A wise man once said, “Success leaves clues”. If you’ve ever wondered what the good qualities of a leader are, read on to find out.
Great leaders make a big difference in employee productivity as well as motivating them to grow personally. They are the primary driver of the culture of the organization and influence positive behavior.
Here are 7 good qualities of a leader.
#1 Great Quality of a Leader – Communication
When it comes to the great qualities of a leader, your ability to communicate with others is linked to your ability to lead. Communication is both the leader communicating to their team and actively listening to their team.
There are many facets to good communication such as understanding how different personalities communicate and how they receive your communication. If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, ‘what are they doing? That’s not what I said.’ You may need to re-evaluate how you are communicating with that person and determine an alternative way to make sure they understand what you’re saying.
Every person has their own preferred style (we call it native tongue) of communication and depending on their personality, may or may not find it easy to understand what you’re trying to communicate to them.
In our professional development program, The Trust Factor one module covers the role of communication in interpersonal relationships, alternative ways of communicating and influencing others, identifying your “native tongue” or preferred style of communicating, and much more.
“Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems; communication is your bridge to other people. Without it, there’s nothing. So when it’s damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.”
– Earl Sweatshirt
#2 Adaptability
We are in a constant state of change. The same is true of the workplace. Leaders must not only be adaptable but also instill the ability to adapt to change in their team.
What worked last week may not be the best for today. A great quality of a leader is to model adaptability to their team and create a culture where change is embraced rather than shunned.
“The key thing is knowing how to adapt. Adapting to the group that you have at your disposal; adapting to the place where you’re working; adapting to the local environment. This is crucial: adaptability.”
– Didier Deschamps
#3 Problem Solving
Leaders are problem solvers. Not only do they solve problems, but they facilitate collaboration and empower their team to solve problems as well. As the old saying goes, anyone can spot a problem, but the key is to solve it.
As a leader, you have to demonstrate your ability to solve problems and convey to your team that you and your organization place a high value on problem solving.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
– John C. Maxwell.
#4 Facilitate Projects and Tasks
A key quality of a great leader is to manage projects and tasks efficiently. Leaders create a general framework for completing projects in their area of oversight. The framework may require some modification depending on the task, but the team should know the basic framework and approach each project with the core framework in mind.
This leads to teams embracing projects and tasks with the knowledge and confidence that they can complete the project efficiently and on time.
In our professional development program, Developing New Leaf Teams, the first module covers the fundamentals of high performance teams and how it differs from traditional work groups, discover the three elements of high-performance teams, learn the stages of team development, and much more.
“A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.”
– Simon Sinek
#5 Values Personal Growth and Encourages Others to Grow
Effective leaders value personal growth. They are constantly working to improve themselves. By acknowledging their shortcomings and creating a plan to strengthen them, they inspire others to grow.
Through strong, healthy relationships with their team they are able to influence others to self reflect and identify opportunities for personal growth themselves.
This creates constant improvement in the team’s ability to communicate, value others, and meet goals while enjoying their work.
“In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: “How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?”
– Carl Rogers
#6 Leads with Integrity
Another great quality of a leader is to lead with integrity.
Integrity is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” Another meaning is, “the state of being whole and undivided.” Strong leaders realize they will need to embrace both meanings. Although this good quality of a leader is listed as number six, it is foundational to good leadership.
Your team is watching to see if you have double standards or lead them one way and lead yourself another. Check out your own behaviors and determine if it’s how you want your team to conduct themselves while making decisions, completing tasks. or relating to others.
Trying to lead without personal integrity is like trying to fly an airplane with only one wing…you may get headed down the runway, but the end result is always the same – a crash.
“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.”
– Ray Kroc
#7 Leads by example
By default, every leader leads by example. Your team will never rise above the daily example demonstrated to them. If individuals do rise above the example you set, they will soon be promoted or leave the organization. They might even replace you!
Asking your team to act in a way that you personally do not is a recipe for failure.
If you want a committed team, you must be committed. If you want a motivated team you must set an example by being motivated yourself. If you lack passion for what you do, your team will lack passion. If you want your team to demonstrate excellence but their results are consistently mediocre, ask yourself if you are displaying excellence or mediocre behavior.
One of the most important actions, things a leader can do, is to lead by example. If you want everyone else to be passionate, committed, dedicated, and motivated, you go first!
– Marshall Goldsmith
In conclusion
Being a leader with good leadership qualities is a process. As John C. Maxwell put it, “Success is built daily, not in day.” A great place to start is to take a look at New Leaf Leadership’s growth and development program – Leading With Emotional Intelligence. Or, check out all our professional development training modules by going here.
