How to Inspire People to ‘Follow the Leader’

The long hibernation of our industry is nearing the end as most, if not all, travel components are starting to wake up. Therefore, you may be looking ahead at your business requirements for the upcoming year and beyond. Do you need to hire or rehire staff to meet the upcoming demand? Or do you have new duties and responsibilities?

You now might be in the enviable—possibly daunting—position as a leader. But your current skills that have helped you excel on the front line are not necessarily transferable to you as a supervisor. If you are looking to grow your organization and your team, you must continue to develop your own skills. The Travel Institute’s Certified Travel Industry Executive (CTIE®) program may be exactly what you are looking for.

Throughout July, travel professionals can enroll in the CTA®, CTC®, or CTIE® programs and possibly receive a 50-percent reduction in tuition. To qualify for a 50% certification scholarship, individuals must complete The Travel Institute’s scholarship form by July 31st.

Who are the best leaders, and how do you become a leader people would want to follow? For this, we turned to our own CTIE course content on Becoming an Excellent Leader. 

Think about what makes followable leaders tick. In general, there are certain traits leaders share. They are:

• Competence Competent leaders know how to do their jobs well. They are rational, and they base their decisions on data and facts. They have good business and financial sense and keep their egos in check. Leaders have vast, accurate knowledge of their jobs and their organizations, and they know what the organization needs to succeed. And they provide good insights based on their experience.
• Goodwill Leaders who possess goodwill are people-oriented, can communicate well and find value in others. They genuinely want others to succeed. They enjoy people and are happy to be excellent resources. They want to guide and serve their people — not the other way around.
• Integrity Leaders with integrity are trustworthy, dependable, and consistent. They do what they say they’re going to do. They are fair and always apply the same rules to everyone without picking any favorites. They have high moral principles and are sincere and honest. They are good people with good values. They always do the right thing, and they lead by example.

An additional trait that is highly desirable is perseverance, dubbed “grit” by noted best-selling author, renowned speaker, and Marketing Guru Linda Kaplan Thaler in her book From Grit to Great. Join Linda on July 12 at 2:00 pm (EST) for an invigorating, empowering, and lighthearted conversation on How to Harness Your Grit and Tenacity in the Age of Covid. Register now; this will be one of the year’s best presentations!

In addition to certain traits, there are also some learned skills that will be critical to the success of those looking to be a leader whom people want to follow. They include:

• The ability to guide and sustain the organization Leaders must know — and their actions must reflect — their organization’s mission, vision, and values. Leaders discuss them with their followers and base all decisions on these concepts. They constantly seek to be innovative and agile and to improve the processes used in their organizations.
• The ability to communicate well with followers Leaders get to know their followers’ personalities, interests, strengths, and weaknesses. They motivate and inspire by regularly offering praise and recognition. They readily give — and receive — candid and sincere feedback, and they strive to provide clear and concise direction to keep all the followers moving in the direction that benefits the organization. They also must be willing to just shut up and listen from time to time.
• The ability to encourage high performance Leaders must clearly explain goals and objectives so their followers will have a firm grasp on what they should be doing. Leaders must follow up and guide, if necessary. They also must have a reasonable system of reward and punishment based on performance. And they should regularly give performance evaluations that include feedback. People cannot improve unless they know what they are doing wrong. And followers who exceed expectations will not continue to do so unless they receive praise or recognition for their accomplishments.

Leadership is a combination of many things, including much personal and professional development. To learn how to develop effective leadership and other skills, enroll today in the CTIE program. Act quickly to take advantage of the 50% scholarship opportunity. Apply today!

And be sure to register for Linda Kaplan Thaler’s webinar, How to Harness Your Grit and Tenacity in the Age of Covid. Enroll soon because this special presentation will fill up quickly!