Break the Mold With These 3 C’s of Leadership

For your success as a leader and the success of your team you must learn how to master candor, commitment and courage. These three traits will help you move your followers forward, stretching them well beyond their comfort zone towards achieving success. A leader who is unable to do these 3 C’s well will end up with an average team that seldom breaks the mold.

Candor: When delivering feedback you have to be able to speak honestly and responsibly. The lack of candor contributes to longer cycle times, slow decision making and unnecessary iterative discussions. If you are unwilling to have an uncomfortable conversation you will not be able to move your team from good to great. At the same time you must be responsible with what you are saying. It needs to provide value and be purposeful to the recipient. The only way to help others improve exponentially is to learn to be candid in your conversations.

Commitment: Once you have laid fourth your vision you have to faithfully adhere to it. This goes well beyond the words you speak, your actions must also demonstrate the strength of that commitment. The most important areas of commitment are: to your vision, to your team, to your personal and professional growth and to the organization. Without the commitment to see something through all your efforts will be wasted.

Courage: Leaders have constant opportunities to demonstrate courage. Courage is the cousin of candor in that you need to be bold in speech and deed. You have to have the courage to face the naysayers, to change course when a plan isn’t working, to fight for your team and to keep others motivated and engaged even when you are struggling to stay focused. Courage allows you to push through failures and setbacks until your vision is realized.

While there are many C’s of leadership, these are the ones necessary to improve yourself and your team. Your journey from good to great begins with mastering candor, commitment and courage. What C’s would you add to the list?

Last updated on March 12th, 2018 at 06:27 am