All great leaders are individuals with unique skills and personalities. However, great leaders have several characteristics in common.
As the saying goes, “success leaves clues.” So, if you’re attempting to become a more effective leader, it’s wise to develop these qualities.
Great leaders share some fundamental traits:
1. Communication. Communication is one of the most valuable skills for effective leaders. It’s important to be able to effectively communicate your objective and other mission-critical information to your team. This ensures that everyone is working collaboratively toward the same outcome
- Expectations and goals can’t be met if they’re not communicated clearly.
- Effective training and constructive feedback require skillful communication.
2. Delegation. If you could do everything yourself, it wouldn’t be necessary to lead anyone. The great leader knows he/she cannot do it alone. Big outcomes require a variety of workers with diverse skills.
- Delegating appropriately requires confidence that others can do their part. Too much meddling leads to poor performance and resentment, too.
- Understanding the capabilities of everyone on your team helps you to assign tasks to each member that are appropriate to their skills.
3. Analysis. Great leaders are astute at choosing team members. Sometimes a leader will be assigned a team. In other instances, the leader is tasked and authorized to choose his/her team. Leaders are able to determine what skills are required to complete a project successfully.
- It’s also important to choose team members that will work well together.
- Effective leaders will choose team members with skills that complement his.
4. Honesty. All relationships require a foundation of trust to ensure success. Leaders are clear on their values and are willing to share them freely. A leader that fails to instill trust in her followers is ineffective.
- Many famous leaders are infamous for their brutal honesty.
- For great leaders, integrity is a lived reality, not just a word used in a mission statement
5. Commitment. Big projects inevitably have many bumps, twists, and turns along the road to completion. Only the committed are able to find the finish line consistently.
- Leaders are committed in every way. They’re committed to getting the job done, whatever it takes.
- Leaders don’t expect to receive more commitment than they’re willing to give.
6. Confidence. If a leader is unable to show he’s confident regarding the mission at hand, his followers may very well lack confidence, too.
- Effective leaders set a good example and remain confident.
7. Adaptability. It’s not possible to predict every hiccup that will occur over the course of a project. Leaders are able to find creative solutions.
- Resources are often limited. An effective leader can creatively utilize all the resources available.
- The ability to think “outside the box” and not be limited by common norms is valuable.
8. Intuitive. Successful leaders utilize intuition. Every situation is different, and past solutions don’t always apply.
- An effective leader is willing to trust experience and intuition for possible solutions.
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How many of these traits do you possess? Where could you seek improvement? Are there any additional qualities you believe a great leader must possess?
Not all great leaders are created equal, but all great leaders share common characteristics. Develop the qualities that will take your skills to a higher level.
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” -Lao Tzu
Resources
A Great Leader Part 1: Introduction
A Great Leader Part 2: Born or Made?
A Great Leader Part 3: Leverage
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay