We want to talk about some of the most common challenges leaders must face in order to effectively do their job and accomplish the mission to the best of their ability.

1. The Most Common Challenges Of Being
An Effective Leader
By David Kiger Image courtesy of Daily Motivation at Flickr.com

2. Being a leader is something that offers many rewards, but
that also comes with its own set of challenges that must be
faced everyday. Leadership is constantly evolving and
having to adapt to new work environments, different set of
rules set by the market and skills that leaders must have in
order to help guide their organizations in our day and age.
Leadership challenges depend greatly upon the
organization and the team one must work with; however
most of them have to do with encouraging, motivating and
properly managing personnel. Working with people will
always be difficult, especially when you have to motivate
people to work together for the common good.
Today in David Kiger’s Slideshare, we want to talk about
some of the most common challenges leader must face in
order to effectively do their job and accomplish the mission
to the best of their ability.

3. Motivation
It doesn't matter which type of organization we talk about, they
all share in common the fact that success is tightly linked to
motivation. Motivating employees is one of the responsibilities of
effective leaders, and in some cases, one of their biggest
challenges. Motivation can be delivered in many different ways,
some as simple as finding better ways to communicate the
mission and keep employees informed, and in some cases is
about implementing better incentive policies. Staying motivated
is also crucial for any leader, but unlike employees, there is
nobody responsible for keeping them motivated and they must
do it themselves. It is known that having a low sense of purpose
goes along with being unmotivated, so it is very important for
leaders to always be aware of their mission and understand the
role the play within the organization when it comes to
accomplishing the company’s mission. Leaders, who do not
clearly understand the reason “why” they do what they do in a
company, are seldom successful.

4. Respect
Sometimes leaders believe that being respected and being
liked are mutually exclusive terms. Obtaining respect does
not have to come at the expense of being liked by the
people who work for you. Being competent, good at what
you do and a great leader overall, are ways of earning the
respect of your team while at the same time being liked. Be
mindful and pay attention at the way you treat people,
because leaders are often judged by their people skills and
their assertiveness when dealing with others. Leaders are
often isolated from the rest of the organization and have a
hard time finding others to talk to about issues, questions
and even their own difficulties. As a boss, it is sometimes
difficult to deal with the isolation that comes with the
position, and it can be tough having to deal with some of
the issues that arise without having others you can talk to.

5. The company vs. the people
The needs of the organization may sometimes seem like
they go in a different direction when it comes to the needs
of the people in it. Some leaders have a hard time finding
balance between both of these things, or are better at
doing one over the other one. The truth is, in the long run
you are going to have to pay attention equally to both in
order to be successful. The people make up the company
and if their needs are ignored then the organization will
eventually be unable to fulfill its needs. It also works the
other way around, it doesn't matter how well the people are
taken care of, if the organizational needs are neglected,
then the shit stalls and it won’t go anywhere, eventually
putting the people in jeopardy. People need to feel they
matter and they are supported with the necessary
resources in order to produce results.

6. Maintaining the team together
A team that doesn't work together will take a lot longer to
complete even the most basic tasks. Leaders are largely
responsible for building team unity and bringing staff
members together and work in a common goal.
Relationships take time to grow and trust is not something
that you can build overnight, however, it is a leader’s job to
set the proper conditions for relationships to grow and
bonds to strengthen. Employees won’t necessarily become
best friends, but they do need to be able to work well
together and respect each other in order to do their job
properly.

7. Creating channels of communication.
Communication must flow freely both ways. Employees
need to be informed of what is going on at all times, while
also knowing that they can provide feedback and talk to
the people in charge when they need it. When employees
feel their boss is out of reach and they do not feel their
concerns are being heard, they will tend to make more
mistakes and their job satisfaction plummets.