Effective leadership skills are often mistaken for management abilities: handing out tasks to your team, managing people and projects, following up on their schedules, requiring status reports, you name it.
Management is “the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.”
That’s not what effective leadership skills are about to grow your MLM business.
Neil Patel said it best: “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flow charts; it is about one life influencing another.”
If you are still trying to figure out how to be a great leader for your MLM team, this article could be one of the most important things you ever read.
Change Your MLM Business with Leadership Skills Development
What does it really take to succeed with your network marketing business?
There are many variables with the most important of these being developing leadership skills
Understanding how to effectively create duplication in your MLM business starts with you. How will you influence and help others grow into leaders without being one yourself?
Have you ever noticed that many of the people you bring into your MLM business are quitters or do nothing people?
Sometimes it’s because that’s just the way it is.
Other times it’s because you haven’t provided the leadership they needed to understand the big picture.
Getting the right prospects into your business depends on effective leadership skills and how well you can inspired others to take action.
The first step starts with you….
Effective MLM Leadership Starts with Creating a Vision
What is vision?
Boundless said it quite well: “A vision is defined as a clear, distinctive, and specific view of the future; it is usually connected with strategic advances for the organization. Effective leaders define a vision and build followers’ commitment to it.”
Here’s a great example of leadership and vision.
I was talking to my good friend Patty. She recently started a network marketing business and was excited to share some information with me.
As a true leader, she didn’t blab on and on about her company or products. Instead she did what every good leader does. She shared her incredible vision with me.
Her vision for what she wants to accomplish in her life inspired me in a big way! She spoke of empowering women who want to make positive changes in their lives but don’t know how to go about doing so.
Patty explained exactly how she planned on doing this. Her vision was deeply rooted and focused on what matters most to her.
I was so incredibly inspired that it wouldn’t have matter what her company or products were. Those are simply a vehicle to achieve something greater in her life.
That’s the power of being an effective leader through creating a vision that you can move others to take action in a big way.
Brian Tracy articulated it in a powerful article about leadership skills. He said, Having a clear vision turns the individual into a special type of person. This quality of vision changes a “transactional manager” into a “transformational leader.”
Being a network marketing leader is not about having a money goal. It’s about who you become in the process and it all starts with having a vision.
What is your vision for your life and who will you become in the process?
Establish a Culture of Skill Development, Positivity and Can Do Attitudes
It’s pretty scary when you first start an MLM business. Clearly, you may be far out of your comfort zone.
Regardless, you still need to act like a leader and begin developing the culture on your team that will help others develop into great leaders as well.
Be responsible and take the initiative to share your vision and encourage others to do the same.
Every organization and team has a culture, whether you create one or not.
For example, I used to work for a large company that paid lip service to creating a positive and innovative corporate culture.
But their daily actions did not reflect that at all. The management was rude and it became a hostile environment to work, with many unhappy employees that felt powerless and belittled.
The lesson here is that whatever culture you want to establish throughout your team, you need to walk the talk. Do exactly what you say you will do.
Tips to Shift into Developing Good Leadership Qualities
Establishing yourself as a good leader is crucial to building a successful MLM business.
Creating a network marketing business is more than just recruiting prospects. It’s actually sponsoring people to be part of a team with a positive, growth culture and a vision for the future.
Here are 10 tips to work on to develop your MLM leadership skills:
- Create a powerful vision for your life and how you will empower others.
- Have a daily routine that contributes to your goal and stick to it.
- Work on personal development so you build inner strength and resilience to overcome any obstacle.
- Do what duplicates and not what works.
- Never stop learning. Keep educating yourself on your business, marketing, leadership and whatever it takes to keep moving forward.
- Take care of you. That means eat healthy and exercise.
- Surround yourself with positive, like-minded people.
- Don’t lead with your product. See my story about my friend Patty (above). People want a feeling of community and leadership.
- Meet people where they are. People are in different places in their life. Accept that and carry on accordingly.
- Nurture and celebrate the successes of those on your team.
Conclusion
Good leadership qualities are a must if you want to create a successful MLM business. Leadership is not about having a zillion followers, it’s about how many leaders you can help develop.
I’ve given you a few important things to consider about being a network marketing leader. Which of these resonated with you?
What are your thoughts about developing MLM leadership skills? Is it a must or optional in your business?
Another great piece of content Lisa
You’re right. The name of the game is leadership; the ability to influence and persuade people to do what you want ’em to do!
You talked about vision. Great leaders are brilliant at enrolling people into their vision for their business or project.
People are hungry for leadership. When one appears he/she will automatically attract others. In the dog world, they talk about the Alpha male – dogs need their Alpha male leader. Fortunately, in the human world, the alpha leader can be male or female. What a relief!
The best advice for network marketers is to assume the role of a leader early, even if they haven’t yet made their first sale. I did that in 2006 with the first program I joined – 55 days later I had quit the rat race. I have no doubt that the reason for my quick result was due to my early embrace of the leadership imperative. Prospects sensed it and signed up because they knew I had something they didn’t have.
Great post-Lisa!
Kim
Hi Kim!
Thanks for your insights. You are so right. People are hungry for leadership. If they are employed somewhere, they are not getting leadership, just managed.
Congrats to you for embracing leadership early on in your business – I am sure that fast-tracked your results.
Thanks again!
Lisa
Great wonderful and inspiring post. You have hit the nail on the head. Reading your post has me really excited. Really pumped. So much I am going to write and share my post which I will take a lot from you. And of course give credit to you for opening my heart and mind on really what leadership is. It really is just sharing your enthusiam and showing your vision to your readers. Thanks Lisa for sharing your vision. Thanks for your 10 tips that you share to develop leadership qualities Sincerely David
Thanks so much David!
So glad you gained some inspiration from this post. I can’t wait to read your next published post!
So many people think that starting a business is just about the money…that’s certainly part of it. More important, it’s about vision and who you want to become in the process.
thanks again David and have a beautiful week!
Lisa
Being a leader can be pretty stressful. Most people don’t instinctively know how to be a good leader, so leadership training can be very helpful. I like the portion you have on vision, it is important for a leader to begin with the end in mind.