- Geekmaster
- 2020-12-09 12:19:18
- 13 minute(s)
Top Leadership Qualities That Lead To Success
In this article, we take an in-depth look at some of the important leadership qualities that separate good leaders from a bad one. Qualities that lead to success.
Irrespective of how you define a leader, he or she can prove to be a difference maker between success and failure.
A good leader has a futuristic vision and knows how to turn his ideas into real-world success stories. Honing excellent leadership qualities helps you surmount obstacles, take risks and find ways to live joyfully and thrive even during the most challenging times.
Leaders must possess the ability to manage change, and energize the business. They can no longer rely solely on functional expertise.
This is a factBecoming a great leader takes a lot of practice. Developing the leadership qualities that will help you find innovative solutions to business challenges and inspire a team to new levels of performance is crucial.
Being a good leader is not a cakewalk. One must possess effective leadership qualities that help them achieve higher goals and objectives.
Leaders like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, with their vision, unshakable determination, and persistent hard work, led their respective companies to great heights. With their belief and strong leadership qualities, they gave a new dimension to the world of business.
Don’t hold yourself back thinking that the potential for leadership is something you have or don’t.
Limiting beliefs of this nature keep you from your full potential and exist only in your head. When you focus on what you want to be, you harness the power of acquiring and utilizing excellent leadership qualities.
As a leader, your success directly impacts the success of the people on your team. The right leadership qualities can propel others forward — but the wrong ones can bring everyone down.
So what personal leadership qualities do you need to become a great leader? Whether you are focused on personal leadership development or organizational leadership, here are seven leadership qualities that will help you stand out as a successful leader.
Honesty & Integrity
Whether it’s giving proper credit for accomplishments, acknowledging mistakes, or putting safety and quality first, great leaders exhibit integrity at all times. They do what’s right, even if that isn’t the best thing for the current project or even the bottom line.
Leaders succeed when they stick to their values and core beliefs. A leader with integrity draws on their values to guide their decisions, behavior, and dealings with others.
These leaders have clear convictions about what is right and wrong and are respected for being genuine, principled, ethical and consistent. They have a strong sense of character, keep their promises, and communicate openly, honestly and directly with others.
Displaying integrity will see you rewarded with loyalty, and respect from your employees. Delivering the said promises as ethically grounded is necessary to pay the dividend in the long run.
This is a factIntegrity is the foundation of good leadership, and one must stand for their beliefs. No matter how hard a situation, a good leader inspires with his principles without compromising; they refrain from making false promises or take shortcuts, choosing thoughts and action over personal gain.
In addition, honesty is expected from leaders to garner trust and respect from people for reliability.
This is a factWe look up to people who are loyal to their words and are accountable. Thus, honesty is the most valued trait for any business leader or any leader in general.
Being honest is not only one of the leadership traits that will allow you to lead with integrity, but it’s the only real way to make strong connections with others.
Make sure each member of your team knows what your core expectations are, and show them how much you value honesty through setting a valuable example. Don’t sugarcoat information, but find a way to deliver honest comments and feedback in a direct and compassionate manner.
📚 Additional reading
Honesty and integrity are two important ingredients which make a good leader. How can you expect your followers to be honest when you lack these qualities yourself?
Endless Enthousiasm
Inspiring leaders know how to turn setbacks into successes and make a point to display optimistic leadership traits on a daily basis. Choose empowering beliefs that will propel you forward, not negative thought patterns that will weigh you down.
One of the leadership qualities of truly great leaders is the sense of abundant positivity that energizes everyone around them.
It’s not that they never have moments of frustration or disappointment, but that they’re able to take a positive approach to tackle challenging issues.
Seeing challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles is one of the most important leadership qualities you can display to your teammates.
This is a factWhen you practice positive thinking, it becomes your powerful cognitive habit and allows you to reassure and elevate those around you. Employees can recognize insincere cheerleading from a mile away. However, when leaders are sincerely enthusiastic and passionate, that’s contagious.
