Leadership & Goal Strategies With Rich Nicholls

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“There is a leader in most people. It depends on whether the person wants to take on the responsibility of being a leader, as to whether or not they will be a leader.”

This is a quote from my book I am currently writing. I know I should wait to put my book out before sharing this, but sometimes there are nuggets that I just HAVE to share as soon as possible! This is one of them!

Leadership plays a pivotal part in day to day life! I have been asked several times, “Can people develop their leadership skills?” and “can people who are really shy learn to be out going?” The answer is simply, and emphatically ‘YES!!!’ The personal development industry is currently worth over $100 Billion! There are so many books on leadership and self development out there it is hard to know where to start.

In order to develop my own leadership skills I forced myself into circumstances I was uncomfortable with! Literally forced! I was so self conscious that I would not even sing if I was in the car with the radio on full blast and the windows rolled up! Any guesses what I did? Well, I joined a choir! Did I get up on stage and sing in front of people? No, not at first, I was a terrible singer. I did go to EVERY practice every week and eventually they told me my heart was so into it that I made it in the choir!

I wanted to join the British Army. I wanted to go to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and train to be an officer in the Army. It’s DEFINITELY not easy to get in! My first interview was 24 hours. We went out and did numerous tests, then went to bed and the next day carried on. After that we were told if we made it to the second round of interviews! Well, I got through to the next set interviews, which were three nights long and four days. After those interviews I was given the verdict, “Wait for 18 months.” They didn’t think I was ready to do the training yet. I was a shy little Zimbabwean straight out of school, straight off the air plane and looking a little shell shocked. I decided I would buy a tent and live in a camp site for three or four months with the assumption that if I could survive with whatever supplies I had, then I would definitely be able to survive with what the Army gave me. My supplies in a British winter: a 3 man dome tent too small to stand up in, a sleeping bag, and a gas stove (which once erupted in a ball of flames nearly engulfing my tent). You are probably wondering if I made it into Sandhurst? Well, I did. My point here is that I was not ready, but after a lot of work and perseverance, I made it! If you are not able to achieve what you want to do, then position yourself so that when you ARE able you can take it running at full speed!

With leadership the biggest step is being prepared to take the responsibility! From there you can start looking for responsibility, and volunteer for it. No matter how big or how small, it all helps. In order to ‘build’ your skills you need to make sure you are stretching yourself. I now get excited when I have to step out of my comfort zone to do something. I know that when looking at the bigger picture the more I have stepped out of my comfort zone the more I will be able to handle.

If you are serious about becoming a great leader, then step out of your comfort zone. Do everything with an attitude of excellence, and you will become a great and influential person!

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Leaders tend to be people that others are attracted to. There is something about them that draws others in. They are trusted and respected and make great role models.

For great leaders this just comes naturally. For people trying to develop leadership skill this is something that must be practiced and tried and tested.

Imagine living in an environment where everything was exciting. Life just got better and better, everyone related well to each other and worked hard at home and the office.

Now imagine an environment where everything was miserable. Going to work every day was a drone, there was constant bickering at work and at home and there just seemed like there was no escape.

These two scenarios are the difference between great leadership in a work place, and a complete lack of leadership in a work place. The first scenario is obviously where everyone would like to be. Unfortunately a lot of companies focus more on managerial skills and not enough on leadership skills. This creates a lack of drive among employees in the work place. Most people spend at minimum 37 hours a week in their office. If you work out how much time you spend at home and subtract the hours you sleep you will likely find that you spend more waking hours at work than at home. And sometimes work is the most miserable place you can think of.

If you are in a position of leadership and your working environment is like this, something needs to change. First of all, make sure you are passionate about your job. The moment people see that you are passionate their perspectives will start to shift. They won’t necessarily change overnight, but it is a start. What else you can do? Well, how about incentives for achieving goals, or KPIs. If you are in an office, maybe introduce casual Fridays. Maybe once a month get your team pizza for lunch.

A leader’s passion should include their employee’s wellbeing, and once your employees start seeing that you are passionate about improving their work space, their attitudes will change. Soon the whole office environment will be like the first scenario above. People’s attitudes from work stretch into their home life, and vice-versa. If they have a good day at work then their home life will improve. When their home life improves then their performance at work will improve.

By performing leadership with passion your team will improve, team members will get promoted, you will get promoted and the company will perform better. Everybody wins!

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