Pacesetting: The Art of Staying Ahead of the Competition

“While a good leader sustains momentum, a great leader increases it.” Leadership is the quality of leading, influencing, guiding, or inspiring others to work toward and achieve their goals. The rates of a leader are built over time but need a high level of dedication and persistent efforts to reach and achieve such standards in life. 

Pacesetting leadership aid in producing leaders who exemplify high quality, pace, and performance. Leaders with pacesetting values focus on growth and the high-end results of their company or organization. Most leaders work on the “Do as I do. Now” approach and focus on improving the outcomes and finishing deadlines well on time. In a world of competition, pacesetting leaders always remain ahead of others through their virtues of working hard and swiftly while maintaining and improving the quality of work.

The pacesetters avoid giving tasks to incapable employees as they need them done excellently and well on time. Going by the definition, pacesetting means “a person, group or organization that is most progressive or successful and serves as a model to be imitated.” It can also be defined as “a person or thing that sets the pace, as in racing.”

Daniel Goleman, a world-renowned psychologist, developed the concept of emotional intelligence. After many years of study and observation, Goleman established a connecting link between emotions and leadership which was framed and published in a Harvard Business Review article titled ‘Leadership that Gets Results.’ Among the six emotion-based leadership styles that Daniel Goleman describes in his essay ‘the six leadership styles Goleman, pacesetting leadership is one of the leadership styles focused on productive outcomes. 

The blog intends to highlight and focus on the strategies for developing pacesetting leadership and how such leaders remain ahead of the competition in their tasks.

Strategies for staying ahead in the competition

Self-regulation is emphasized by pacesetting leadership, while leaders have strength in emotional intelligence competencies, including self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and empathy. Several elements form the pacesetting leadership and help the team, organization, or institution to grow and develop. Some of these elements include

Self-motivation

Self-motivation is the key to strong leadership. A self-motivated leader can set extreme standards of performance and perfection. While remaining self-motivating, these leaders also infill a sense of motivation among their employees and teammates. Self-motivation while doing specific tasks and positive surroundings help in improving the performance standards that aid in the growth of a company or organization. 

Communicated requirements

With ultimately having in-depth knowledge about the project and the requirements during that project, a high-end result can be expected. An effective pacesetting leader is aware of this fact and, therefore, helps his employees or subordinates know the project’s details in advance. Transparency in the project makes the employees much more competent, and the results are all of high quality.

Initiative

The first step is always the most difficult one. The pacesetting leaders take the initiative without waiting for anyone and get things done right on their behalf. They take up complete responsibility for their steps to achieve the desired results.

Trend-setting

The pacesetting leaders are the real trendsetters who are unafraid of doing new things and searching for better ways to achieve the desired results. These leaders lead by setting an example. 

Pacesetting leadership has many significant advantages that aid in the fast growth of the business, organization, institution, or company. The pacesetters achieve the goals in their tasks more quickly through their leadership qualities and a firm, positive intention to achieve something. These leaders are good enough to build a highly competent team that can perform according to the needs of the project on which they are working. The pacesetting leader does not wait for anyone to perform tasks for them. Instead, they are skilled enough to take the initiative and do the job themselves. 

The main advantage of pacesetting leadership is that it helps the team move forward and remain ahead of others in competition. They lead with perfection while setting examples for others. But, while doing all this work, there are chances for the team to get exhausted, stressed, and unmotivated if the performance doesn’t go according to their will.

Conclusion

A pacesetting leader will never hesitate to work himself with his team and aid in the growth of his team overall. These leaders know how to remain ahead in the competition and achieve their goals while reaching new heights.