Today’s culture often treats cynicism like a virtue, but it is no secret that positive teams are productive teams.
Whether positive or negative, a leader’s disposition affects an organization. Confident and supportive cultures are more collaborative and creative and ultimately attract hard-working, talented people.
Positive people are like magnets. Good-natured, confident leaders are not struggling to attract others to their vision.
Others are happy to be on their team because they engender trust and confidence. When you are positive, it is easier to build a network of advocates and champions.
📚 Additional reading
Positive leadership is not about fake positivity. It is the real stuff that makes great leaders great. It can help you become the person you want to be and the leader your people need.
Commitment & Passion
We’ve all known a leader who is so in love with what they do and who believes so deeply in an idea or cause. It’s contagious! And passion sure can’t be faked.
Tackle your work with enthusiasm and dedication. This will motivate and inspire others to do the same.
This is a factPassion is what motivates employees to go the extra mile, and most of the time, you’re either passionate about something or you’re not. There’s not a lot of middle ground.
Mediocrity breeds mediocrity, so set the example for others by taking pride in doing quality work, regardless of the task.
Most leaders fail because their focus is on their survival within the organization and, when you want to change things, inevitably you will run against others who either don’t want change or have their own change agenda.
When your teammates see you getting your hands dirty, they will also give their best shot.
This is a factYour teams look up to you and if you want them to give them their all, you will have to be passionate about it too. If they feel that you are not fully committed or lacks passion, then it would be an uphill task for the leader to motivate your followers to achieve the goal.
A visionary leader is far-sighted and driven and inspired by what a company can become.
Visionary leaders work hard for the greater good and keep themselves updated with time and change. Ensuring a vision for the future with perseverance and keeping everybody invested in the process is what a visionary leader does.
📚 Additional reading
Leadership is all about energy, frequency, resonance and people. Therefore, the purpose of leadership is to awaken possibility in people to deliver extraordinary results.
Emotional Intelligence
Leaders should develop empathy with their followers. Unfortunately, most leaders follow a dictatorial style and neglect empathy altogether. Due to this, they fail to make a closer connection with their followers.
Cultivating empathy is the precursor to almost every other soft skill required for leadership, from self-awareness to critical thinking.
This is a factUnderstanding the problems of your followers and feeling their pain is the first step to become an effective leader. When you’re able to see another person’s perspective, you’re able to predict the effect your words and actions will have on them.
People are more likely to follow leaders they like. The best leaders are approachable and show sincere care for others.
They understand the importance of appreciating and recognizing employees and creating mutual respect and understanding within the organization. They work towards giving them an environment where everyone can flourish.
Good listening is an essential leadership skill to master.
This is a factIf those around you don’t think you are listening to them, it will lead to frustration, gossip, and other negative consequences. Good leaders communicate with care, focus on the person and the message; they don’t interrupt and acknowledge what is being said.
Good leaders are self-aware, act in control, take calculated decisions without getting carried away.
They understand other’s perspectives without being cynical. They are self-motivated and have strong social skills, which help them build connections and healthy relationships.
📚 Additional reading
With emotional intelligence, leaders can control their emotions, which prevents negative emotions from influencing their decision-making skills. As a result, they are less likely to make hasty decisions.
Decisiveness
To be an effective leader, the ability to make fast, difficult decisions with limited information is critical. When facing a tough decision, start by determining what you are trying to achieve.
Being a confident decision-maker will allow you to capitalize on opportunities and earn the respect of your team.
This is a factEvery single person in a leadership role of any kind sometimes has to make difficult decisions. Make your final decision with conviction, take responsibility for it and follow it through.
An effective leader is one who makes the decision that is right, not the decision that is easy.
Even if you make a wrong decision and need to correct it, showing decisiveness during tough times is a better leadership quality than waiting around for something to happen or letting others make the decision for you.
