You are not born a leader

Everyone has heard of leadership training at least once. Perhaps the company he or she worked for even sent their employees to such trainings. "What for? - a skeptical person might think. - You're either a leader or you're just not. You either have charisma or you don't."

However, someone who is commonly attributed innate leadership qualities has gone through a long process of socialization. This process begins at birth and continues throughout life. That is, their life circumstances happened to develop these very qualities. Roughly speaking, at important periods of personal development, circumstances and microsociety enabled this person to be a leader. And anyone who thinks they don't have innate leadership qualities is just a person who still has this process ahead of them.

This is the first point. And here is the second: a leader does not appear out of nowhere and does not take the leadership position by default. Different people can be leaders in different situations. To become a leader in a certain group, you should meet the expectations of that particular group. 

To unleash the potential of a leader in yourself or another person, you can look at what a leader is made of. And identify the qualities that will be good in any endeavor. But it's important to remember that the most important thing is the knowledge and skills in the business that you do. Expertise is at the core of people's credibility and trust in you.

The qualities of a leader:

• Communicative skills. A leader can build rapport with the group and with each individual in particular. He or she knows how to negotiate and listen. It can be mastered.
• Decision-making. A leader understands what is the best way to accomplish a task, and bears responsibility for the result. It can be mastered.
• Activity. A leader works hard. They achieve productivity over time through efforts and constant practice. It can be mastered.
• Organizing skills. A leader is a team player. He or she distributes the tasks between the participants effectively and performs the function of a time manager. It can be mastered.
• Empathy. A leader cares about the common cause and understands how each participant feels in different situations. Even this skill can be mastered.
• The ability to admit mistakes. A leader does not seek whom to blame, he or she honestly admits if they did not act in the best possible way, and does not retreat at the first setback. Difficult, but you can learn it.

So, a leader of any structure is not the same as a manager. A leader is either appointed or chosen. He or she has a clearly defined functionality. And the leadership position is formed spontaneously, a leader is chosen implicitly. A leader may not seek influence or power, it is entrusted by those who want to follow him or her.

Here are the opinions of SOLARGROUP's national partners, who create and supervise business teams in their regions, on the partner structure leaders.

Laura Guinta, Indonesia: "A leader must have knowledge above all else."

Gilles Weber, France: "Initiative people become leaders. They don't need control. You can trust them.

Massimiliano Vivian Rossini, Peru: "It is important for a leader to learn how to work with a plan.

Elena Lozada, Latin America: "A person sees you as a leader, wants to stick with you and go all the way with you because you help him or her."

Birdi Gulshan Kumar, India: "You have to work on your personal brand to be known as an expert and trusted." 

Read more about how to become a leader yourself and grow a leader in your structure in "Partner Work Methodology".