How to be a good leader

Batman-von-Pepe · 2020-03-13T07:45:42+00:00

As a leader your priorities in order are; (1)your mission, (2)your men, (3)yourself.

If you have a weak link you need to find out why they are a weak link. Maybe they don't fully understand their duties, don't have the proper equipment, or don't have the necessary skill set to accomplish it.

as he has not been carrying is weight to the point that I always gotta remind him to complete tasks.

You're going to have to have a talk with this individual. They need to be aware of their specific tasks, i.e. what you expect out of them and when, if they can't meet these expectations then they shouldn't be there because as a leader the ultimate responsibility is yours. To me it sounds more like they are either lazy or think they are better than you and dragging feet is their passive aggressive bitch-tits way of getting back at you.

How are you assigning tasks? Are you using open-ended timelines or do you have set-in-stone due dates the tasks must adhere to? Meaning do you just say "hey Bill you have task A, get it done." Or "you've got task A which is X and needs to be done by Y so we can all move on to task B."

I hate micromanaging and tend to follow Elon's attitude when it comes to meetings--very few because they are a waste of time--but if he is having trouble with accountability maybe you need to manage him closer like with "check-ups" every few days. Hey if they want to act like children then they will be treated like children.

vandaalen · 2020-03-13T11:31:08+00:00

Listen to Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink on audible.

Dr_Van_Nosstrand · 2020-03-13T15:09:47+00:00

I've been in a leadership role in sports, social meetups, and in business. I've read probably close to 100 books on leadership and watched hundreds of hours of videos about leadership. There's some key points I can share with you:

With all I've read and studied, I've learned that no matter how much you think you know about being a great leader and what great leadership is, there is always more to learn. Stay humble and remember you don't know everything. Seek to always improve your ability to lead.
Great leadership starts with recognizing the above but also always remembering that people are always looking at you, watching you, and feeding off of your lead, so always put forth a sense that you have everything under control, because if you don't, your inability to project that you do have everything under control will sink your mission faster than any other factor. Watch this brief scene from U-571 which Harvey Keitel perfectly summarizes why this is so important:
People want different things from their leader, and you can't please everyone all the time, but the one thing everyone wants from their leadership is direction. Make a fucking decision and direct people to execute it. Above all else, if you have an inability to make decisions, irrespective of whether or not they are good decisions, you will fail as a leader. People want action and direction. Give it to them. Quickly.
You can't lead people who don't want to follow leaders. Translation: get rid of bad actors, cancers, nuisances, anything that disrupts the team. People will LOVE you when you do this. People would MUCH rather pick up the extra slack themselves than continue to work with people who they consider to be slackers that drag down the team.
The ability to succeed largely depends on your ability to put the right people in the right position so that they have every opportunity to succeed. NFL coaches are notorious for offering this up as an excuse as to why their team lost "I didn't do a good enough job putting the players in the right position to be successful." Translation: Put your people in a position where they can play to their strengths. Find out each person's strength, and give them every opportunity to let that strength shine through and help propel the team forward to victory. In other words, don't put Sydney Crosby on defense, or put Steph Curry at center.

WhatRemainsAfter · 2020-03-13T08:38:07+00:00

Leadership is an act and inherent quality.

You either are a good leader or not. No two ways about it. This is the reason why people mention leadership on resumes.

If you feel, you are not, then simple communicate with higher management, they will understand and make someone else the TL. This will save you lot of headache and probably help your main job as developer. Managing humans are draining and thankless task.

Or you never had the chance to lead and just needed an opportunity, give it a go. Learn everyday. This will teach you how to lead a team, in future your family and above all - yourself.

KillaJewels · 2020-03-13T12:30:04+00:00

Get a sense of his current plate, get him to commit to a reasonable day/time to have his work ready by (get buy-in), set the expectations (be very clear) and follow-up regularly (but not too often; do NOT micro-manage). It is not your job to remind him, but following up is a way to hold his feet to the fire.

Example of following up:

Hey just want to follow-up regarding the upcoming deadline. How's it coming along? Do you have any questions on it?

This way, you subtley remind him, hold his feet to the fire and get a sense of where he's at. If he does fall by the way-side (not due to emergencies or extenuating circumstances), ask him why.

If he falls by the wayside even after your follow-ups (negligence), then that is when you engage the professor. Make sure all comms are electronic to cover yourself with evidence that you are doing your part and he is not.

This is the best you can do.

poopdeck · 2020-03-13T11:20:35+00:00

The other guy who does nothing while you do all the work? Welcome to every job you'll ever have.

2020-03-13T11:50:59+00:00

Here’s an amazing book on leadership that is easy to read but very informative. It’s around 200 pages: The Essential Wooden, A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership

HurricaneHugues · 2020-03-13T16:57:45+00:00

Buy Extreme Ownership: How Navy SEALs Lead And Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. It's a great book on leadership written by 2 retired SEALs who led the most decorated Special Ops team of the Iraq war. Their task unit included the legendary Chris Kyle and Johnny Kim, the SEAL who became a doctor and then a fucking astronaut.

It has everything you're looking for.

rugged79 · 2020-03-13T18:11:21+00:00

As a leader, one thing that you have to know is, you've always got to be willing to work harder than anyone else.

It's just natural. You have to pull your weight, and also check on the health and well-being of your subordinates. However, when people are not pulling their weight, you must remind them that they're not going to receive the benefits of team's labor if they don't step it up.

In this case, the goal is a passing grade. If he doesn't pull his weight, the teacher will be shown his contribution. She will then make a determination on his grade separately, based on how much or how little he has contributed.

Only the wolves get to eat, everyone else has to beg for scraps.

Part of the reason people that did the bare minimum yesterday, are worrying about coronavirus today.

chocolatex · 2020-03-13T19:13:42+00:00

A good leader absorbs the blame but distributes the success

Title	How to be a good leader
Author	Cmdrj-nice
Upvotes	68
Comments	43
Date	March 13, 2020 7:11 AM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/fhvqdc/how_to_be_a_good_leader/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/how-to-be-a-good-leader.354069 https://theredarchive.com/post/354069

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