Being in charge of a business or a team is a big responsibility – one which you might not necessarily have planned on having. If you find yourself suddenly at the helm – or if you simply want to ensure your leadership style is as effective as possible – check out these 10 key pieces of advice.

Taken from the greatest leaders throughout history, these nuggets of wisdom will help you evaluate your management skills and ensure you’re not just a good leader, but a great one.

Related: 10 Ways to unleash your team’s creativity

  1. Work among your employees

“A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them.”- M. D. Arnold

Sometimes when people reach the top of their professional tree they retreat to a private office, take more days out of the office and adopt a more ‘hands off’ approach.

But if you are not visible or accessible to your employees and are not aware of the day-to-day issues they face it is impossible to provide effective leadership.

  1. Develop your people

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan

Your job as a leader is to identify other people’s skills, assist them to develop those skills and utilise them to propel the business forward.

Do you provide the training and support to help your staff reach their full potential?

Related: How to manage a fast growing events team

  1. Motivate

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When things go wrong it can be tempting to apportion blame, but a great leader realises that focusing on successes rather than failures is far more productive.

Motivate your people by always treating them with respect and encouraging their best efforts.

  1. Plan ahead

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency.” – Arnold Glasow

As captain of your ship you should always be looking ahead, surveying the waters and anticipating any trouble.

Keeping a watchful eye on all areas of the business and planning prudently for the future should ensure you’re not met by any nasty surprises.

Related: How to motivate an event sales team

  1. Lead by example

“Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time in leading yourself – your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct.” – Dee Hock

To be a truly great leader you must be worthy of people’s respect. Can you inspire others by your own actions?

Do you seek to continually develop and improve yourself or is it a case of ‘do what I say, not as I do’? Showing your staff the standards you expect by demonstrating them yourself will get the best results.

  1.   Find a mentor

“Wise leaders generally have wise counsellors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.” – Diogenes of Sinope

Just because you’re the boss, doesn’t mean you don’t need leadership yourself. Even the most powerful leaders have trusted advisers they turn to for guidance.

Try to find someone you respect in a non-competing business who can provide mentoring when you’re facing tricky decisions.

Related: How to find and utilise a great mentor

  1. Don’t worry about your persona

“Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not ‘making friends and influencing people,’ that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” – Peter F. Drucker

You might think being a great leader means having to give speeches, schmooze clients and work the media, but some of our best leaders are self-confessed introverts (Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg).

Leading is about more than being the figurehead of a business – it’s the personality you let your team see that’s important. Honesty, integrity and commitment are more important traits than a showbiz smile.

  1. Provide support

“A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs.” – Robert Townsend

While it is important to delegate tasks, great leaders don’t use this as an opportunity to enjoy more time on the golf course. They recognise their role is to support their staff and oversee all the functions that keep the business running.

Related: 5 Infamous and public fails you can learn from

  1. Communicate clearly

“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.” –Colin Powell

One of the most important traits a leader can posses is excellent communication skills. It’s vital your team understands both what you want done and why.

Be decisive, offer solutions and communicate a clear vision that everyone can get on board with.

  1. Be brave

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John Maxwell

At the end of the day, a leader is someone you want to follow when you don’t know the way yourself. It’s really important to inspire trust, to demonstrate confidence in your decisions and take those bold first steps!

Related: 7 Steps to more productive meetings

Conclusion

Great leaders are not born; they’re made. Don’t be complacent about your leadership skills. Continually look to develop yourself, ask how you can offer better support to your team, and keep your hands firmly on the steering wheel in order to be the best leader you can be.

Share some of your best leadership tips in the comments!