Key Assignment: You Must Have A Vision?

Key Trait #1: You must have a vision. We 've all heard the saying "You must stand for something, or you 'll fall for everything." But what does that really mean? Standing firm when it comes to your company 's policies and procedures is all well and good, but it doesn 't speak to having a vision. As a leader, you have to learn to communicate your vision or the vision of your company to the people you want to follow you. But how can you do that? • Learn to paint a picture with words. Speak it, write it, draw it, touch it. Whatever methods you can use to create a picture, do it. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Key Trait #2: You must have passion. Your employees want passion; in fact, they 'll go to the ends of earth because

Passion is such a key part of being a great leader that if you don 't have it, you simply can 't be a great leader. Think of all the great leaders throughout the ages and try to name one that did not have passion.

And passion is infectious: When you talk about your vision for the company, let your passion for your vision shine through. Others will feel it and want to get on board with you. If you don 't have passion for your vision, you need to recreate your vision or reframe your description of your vision so it 's connected to your

Key Trait #4: You must be a team builder. To become a great leader, you must develop a great team or, one might say, a well-oiled machine. But how do you do that? You can start by handing off responsibility to your team and letting your team to run with it. Don 't breathe down their necks and don 't micromanage, but make yourself available if questions or problems come up. Teach your team to use the Q-CAT decision-making system and give them the freedom to work through their own decisions.

When projects aren 't on track or your team is falling behind on deadline, it serves no one if you start pointing fingers. This is when you need to rise to the occasion and inspire confidence in your employees, to let them know you support them and ready to help. Be ready to alter plans and make new ones. Don 't forget to use humor to keep your team 's spirits up during a crisis. When an emergency hits, your team will look to you to be a tower of strength and