10 Ways to Become a Better Leader

How would you describe a strong leader? In one study, leadership qualities such as assertiveness, adaptability, intelligence and conscientiousness were cited as the most important.

"Research clearly shows that transformational leaders - leaders who are positive, inspiring, and who empower and develop followers - are better leaders," explains psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio. "They are more valued by followers and have higher performing teams."

So what can you do embrace these valued leadership qualities and become a stronger and more effective leader? Transformational leaders are usually described as enthusiastic, passionate, genuine and energetic. These leaders are not just concerned about helping the group achieve its goals; they also care about helping each member of the group reach his or her full potential.

Consider some of the following tips for how to become a better leader and think about ways that you can implement these strategies in your daily life.

Portra Images / Digital Vision / Getty Images

1.  Start By Understanding Your Leadership Style

Understanding your current leadership style is essential. What are your strengths? Which areas need some improvement? One way to start assessing your skills is to take this leadership style quiz to get a general idea of how you lead.

Once you have completed the quiz, read about the major characteristics of your dominant style. Are these qualities helping or hindering your leadership? Once you've determine which areas need some work, you can begin looking for ways to improve your leadership abilities.

Svilen Milev

2.  Encourage Creativity

Intellectual stimulation is one of the leadership qualities that defines transformational leadership. Followers need to be encouraged to express their creativity. Effective leaders should offer new challenges with ample support to achieve these goals.

One way to foster creativity is to offer challenges to group members, making sure that the goals are within the grasp of their abilities. The purpose of this type of exercise is to get people to stretch their limits, but to not become discouraged by barriers to success.

3.  Serve As a Role Model

Idealized influence is another of the four key components of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders exemplify the behaviors and characteristics that they encourage in their followers. They walk the walk and talk the talk. As a result, group members admire these leaders and work to emulate these behaviors.

If you want to become a better leader, work on modeling the qualities that you would like to see in your team members.

Thomas Barwick / Stone / Getty Images

4.  Be Passionate

Would you look to someone for guidance and leadership if they did not truly care about the goals of the group? Of course not! Great leaders are not just focused on getting group members to finish tasks; they have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the projects they work on.

You can develop this leadership quality by thinking of different ways that you can express your zeal. Let people know that you care about their progress. When one person shares something with the rest of the group, be sure to tell them how much you appreciate such contributions.

Thomas Barwick / Stone / Getty Images

5.  Listen and Communicate Effectively

Another important quality of transformational leadership involves a focus on providing one-on-one communication with group members. Good leaders should express sincere care and concern for the members of their group both verbally and nonverbally.

By keeping the lines of communication open, these leaders can ensure that group members feel able to make contributions and receive recognition for their achievements.

6.  Have a Positive Attitude

Transformational leaders have an upbeat, optimistic attitude that serves as a source of inspiration for followers. If leaders seem discouraged or apathetic, members of the group are likely to also become uninspired.

Even when things look bleak and your followers start to feel disheartened, try to stay positive. This does not mean viewing things through rose-colored glasses. It simply means maintaining a sense of optimism and hope in the face of challenges.

7.  Encourage People to Make Contributions

Let the members of your team know that you welcome their ideas. Leaders who encourage involvement from group members are often referred to as democratic or participative leaders. While they retain the final say over all decisions, they encourage team members to take an active role in coming up with ideas and plans.

Research has shown that using a democratic leadership style leads to greater commitment, more creative problem-solving and improved productivity.

8.  Motivate Your Followers

Transformational leaders also provide inspirational motivation to encourage their followers to get into action. Of course, being inspirational isn't always easy. Fortunately, you don't need motivational speeches to rouse your group members.

Some ideas for leadership inspiration include being genuinely passionate about ideas or goals, helping followers feel included in the process and offering recognition, praise and rewards for people's accomplishments.

9.  Offer Rewards and Recognition

Another important quality of a good leader involves knowing that offering effective recognition and rewards is one of the best ways to help followers feel appreciated and happy. It may also come as no surprise that happy people tend to perform better at work. According to researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, leaders can help group members feel happier by offering help, removing barriers to success and rewarding strong efforts.

Susan M. Heathfield, About.com's Guide to Human Resources, offers some great tips on how leaders can express recognition and reward team members. Some of these strategies include listening without distraction, putting your praise in writing and publicly thanking people for their efforts.

10.  Keep Trying New Things

Who says leadership is a one-way relationship? As you work toward developing some of these leadership qualities, don't forget to look to your followers for feedback an inspiration. Pay attention to the things that have been effective in the past and always be on the lookout for new ways to inspire, motivate and reward group members.

References
Amabile, T. & Kramer, S. (2011). Do happier people work harder? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/do-happier-people-work-harder.html

Riggio, R.E. (2009, March 24). Are you a transformational leader. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200903/are-you-transformational-leader

Riggio, R. E. (2009, Oct. 29). Four things you can do to become a better leader. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200910/four-things-you-can-do-become-better-leader

Source:http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/tp/become-a-better-leader.htm

Journey to Sail Tomini 2015-Parigi Moutong

@ Kapal Perang-KRI Makasar

Diskusi dengan Bapak Afrizal pada sesi motivasi dan training kepada para Saka Bahari Mengenai Entrepreneurship.

We got the philosophy much, when we understand the war not the battle...
Thanks for the Navi Seal that giving me the lesson...

