5 Essential Duties of a Visionary Leader
By: Adebola Alabi
Tags: Life Lessons, Advice, Career Advice, Leadership, Business Strategy

5 Essential Duties of a Visionary Leader

What you need to build a sustainable business.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Have you ever found yourself under a leader who seems unclear about his role as a leader? Maybe you work in an organization where the leader is unsure of what direction to take the company; you are experiencing a classic case of a leader that does not know or cannot perform his essential duties.

Every leader, whether the president of a country, the CEO of a business, or a sports coach, all have essential duties that must be performed to create a sustainable and prosperous organization. Failure to know and perform those duties will keep the organization in a bind and lead to a downward spiral that will jeopardize the future of the company.

To avoid the downward spiral, you and your leader must be aware of these leadership duties.

1. A vision and mission to fulfill

Every leader must have a vision and mission to execute in the organization. Without a clearly defined mission, people in the organization will always find themselves in a limbo, not being sure of what they need to do in their role to make the business prosperous. The lack of vision can make it extremely difficult for the establishment to survive in a competitive business landscape.

If you are a leader, you must be able to develop a vision for your company. What do you aim to achieve? And not only that, you must be able to know what must be done to take your company to the level you desire. You must come up with strategies that will help the organization fulfill its mission. If, for example, your goal is to make your company the top three in your industry, your strategies must include clear steps of what you need to do to get there.

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2. People to empower

A selfish leader wants everything to revolve around him. He wants all ideas to pass through him for approval, and he wants to be in the loop of all activities going on within the organization. On the other hand, a visionary leader is ready and willing to delegate some tasks to other people in the organization to allow them to grow. A good leader must learn how to build a strong team of leaders that will be able to run the business when he is not available.

To build your team, you must actively engage with them, coach them, and assign tasks to them to prove their competencies. The leader must be willing to guide his people and provide all the necessary support for them to deliver on tasks. A leader who refuses to empower his team is insecure, and he will limit the creativity and growth potential of everyone in the organization.

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3. System to create

Businesses run on systems and processes. The leader should lead the way in developing and enforcing policies to make the business operate smoothly. A company where everyone does everything they like, how they want is not sustainable. As much as it is good to establish processes, it is also crucial to get rid of processes that aren’t adding values or causing more pains to transact business with your organization.

The leader must create an enabling environment where the employees are free to share ideas that simplify processes, cut costs, and improve the way business is done. Clinging to the same old way of doing things will only make your business uncompetitive, and may drive you out of business. A visionary leader can look ahead and see into the future, and build a system that will ensure his company continues to thrive and remain strong for the foreseeable future.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

4. Relationship to initiate

Every creative business leader should be able to think about the strategic partnership that they need to bring more business opportunities to the company. The leader must identify relevant partners that will help his business to grow and win more market share. He must actively look for strategic deals that will put his company ahead of competitors and help win more business opportunities.

Creative leaders understand the value of relationships; whether it is a business to business or a business-to-consumer relationship, customers be treated right at all times. If you treat your customers and partners well, you will enjoy a long and rewarding relationship with them. Customer relationship management is essential for your company’s success, and you must ensure your staff your customer care team with dedicated and experienced professionals.

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5. Risk to take

We live in an uncertain and dynamic world. Rules and regulations change, competitors enter the market to disrupt the existing framework of doing business. A creative leader takes calculated risks on behalf of his business so that the company is always ahead in terms of innovation and competitiveness.

Taking unnecessary risks can destroy the company, as it can sometimes mean launching products that the market does not need or rolling out services that no one is buying. This can hurt the company’s balance sheet and lead to an unsustainable debt that will destroy shareholders’ value in the company. So, as a leader, you must ensure you understand the business environment, perform thorough risk review and analysis before taking on any risk that can impact your company. However, you must not be afraid to take risks when you have done all your due diligence. There are rewards to every calculated risk you take.

Photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash

You may not be in a position of authority yet, but you are a leader because leadership is about influence. If you can influence your leader, then you can also make a change. And to make a change and move your organization in the right direction, you need to be aware of the essential duties of a creative leader.