Good leaders aren’t simply empowered to make decisions due to their position.
This is a factThey are willing to take on the risk of decision making. They make these decisions and take risks knowing that if things don’t work out, they’ll need to hold themselves accountable first and foremost.
Decisions taken by leaders have a profound impact on masses.
A leader should think long and hard before taking a decision but once the decision is taken, stand by it. Good leaders are aware of the fact of how their decisions can make or break businesses.
📚 Additional reading
Too much effort working on consensus building can have a negative effect. Rather than simply making a decision, many leaders allow debate to continue, and then create a piecemeal decision that satisfies no one.
Self-confidence
Great leaders have a sense of self-assurance and self-esteem and, most importantly, believe that they can make a difference. They take charge themselves and march with positivity and confidence.
Self-confidence is critical for leadership because it gives them wings to take risks, accomplish goals, and fly high.
It allows them to make immediate decisions, solve organizational problems and conflicts. Good leaders take full responsibility and quick actions without passing on issues, ignoring, or procrastinating.
To be an effective leader, you should be confident enough to ensure that other follow your commands.
This is a factIf you are unsure about your own decisions and qualities, then your subordinates will never follow you. As a leader, you have to be oozing with confidence, show some swagger and assertiveness to gain the respect of your subordinates.
More than half of human communication comes from nonverbal cues.
Know how to set the right tone as a leader by letting your confidence show. Confident leaders win over and inspire others because everyone else wants to embody confidence, too.
Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows.
This is a factTrying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may have a nice coat of paint, but it is ultimately shaky at best.
📚 Additional reading
Display confidence not only in yourself, but also in those around you. When people work confidently, they are more likely to achieve their goals.
Exemplarity
A good leader has faith in their ability to train and develop the employees under them. Because of this, they have the willingness to empower those they lead to act autonomously.
Inspiration is what pushes people to plow through difficult times — and to work on achieving their goals even when times are undemanding.
This is a factYou define yourself with your identity, or in business, your brand. Refocus and sharpen your identity often so you will inspire those on your team.
Do you know how people really perceive you? Effective leaders do.
They have an easy level of honest communication with their teams and their peers, and a thorough understanding of how they are perceived. If you’ve established an environment of open communication, you should be able to ask about your good qualities and the areas you need to improve on.
The best way to build credibility is to set the right examples. Demonstrate the behavior that you want people to follow.
If you demand a lot of your team, you should also be willing to set high standards for yourself. Aligning your words and actions will help to build trust and make your team more willing to follow your example.
It is nearly impossible to inspire others to behave a certain way when you talk the talk but fail to walk the walk.
This is a factHypocrisy in leadership is a personal statement that you either don’t believe in what you are asking of others or that it isn’t really that important.
📚 Additional reading
Good leaders are self-disciplined and have good time management skills. They encourage a culture where people are disciplined.
Final Thoughts
Every leader has an urge to lead, inspire, and contribute to the greater good. And this is why you need the right leadership qualities to guide you. No one can own all these leadership qualities.
Every one of these qualities is absolutely essential to great leadership.
To join the elite club of good leaders, you must have all these qualities but if you lack some of them, then you might struggle to make the mark in the world of leadership.
Becoming an effective leader is not a one-time thing.
This is a factIt takes time to learn and practice leadership skills until they become a part of you. Organizations must learn the best ways to identify and also to develop these necessary traits in existing and emerging leaders.
It is a consistent effort that paves the path. Hence, leaders should exercise these leadership skills for sustainable growth.
The importance of great leadership qualities in the workplace is too high to leave bad bosses unchecked. Take time to recognize both the good and bad in yourself so you can maximize your team’s potential.
These are the 7 leadership qualities you must master if you want to be the leader who not just imagines change but actually drives change.
What are the qualities of a good leader, and how can you develop them? Getting to know yourself is your first step. From there, you’re on your way to developing the leadership traits that will take your business to the next level. Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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