A company’s success significantly depends upon the leadership abilities of its manager. Leaders shape our nations, communities, and organisations. Leadership skills are often one of the most sought after traits in the corporate world, however strong leadership can be hard to come by. Unfortunately, not everyone who ends up in leadership roles is fit for the job and often lack the ability to demonstrate effective leadership. But while our society is usually quick to identify a bad leader, how do we identify a good one?
Leadership is defined as the act of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal. Competent leaders create a culture with high levels of trust, engagement, and productivity.
A good leader can make an enormous difference to the performance of an organisation. Great leaders are often equipped with a number of valuable skills including high level communication skills, high emotional intelligence and are able to easily build trust with team members. One of the most important traits of effective leaders is frequently engaging in active listening. This ensures business leaders understand the wants and needs of their team and are able to approach those wants and needs with empathy.
Read this article to understand the impact bad leadership can have on an organisation
What are the key qualities of leadership and how can we implement them in our business?
Qualities of a good leader
Trust – There are many things that good leaders can do to establish trust with their employees, which include; being open and honest about changes that will impact them, effectively communicating by talking to them, not at them, having an open-door policy, and then following up, and being willing to pitch in to help.
Humility – Being honest, having integrity, and listening to employees will only help gain their respect, which will pay off when it comes time to exercise decisiveness. While it’s true that everyone loves confidence, humility creates a likable persona, making others more comfortable with their position.
Transparency – Transparent leaders are not micromanagers; they give credit to others when success occurs, and take the blame for failures. Transparent leadership means leading with openness and honesty. These types of leaders keep their team in the loop, share information freely, and invite open and effective communication within their companies.
Decisiveness – This trait is a key quality for successful leaders. As Scott Hoffman told entreprenuer.com that he often looks back on advice he received from a mentor when learning how to officiate basketball games; “make the call fast, make the call loud, and don’t look back,” he said. He went on to note that many times, wrong decisions over trivial matters made in a decisive manner yield better long-term results and a strong team mentality than “wishy-washy” decisions that end up being correct.
Integrity – Integrity in leaders refers to being honest, trustworthy, and reliable. Leaders succeed when they stick to their values and core beliefs and without ethics, this will not be possible. Regardless of leadership style, a true leader always has integrity.
Inspiring – Inspiring leaders want their people to develop. They invest in them, and they encourage activities that foster physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth & well-being.
Passion – Passionate leaders elevate productivity and ensures employees are committed to your company’s vision, mission, and values. Leading people to achieve remarkable results, leading people to achieve optimal performance, leading people to realise their highest potential.
Innovation – As Steve Jobs said, “innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” A leader needs to be creative and innovative at the same time to bring their teams ideas into reality.
While successful leaders may carry and exhibit these essential leadership qualities to varying degrees, all good leaders can embrace and strengthen these characteristics of a good leader within themselves if they remain open to growth. When implemented, these qualities improve in-house communication, employee morale, and strengthen company culture.
