vision, supporting them all the way, that vision can culminate into tremendous success for your organisation.
• That the leader takes responsibility for the direction and actions of her/his team. Leaders don’t give excuses. They look for solutions. They take responsibility and actions for their team or organisation. They don’t start running in their mind who they should blame for a product launch failure, for a marketing campaign that went afoul, for a big client that went to the competition and for financial goals of the organisation that could not be achieved. Yes, they have people to assign duties to regarding the different aspects of their business. Yes, they have people that are paid to accomplish certain targets for the organisation. Yes, they demand and monitor key performance indices from managers regarding goals to be met in the organisation, but they refuse to allow themselves to trade the blame game for any form of setbacks the organisation experiences under their leadership. If it means reshuffling their team members and reassigning some to other tasks, they do so to get the results they want.
• That the leader sets objectives. Leaders are known to set objectives and to go after them. Since leadership is responsibility, true leaders don’t just lead by assumptions and whimsical visions of where they think their organisation is headed, they are people with wonderful visions that are guided by specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals i.e. SMART-based goals.
• That the leader organises and motivates others. Leadership is about organising people to achieve a grand vision of the leader or the organisation. Any SME owner or manager who is able to inspire his/her people to give their all towards a cause in the business has succeeded in multiplying himself/herself. Leadership is not about the qualities and strength of the leader but the cumulative strengths and qualities of the team. In football, most teams win not by the display of the individual charisma of each star but by simply working as a team. The German team in the last World Cup won the tournament because they played as a team. A wise man once said; stars win matches; teams win tournaments. Apply this to your business and you will win in your marketing campaigns, product development programmes; innovative launch outs and others.
• That the leader takes initiatives. The leader does not live on past glories or future laurels not yet in the kitty. Leaders live by initiatives. They are never distressed. When they hit a road block, they find an escape route. They strive to come up with initiatives to solve the daily challenges of business and this can be done by carrying their people along and asking their opinion on issues that affect the business. Sometimes, leaders engage consultants to tap their brains in the area of idea generation which is used to solve their business problems.
• That the leader perseveres when things are not working out. Leaders don’t become disconsolate because their plans are not working out. They don’t throw in the towel or throw tantrums around looking for scape goats to step on. They persevere. They endure the hard times and hard knocks that hit them. They keep fighting until they achieve their goals and targets in and for the organisation.
• That the leader takes a positive attitude to frustration/failure. The attitude of the leader means a lot to the general temperature of the firm. If the leader is pessimistic about a business situation, it will rub off on the rest of his people. Leaders who go ahead to become inspirational business leaders are those who maintain a positive attitude in the face of daunting challenges.
• That the leader accepts responsibility for mistakes/wrong decisions. The leader must accept responsibility for mistakes made and wrong decisions taken. Without doing this, the leader sets a bad precedence that his/her followers will repeat. When the leader takes responsibility for mistakes made, that example also rubs off on the led.
• That the leader remains flexible and prepared to adapt goals in the light of changing situations. To win in a very volatile business environment, the leader needs to be flexible about goals set, plans made and targets anticipated. When the business environment revolts against certain plans by way of new policies that would affect the business, or new technologies that threaten to displace the ones used by the firm or that a competitor introduces a marketing strategy that should prompt a quick response, the leader must also respond. They mustn’t be a case of “we have planned to go in this direction and nothing can change that.” Business leaders that refuse to change are planning the funeral ceremony of their business. Only business leaders that are given to change can guarantee a future for their business.
I will round off this topic next week in preparation for the holiday seasons. Let’s continue to pray for Nigeria.