Sesi OJK Awareness Kepada Para Saka Bahari (+/- 1500 Saka Bahari dari seluruh Indonesia) yang dibawakan ole Bpk. Roberto Akyuwen-Senior Financial Analyst Executive OJK (IKNB)

yang dinanti muncul...Mr. President Indonesia, Bpk Jokowi

Sesi Pemotretan di Atas Kapal Perang KRI Makasar

Foto Bersama team Sail Tomini 2015 bersama Bupati Parigi Montong

Makan Siang Bersama di Atas Kapal Perang-Just Amazing Experience (KiKa: Ibu Riri, Bpk. Roberto Akyuwen, Ibu Santi)

Sesi foto bersama para pembicara diacara Sail Tomini (Kika: Fahmi Gustiawan, Bpk Roberto Akyuwen-OJK, Kol. Hargiyanto-TNI AL, Itu Santi-IBM, Mayor Mudan-TNI AL)

Cerianya Anak-Anak....

Sepucuk Surat Dari Seorang Ayah

Aku tuliskan surat ini atas nama rindu yang besarnya hanya Allah yang tahu. Sebelum kulanjutkan, bacalah surat ini sebagai surat seorang laki-laki kepada seorang laki-laki; surat seorang ayah kepada seorang ayah.

Nak, menjadi ayah itu indah dan mulia. Besar kecemasanku menanti kelahiranmu dulu belum hilang hingga saat ini. Kecemasan yang indah karena ia didasari sebuah cinta. Sebuah cinta yang telah terasakan bahkan ketika yang dicintai belum sekalipun kutemui.

Nak, menjadi ayah itu mulia. Bacalah sejarah Nabi-Nabi dan Rasul dan temukanlah betapa nasehat yang terbaik itu dicatat dari dialog seorang ayah dengan anak-anaknya.

Meskipun demikian, ketahuilah Nak, menjadi ayah itu berat dan sulit. Tapi kuakui, betapa sepanjang masa kehadiranmu di sisiku, aku seperti menemui keberadaanku, makna keberadaanmu, dan makna tugas kebapakanku terhadapmu. Sepanjang masa keberadaanmu adalah salah satu masa terindah dan paling aku banggakan di depan siapapun. Bahkan dihadapan Tuhan, ketika aku duduk berduaan berhadapan dengan Nya, hingga saat usia senja ini.

Nak, saat pertama engkau hadir, kucium dan kupeluk engkau sebagai buah cintaku dan ibumu. Sebagai bukti, bahwa aku dan ibumu tak lagi terpisahkan oleh apapun jua. Tapi seiring waktu, ketika engkau suatu kali telah mampu berkata: "TIDAK", timbul kesadaranku siapa engkau sesungguhnya. Engkau bukan milikku, atau milik ibumu Nak. Engkau lahir bukan karena cintaku dan cinta ibumu. Engkau adalah milik Tuhan. Tak ada hakku menuntut pengabdian darimu. Karena pengabdianmu semata-mata seharusnya hanya untuk Tuhan.

Nak, sedih, pedih dan terhempaskan rasanya menyadari siapa sebenarnya aku dan siapa engkau. Dan dalam waktu panjang di malam-malam sepi, kusesali kesalahanku itu sepenuh -penuh air mata dihadapan Tuhan. Syukurlah, penyesalan itu mencerahkanku.

Sejak saat itu Nak, satu-satunya usahaku adalah mendekatkanmu kepada pemilikmu yang sebenarnya. Membuatmu senantiasa berusaha memenuhi keinginan pemilikmu. Melakukan segala sesuatu karena Nya, bukan karena kau dan ibumu. Tugasku bukan membuatmu dikagumi orang lain, tapi agar engkau dikagumi dan dicintai Tuhan.

Inilah usaha terberatku Nak, karena artinya aku harus lebih dulu memberi contoh kepadamu dekat dengan Tuhan. Keinginanku harus lebih dulu sesuai dengan keinginan Tuhan. Agar perjalananmu mendekati Nya tak lagi terlalu sulit.

Kemudian, kitapun memulai perjalanan itu berdua, tak pernah engkau kuhindarkan dari kerikil tajam dan lumpur hitam. Aku cuma menggenggam jemarimu dan merapatkan jiwa kita satu sama lain. Agar dapat kau rasakan perjalanan ruhaniah yang sebenarnya.

Saat engkau mengeluh letih berjalan, kukuatkan engkau karena kita memang tak boleh berhenti. Perjalanan mengenal Tuhan tak kenal letih dan berhenti, Nak. Berhenti berarti mati, inilah kata-kataku tiap kali memeluk dan menghapus air matamu, ketika engkau hampir putus asa.

Akhirnya Nak, kalau nanti, ketika semua manusia dikumpulkan di hadapan Tuhan, dan kudapati jarakku amat jauh dari Nya, aku akan ikhlas. Karena seperti itulah aku di dunia. Tapi, kalau boleh aku berharap, aku ingin saat itu aku melihatmu dekat dengan Tuhan. Aku akan bangga Nak, karena itulah bukti bahwa semua titipan bisa kita kembalikan kepada pemiliknya. Dari ayah yang senantiasa merindukanmu.
(disalin dari lembaran da'wah "MISYKAT" No.8)

Dikutip dari:
http://www.dudung.net/artikel-islami/sepucuk-surat-dari-seorang-ayah.html

Flamboyan-Bimbo

A philosophy song....sometimes "it just there" in our life..for all what we are facing about...there are so many interpretation if we understand.

Senja itu; Flamboyan berguguran; Seorang dara memandang; Terpukau
Satu-satu; Daunnya berjatuhan; Berserakan di pangkuan bumi
Bunga flamboyan itu diraihnya; Wajahnya terlihat sayu
Flamboyan berguguran; Berjatuhan, berserakan

Sejak itu sang dara berharapan; Esok lusa kan bersemi kembali