How Every PR Pro Can Be a Leader
The Keys to Successful Leadership
Leadership is about much more than just being competent in your job.
Leadership is the process by which a person sets a purpose for other persons and motivates them to pursue it with effectiveness and full commitment.
You don’t need to show others that you can do your job, you need to show people that they can do their job
At Ditto PR, we define leadership as the following:
- Unconditional responsibility
- Essential integrity
- Humility
- Authentic communication
- Constructive negotiation
- Impeccable coordination
- Emotional mastery
First and foremost, leadership is about setting a purpose for your team and motivating them to pursue it effectively. You need to help your employees see how their individual roles ladder up to larger company goals. Give them a vision and purpose beyond just completing tasks.
To do this, you must lead by example and become a role model. Don’t just tell people what to do — show them how it’s done through your own behaviors and actions. Exemplify the traits you want your team to embody.
Communication is also essential. As a leader you need to create an environment where people feel safe speaking truth to power and delivering difficult news. Speaking honestly and listening with respect deepens relationships and improves performance.
Your commitments as a leader must be impeccable, rooted in strong personal values. Employees will follow someone with integrity who keeps their word. Blaming external circumstances looks weak — take unconditional responsibility when things go wrong.
Part of this involves emotional mastery. Learn to manage your own emotions first before helping others manage theirs. Employees are social beings who want to feel accepted and respected. Satisfied workers are more engaged and productive.
Leaders must also coordinate collective efforts through planning, clear assignments, deadlines and expectations. When people let each other down, performance suffers and trust disappears. Impeccable coordination aligns individual activities to shared goals.
Finally, leadership requires rallying your team behind shared values — a commitment to beliefs and ways of operating. But values only matter if people align behaviors to them. For change to happen, leaders and employees must unite behind core principles and act consistently with them.
In summary, leadership takes more than just technical competence. It requires demonstrating care, communicating openly, acting with integrity, taking ownership, managing emotions, coordinating teams, and uniting people behind shared values. Lead by example and show your team the vision. Inspire them to make it a reality.
