Leadership qualities: top 10

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Leadership is a term widely used in management that characterizes the position of a person in a team. The leader is considered to be the one who enjoys authority in a certain group, is able to lead the masses behind him, to influence the decisions made by the members of the group. Initially, the term was used in politics and political science, it was applied to the heads of state, social and political movements. Later it began to be used in the management of organizations.

Key traits of leaders

Among modern managers, there is an opinion that all leaders without exception, regardless of the size and types of groups of people they lead, have certain qualities to a greater or lesser extent. Despite the fact that the understanding of this fact has firmly entered the consciousness of society, there are still different interpretations of these abilities, a different number of them.

Below are the top 10 most basic traits of a true leader:

1. Honesty and high ethical standards.
2. Active life position, optimism.
3. Commitment.
4. Ambition.
5. Communication.
6. Confidence in yourself and your abilities.
7. Initiativity.
8. Charismatic, the ability to lead people.
9. High level of personal organization and responsibility.
10. Reasonableness and consistency of action.

This also includes the ability to quickly make informed decisions. Below we will take a closer look at some of these qualities.

Where do these qualities come from

Different sources talk about leadership qualities in different ways. Someone promotes the theory that one can only be born a leader, and someone - that one can become one.

In fact, the development of the business education sector has proven that a leader can be raised, and a large number of factors influence the development of leadership skills, from childhood experience to the need to defend one's interests in adulthood.

Is it possible to do without these qualities

To become a leader, it is not necessary to have qualities developed to the maximum, at the beginning of the journey they can only be inclinations, while their basic presence is mandatory. In some cases, the maximum development of one trait is able to replace the absence of another. But this is more the exception than the rule.

Each of the personal qualities is necessary for a person not only to lead people, but also to defend his position in society.

In childhood and adolescence

It is possible to identify leadership qualities in a child from childhood by what line of behavior he uses with his parents, as he defendshis interests, what he is willing to do to get what he wants and, most importantly, how he behaves with peers.

The manifestation of these traits largely depends on upbringing and living conditions, however, it is impossible to dispute the fact that there are traits obtained from birth, because two children who grew up in identical conditions can turn out to be completely different people: who -someone will be the leader, and someone will be one of the followers.

The greatest influence on the further development is exerted by the leadership qualities of adolescents. If you let them develop, and not try to suppress the temper of a rebellious child by force, then the chances of raising a successful person increase significantly.

How to develop leadership in a child

Children are the most malleable for the formation of leadership qualities. It is possible to form such inclinations in a child without much difficulty, working through each of the indicated points, shaping his behavior so that positive properties are developed:

• You can teach a child to be honest by encouraging the truth and not punishing for mistakes, but by explaining why this or that action is wrong so that the baby does not want to lie.
• Ethical ideas about life can only be obtained if there is such an example nearby, therefore, parents who do not respect other people and do not have a sense of compassion should first of all be the question of developing this quality in themselves.
• An active life position and initiative should be constantly encouraged, children themselves are active and take initiative from birth, you just need notprevent it.
• Purposefulness in a child should be encouraged all the time. Any success must be supported, thereby strengthening the belief in achieving the goals. And it does not matter what it will be - a letter in calligraphic handwriting, a 100-meter race, an attempt to climb a tree or something else.
• Ambition. Teach your child to raise the bar all the time: I was able to run a hundred meters today, help me understand that it's time to increase the goal and grow to a distance of 500 meters. While it is small and the victory was more an accident than a pattern, but an ambitious goal leads to the same results.
• Communication. All the time the child should be accompanied by live communication, the more people he sees, the more he is able to start a conversation from the first minute, the better. Sociability is perhaps one of the key characteristics that allows a leader to be one.
• Charismatic. Many parents often complain about the wild imagination and stories of their children. Do not rush to conclusions. The ability to colorfully tell a story in adulthood will play its role, in adults this skill is valued much higher, everyone loves personalities who speak beautifully.

