Essay Sample on Be a Leader: Motivate & Emphasize Teamwork for Success

I have learned from my best experience that a leader should always motivate his followers. We won the table tennis tournament largely due to the way I encouraged my players to keep focused all through. By motivating others, a leader keeps his followers committed to achieving certain goals and expectations.

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Another lesson learned is the significance of emphasizing teamwork among the subordinates. Enhancing cohesion creates synergy and a positive working relationship among team members. For example, Luis Urzua, who is known for having coordinated a successful rescue operation for Chilean miners, kept telling his members that they were in the operation together and were able to rescue the miners as a team.

Another lesson is leading by example. A leader takes responsibility for the team by showing all members how they are expected to conduct themselves. The leader then lets the team members take control and perform to their level best.

From my worst leadership experience, I have first learned the importance of listening to others. If I had listened to my instructor's advice not to run the lab work without him, I would not have ruined the session. Listening to others' input enables leaders to learn something that would help in resolving or avoiding a difficult occurrence. Besides, great leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi were known for their active listening skills.

The other lesson is that overconfidence potentially makes leaders commit reckless mistakes. In the Titanic ship case, for instance, the captain's bullish behavior to make decisions without contemplating resulted in the ship sinking. Therefore, leaders should avoid being overconfident.

Great leaders inspire other people's growth. When one becomes a leader, he prioritizes his followers grow with regards to their skills, abilities and character. Since leaders cannot achieve success alone, they need to foster personal growth in their followers, which helps in improving their productivity.

Setting and clarifying goals. As a leader, you are always working towards a certain end. As such, making the team members aware of the expected outcome and aligning their efforts towards this outcome is key to achieving the desired success.

It is also vital for a leader to learn how to communicate. The followers can only become aware of their leader's expectations, objectives, and roles through effective communication mechanisms. As such, a leader should always inform his followers about all issues concerning them rather than presuming that they know. This prevents confusion among followers.

Smart leaders recognize each follower's efforts and commend them. All team members tend to be more enthused when praised or rewarded for their efforts. By acknowledging them, the leader boosts their drive to even achieve better results in future.

Even as a leader focuses on his followers, self-awareness is also vital. A wise leader recognizes his fortes and flaws and builds the team members based on these features to complement one another.