Effective leaders do the right things, not the popular things.

I spend a lot of time at the start of leadership training and coaching discussing the traits and behaviours of effective leadership with clients. Sadly, many Australian companies do not have a structured and appropriate approach to developing and mentoring new leaders and managers-often promoting people who have been highly skilled and competent in their professional arena-law, accounting, nursing etc, and then expecting this technical expertise to transfer magically to skills needed to lead, inspire and manage people!
A major trap people then fall into, is thinking they need to stay friends with previous colleagues and struggle when dealing with performance issues.
This is a slippery slope for leaders-as the more they let go-the harder it is to pull back and get respect from the rest of the team-who believe me are watching every move made.
So it takes courage and bravery but effective leaders do the right thing-not the popular thing.