Learning to serve others and developing leadership skills go hand in hand. This article provides advice on how to become a great leader so that you can help those around you. You’ll likely learn a few things here.

1. Be Honest: Honesty is integral to leadership. A good leader needs to instill trust. As you are proving and developing yourself as a bright leader, remain honest and transparent with those around you. Once people know you are reliable and trustworthy, they will have a higher level of respect for you.
2. Engage in Future-casting: Keep one eye on the future. Look ahead and plan accordingly. While you aren’t a mind-reader, you will find that you can achieve some success this way. Keep asking yourself where you’re expecting to be in a year or so and then start planning to make it happen.
3. Inspire Others: Take care of people and productivity will soar. You must learn what to do to inspire and encourage those around you. Instead of concentrating on just wanting tasks completed, try to focus more into motivating the team to perform at their best.
4. Show Appreciation: When you’re a leader, you should always make sure that they feel appreciated. A small thank you note goes a long way to making someone feel good. Little acknowledgements like this can lift their mood and better their day without costing you anything.
5. Display Tenacity: One of the most important leadership characteristics is tenacity. When things go awry, your subordinates will expect you to set the tone. You must focus on successfully completing the goal despite the obstacles you face. Your tenacity and persistence will help keep your team on task.
6. Reward Great Work: When someone does good work, provide them with rewards. Though everyone is already paid for their work, incentives can better the quality of it. Show appreciation for a hard working employee. Great leaders never skimp in this area.
7. Set Challenging Goals: Set tough goals but not impossible ones. This creates an environment for failure. That is a sure way to show that you do not have the makings of a true leader.
8. Assess Your Skills: You must be aware of what you are and are not good at to make the most of your leadership skills. You will fail if you have too much confidence. Find your strengths and weaknesses.
9. Hold Yourself Accountable: Take responsibility for what you say. You have to be accountable for what you say and do. You’re the center of the company and what you say and do reflects them. If you have done or said things you ought not have, you must fix it. Don’t expect others to make it right.
10. Maintain Integrity: Always keep your promises. A true leader says what they will do and then delivers on that promise. If you aren’t able to, make sure you let your team know why. Workers will have more respect for you when you follow through with promises or give a good reason why you can’t follow through.

With God’s grace, this piece has offered great insights into ways to further your own leadership skills. Move ahead with confidence by applying what you have read here. To take advantage of this experience, you need to become a better leader.

You’ll learn more about winning as a leader within the book that will be released on Amazon entitled “Leadership TKO: 12 Truths to Implement to Become a Winning Leader.”