If get a lot of emails from Lead­ers all over the world asking questions about the challenges they face every day as a Leader.

This shouldn’t be a surprise be­cause Leadership is difficult.

As a Leader you are responsible for a team of people all of whom have different personalities and different levels of commitment and professionalism.

As a Leader you have to try and put all these different pieces to­gether into one cohesive team.

Leadership is difficult and it’s no wonder why Leaders have so many questions.

So in this week’s article I will share with you the most common questions I get asked and my an­swers.

How Can I Motivate My Team?

The most common question I get asked is how can I motive my team.

Now the full answer is a complex one and would take a whole day to explain fully but here’s the answer in a few short sentences.

To motivate your team, create a vision, an objective that the team needs to achieve which is so big that it cant be achieved by an in­dividual it can only be reached by working together.

The vision also needs to be worth­while, something that the team will care about so much that they will put the needs of the team ahead of their own personal needs.

How Can I Deal With A Poor Per­forming Employee?

In short Leadership is about clari­fication.

It’s your role to provide clarity on the consequences of people’s ac­tions both good and bad.

I guarantee that no one from your office got you out of bed this morn­ing and forced you to go to work.

You went to work because you are fully aware of what will happen if you don’t.

If you have a poor performing em­ployee then it’s your role to explain what acceptable behaviour and per­formance is and what happens if standards are not met and as long as you have done everything to sup­port the individual, the fate of that individual is then up to them.

Leaders don’t fire staff they allow staff to fire themselves.

What is the most important quality a Leader can have?

This answer is short and to the point and without doubt the most important quality a Leader can possess is humility.

The vast majority of mistakes I see Leaders make are as a result of ego.

The Leader falling into the trap of believing they are better, smarter and more important than other people and this poor judgment leads to a host of mistakes.

If you want to be successful as a Leader then you need to be humble because the secret of leadership is that it’s never about you, Leader­ship is about putting the needs of others ahead of your own.

What is the best style of Leader­ship?

There are a lot of books on how to lead people.

In fact everyday there are on av­erage five books published every­day with Leadership or Leader in the title and the majority of these books tell you about a particular leadership style which is better than another.

Here’s the truth.

If you want to be an average lead­er then pick a style, any style, and only work with people who respond well to that style yet if you want to be a great leader then the best style is no style because you need to be adaptive to the situation and the people around. Don’t get restricted by one particular style, adapt and build, take what works for you from each style and leave behind what doesn’t in order to create something that is uniquely you.

Am I good enough to be a Leader?

This is the most common question I get asked privately.

It’s understandable for Leaders to doubt themselves because Leader­ship is a unique role in which your success is determined by what oth­er people do when most roles are evaluated by what you do yourself.

A leader needs people and needs those people to be successful. In order to be a successful leader, you require a set of skills and traits which are difficult to learn but they can be learned.

When I’m asked the question “Am I good enough to be a leader?” I reply differently with a question rather than an answer. I tell people they are asking the wrong ques­tion. Instead, they need to ask

“How can I become a better Lead­er?” If you are a good person, if you have humility in your heart and a mind that’s willing to work hard then you will become a good leader but never worry about if you are a good leader instead focus on what you need to do today in order to be­come a better leader tomorrow.

Mark Wager will be visiting Fiji in April. If you would like Mark to train your Leaders contact him at Mark@ALI.org.nz