Thus, almost everything that is forbidden in childhood and adolescence eventually destroys the qualities of a true leader, which is why there are so few of them now. Parents should take care of how to develop leadership qualities in a child from early childhood, then it will not be difficult to grow a strong personality.

Can it be learned?

If everything is clear with children, then what should those who have already grown up and realizedthe need to be a leader? You can develop leadership traits in yourself. You need to do this by moving step by step through all the described features and pumping each of them separately.

It is impossible to force an adult to develop in this path, leadership qualities require high responsibility and for the most part indicate a strong character, while many people want to live in the position of a victim and shift responsibility to others. Moreover, if the decision is made personally and there is an understanding of one's shortcomings, then it is realistic to grow to a leader.

What qualities can you develop yourself

A person is able to develop all the described traits on his own, for this it is enough to clearly understand what qualities are lacking and which of them are poorly developed and require work on oneself.

For a quick result, it is best to plan your development with the identification of weaknesses and methods for improving them. The following are basic daily activities that will help lay the foundation for leadership development.

Honesty in everything

A banal principle, but it carries a lot of weight for a true leader. People won't follow someone they can't trust. One single lie can ruin every effort.

Hiding the truth is also a form of lying, so you can not hide information important for its functioning from members of the group. Sooner or later, any fact becomes public, and the leader's reputation suffers.

Self-control and self-control

Another basic principle. A nervous, embittered and aggressive person cannot lead others. Learning to control yourself is always difficult, especially when there are a lot of irritants around. But this must be done by simply showing tolerance and loy alty to people.

High level of responsibility

For all decisions made, actions taken and their consequences, you need to take responsibility. The leader has no right to blame others or circumstances, always and in everything the responsibility lies with him.

Of course, it is easier to blame external factors than to admit your mistakes, but by gradually increasing your responsibility, a person can improve the quality of his life. A high level of self-commitment does not allow you to give up in the face of difficulties and turn off the intended path.

Decisive yet measured action

Decisions must be made quickly, act without delay, but it is worth considering what they can lead to, unjustified risk is rarely a source of luck.

Faith

A leader must believe in himself, his project and the success of his undertakings. If the leader does not have faith, the environment will not have it either. So that faith does not go out, but only grows, every day you need to single out a small, but a victory or your own achievement, and praise yourself for the result achieved.

Planning your time

The lack of a clear plan inevitably leads to a lack of time, effort and energy, as well as a lack of understanding of what needs to be done. The result is stressand unmet goals. The leader must plan everything, if plans cannot be realized for some reason, they must either be revised or rescheduled.

Development

In addition to the competencies of a leader, you need to develop a personality, completely and constantly improving yourself. Interesting people will only be someone who knows more than they do, who can be called an expert. Read more, attend cultural events more often, and the quality will improve.

Working on networking and improving communication

A leader, as a rule, is forced to constantly contact a large number of people. It is the improvement of communication skills that can lead to rapid growth.

Personal Development Methods

To develop the leadership qualities of a person (as well as any other), you can use the following methods:

1. Self-development - with an independent search for the necessary materials, their study and honing. A definite plus of the method is its availability, while the minus is no less significant, there is no feedback, which also takes a lot of time.
2. Complete leadership training. The adult education software market has an extensive offer on this topic. The advantages of such training are obtaining information from experts and professionals, feedback during training, working out weaknesses. Disadvantages - a chance to run into outright charlatans and not get the desired result, and for recognized experts, the cost of training is quite high.
3. Learning online. Lots of educational resourcesoffer online versions of their programs that provide almost the same benefits as training, while much cheaper and have no time reference.

A leader and a boss are the same thing?

Only in an ideal management model does the boss act as a true leader. As a rule, the leader only manages subordinates by the force of artificial authority caused by official rank. The leader, on the other hand, has real authority among employees, which is caused by his leadership personality traits, they trust him, they are ready to follow him. Often there are 2 separate managers in a team - the boss and the leader of the group.

Companies that are switching to modern management models are increasingly setting the leadership qualities of a leader as the main requirement for newly hired employees, since suppression of subordinates no longer brings the desired result.