Blog Post

At Preload, we believe in developing strong leaders. What does it take to be a leader, and who are our leaders? The fact is that anyone can be a leader. Leadership is a desire to take responsibility in a leadership role.

Good leadership has many characteristics. Preload’s leaders believe in actively displaying 5 key leadership characteristics as well as upholding our SPIRIT values. CEO of Preload, Ryan Harvey, states, “These 5 (characteristics) I believe are most important and easily remembered.”

5 Key Characteristics of good leadership

1. Leaders Focus on Strengths: They know their strengths and the strengths and skills of their team members.

2. Leaders Communicate with Clarity: They know the plan and communicate it effectively and clearly, so all team members understand. Knowing the plan is essential; however, “if I can’t communicate it, I can’t get the team to take ownership of their parts.”

3. Leaders Take Ownership: Leaders take ownership of the plan, the execution, and the results. Successes are attributable to the team. Failures belong to the leader and should be used as a learning opportunity to help ensure future success.

4. Leaders Maximize Their Team: Just like a football team, recruiting and training the best players is vital in any organization.

5. Leaders Know Their Followers Needs: There are specific characteristics that people look for, consciously, or unconsciously in a leader. Without those characteristics, it is not easy to get people to follow your vision.

Additionally, thousands of performed survey responses from Tom Rath’s Strengths-Based Leadership show the four most common needs among followers. A leader’s role is to know and fulfill these needs.

Four Most Common Needs of Followers

1. Stability – A buffer from unnecessary change and a knowledge of what to expect each day. There are several different ways we can provide stability in the office, shop, and field. Preload’s leadership examples include: Operating a Safe Jobsite, Operating an Orderly and Neat Jobsite, Positive attitude, Discipline, and Productive Work.

2. Trust – Trust is a basic need for a follower. Without it, your team doesn’t believe you have their best interest at heart. Trust increases productivity and increases the engagements of team members by a factor of 12. Preload’s examples include: Having integrity, Being honest even when in challenging conversations, Consistently practicing disciplinary action in the same manner each time, Attitude, Addressing team members directly for mistakes, and Enforcing safety.

3. Hope – Feeling optimistic and enthusiastic about the future increases the engagement of our team. Preload’s examples include: Outlook on the project and the company is a significant factor in generating hope in the field, Communication of the company vision, Encouragement on successes.

4. Compassion – It is crucial to instill discipline in all we do in work; however, there can be discipline with compassion. Preload’s examples include A friendship and caring attitude for our team members, Celebrating the successes on the job, Taking the time to learn about someone as a person, and Including their family, likes, and dislikes, and Empathy for other team members and issues they might be having at work or home.

Final Thoughts

In short, Preload develops leaders. Our leaders show good leadership characteristics while instilling stability, trust, hope, and compassion in their team. Our leaders successfully represent and practice our SPIRIT values. Lastly, author John Maxwell sums up what a leader does in an understandable and easily remembered way, “A leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

About Preload

PRELOAD is the global pioneer of wire-wound prestressed concrete storage tanks, with more than 3,700 tanks completed to date. The industry recognizes PRELOAD as the innovator for constructing the first wire-wound prestressed concrete tank in the 1930s. As a result, PRELOAD serves clients across the United States with offices in Kentucky, New York, Texas, and Massachusetts.