To be a leader is not a simple thing as you have a lot of tasks a head of you. When people choose you to be a leader it means that they have seen something in you and they trust you that is why when organization is not performing well, people launches a blame on you.
Before, you become a leader you tend to promise people a lot of things which you will do to help the Muslim community but when you grab that hot seat you forget all of your pledges and tends to change your attitude.
However, looking at the reason why some leaders don’t perform well, we will come to the conclusion that it is because of greedy. Some leaders want to fill their stomach only forgetting that they are there to serve people as Dr. Kholiwe Mkandawire once told Capital FM Straight Talk show: “ Leaders are our servants. We put them there to serve people and not to be our bosses. At the same time, we have also mandate to pull them down.”
Another advantage of becoming a good leader is that you don’t have sleepless nights when the time of elections is around the corner because people will automatically choose you although you don’t give them a sweet because your leadership quality means a lot to them.
We should also not allow leaders to spend more than three years on that hot seat because if you give them a long term they start relaxing and forget the reason why they are there; they just feel as they will stay there for life. If people are interested in them, let them contest for the second term but we have to know that second term is always sour so we have also to look their agenda to avoid crying in future.
How can someone lead the organization for more than 20 years without doing elections? Or is it a crime to hold elections in Islamic organisation? Or don’t we think that this can be one of the reason why other organisations are not progressing because we are having the same people with same ideas for a long time? Let’s conduct elections and let people choose us in free and fair manner and as we already said, people will still vote for you if you have good leadership skills without even spending a penny.
How Can You Be a Good Leader?
According an author, coach & entrepreneur, Lisa Nicole Bell says, if you want to be a good leader, you must have faith in yourself! If you don’t see yourself as a leader, it will be difficult at best to develop your leadership qualities and evolve into the fantastic leader you can be. We all have talents and strengths so use yours to help master leadership. Remember that the only limitations you have as a person are those you set up in your mind.
Another key factor is that you must master & eliminate the habit of procrastination, taking daily consistent action is one of the primary keys to success. Highly successful leaders share the trait of being disciplined and able to consistently take steps to move them closer to their goals.
Become a Lifelong learner! Many people stop learning once they finish school. However, leaders are always learning & developing themselves. How often are you reading or listening to books? Do you attend seminars? Do you have a mentor? The investments you make into your personal development will be revealed in the quality of your life.
Invest in relationships! Leaders need to have great relationships with their followers in order to maintain their respect and loyalty. How good are you at forming and sustaining healthy relationships? Part of being a great leader is not just your ability to reveal yourself as a great person but to inspire greatness in others.
Go above and beyond. Leaders are people who do not nickel & dime themselves or others. They consistently achieve excellence by being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Be accountable. Great leaders account for the results they create. If they meet with temporary defeat, they do not look for others to blame. They take responsibility for being the leader and they look for ways to improve.
Leaders are supposed to be exemplary. They should conduct their duties in a faithful manner by knowing that they are there because of Allah and they should expect one day to be questioned on how they used their role.
May Allah make us good leaders and see the development of Islam in Malawi in the near future inshallah.
