“Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could” -Steve Jobs
Leadership Qualities:
A true leader connects with the people around them as they envision a bigger picture of life. People with the most important top leadership qualities inspire to achieve greater goals. In addition to this, they possess good communication skills, efficient time management & positive attitudes. To sum up, these leadership attributes help them to succeed in life.
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A good leader always rolls up their sleeves at the difficult times to take responsibility. Likewise, they stick to their word, live by their core values & lead by example. Certainly, they take more than their share of the blame & little less than the share of their credit. Be it in any profession, either you are a business analyst, teacher, manager or designer, there will be a time and opportunity to demonstrate leadership.
Following are a leadership trait required to be a great leader:
- Communication
- Integrity
- Accountability
- Empathy
- Humility
- Resilience
- Vision
- Confidence
- Influence & positivity
- Delegation
“Leaders thrive”
Skills Required to Develop Leadership Qualities:
Communication- An essential leadership trait:
Good communication is an integral leadership trait. Given below are the qualities of an effective communicator:
- They talk relentlessly
- An effective communicator listen & encourage input
- They illustrate through stories & affirm with actions
My favorite quote from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friend & Influence People- “talk to someone about themselves & they’ll listen for hours”
In fact, communication skills is an art one must master. You can also be a good communicator following the directions listed below:
- Make real eye contact while talking
- Show sincere interest in the lives of others
As a result, more people will be magnetically drawn to you. Likewise, they will passionately speak about their lives. In fact, they’ll become inspired, feel heard and begin to know, like & trust you.
Integrity- a road to develop leadership qualities:
A famous quote from C.S. Lewis:
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”
Look for the following things in people with integrity:
- They apologize for mistakes
- Highlighting the work of their employees & downplaying their own contribution is the greatest leadership trait.
- They appreciate people’s time & labor.
Accountability-leadership attribute one must have:
Accountability builds trust in the team. True leaders hold themselves & their team accountable for their actions. As a result, it creates a sense of duty among the team.
Furthermore, they give credit where it is due, and take the blame when required. To sum up, effective leaders can build trust with their team as a result of accountability.
Empathy- essential leadership skill:
Great and good leaders care for others. In fact, they feel things from another person’s point of view. Likewise, they are always with their team members under any situation.
Empathy is a mindset that enables you to make better predictions as a leader. Likewise, you can improve your work strategies and increase creativity. Furthermore, you can improvise your negotiation tactics.
Empathy helps you as a leader to strengthen your skills which makes you the better version of yourself.
You can harness the following skill as a result of your emphatic nature:
- Creativity
- Collaboration skill
- Negotiation tactic
- Emotional connection
To sum up, empathy distinguishes leaders from others.
Humility-required leadership qualities:
It is the most important ingredient in leadership style. Humble leaders focus on problem-solving. Similarly, they put everything above their personal pride.
Thomas Merton said:
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real”
Humility will make you much more relatable & effective.
Resilience- qualities of a good leader:
It is a much sought after quality in a leader. Time can be a monster sometimes. You need to roll up your sleeves during a difficult time and produce a result. In addition to this, you need to bind the team together.
This is a good leadership trait that gradually comes with experience.
Vision-prominent leadership role:
Vision guides an organization to achieve its goal. It is the art of seeing things that are invisible to others. Sharing the vision and compelling a group of people to act is the most sought after leadership trait of a good leader.
Jack Welch said,
” Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision & relentlessly drive it to completion.”
Leaders with vision are decisive. They are keen to drive it to completion. Their team is inspired to challenge people to outdo themselves.
Confidence-a must-have leadership trait:
Confidence is the greatest gift a leader can have. Confident leaders have the courage to make a decision. In fact, they take a risk in the achievement of your goals with no guarantee of success.
Everything is subject to change. As a result, there is no certainty in life or business. Every action you take comes with the risk of some kind.
“Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for, upon it, all others depend.” -Winston Churchill
Influence- Great leadership:
Leaders have to earn respect from their peers and team. It is not given for free. Some may think when they have acquired the position, they will get respect. In fact, a leader must have a charismatic personality to influence a team.
In order to exert enough influence, leaders may do the following things:
- Clearly state what they want
- They should be visionary
- Decorated with the quality of humility & empathy
- leaders must build strong lasting relationships
- They have to work towards mutually shared goals together.
When you make others feel important, you will have a greater level of influence on that particular person. Accept people open-heartedly.
Delegation- essential leadership style:
A leader has to inspire action. Their involvement in any task must be less. However, they have to be available to overview the tasks. Its the prime responsibility of a leader to elevate the performance of a team.
The quality of great leader is that he/she is specific about what needs to be done and who will do it. In addition to this, they need to state how a particular task can be done to achieve success.
There are certain steps to delegate a task. Leaders might find them useful to further enhance their leadership qualities.
- Select appropriate task
- Choose an appropriate person
- prepare a clear plan
- Monitor the task being done
- Evaluate the task
- Provide the feedback
Conclusion:
” A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way & shows the way.” -John C Maxwell
As a leader, you have a huge responsibility to deliver. Companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple Inc, Coca-cola, etc, survived the test of time due to effective leadership. One of the prominent qualities of a good leader is they inspire to contribute.
To sum up, your ability to perform any task is elevated to the next level under great leadership. Hence, you, as well as, the organization unleash their true potential.
