20 traits Successful Leaders Share
Leaderhip Quotes
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan
“A good plan rapidly executed now, is better than a perfect plan executed later.” – General George Patton, US Army
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“A company is stronger if it is bound by caring rather than by fear.” – Herb Kelleher, SW Airlines
“Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F. Kennedy
“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t want to go, but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter
“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton, Walmart
“The growth & development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” – Harvey Firestone – Tires
“Success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” – Michelle Obama,
“A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organization, not as it is, but as it should be.” – Jack Welch – General Electric
“A leader is a communicator of hope.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“A good Role Model is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” – Albert Schweitzer
Successful Leader’s Traits: Analytical, Appreciation, Assertive, Decision-Making, Charismatic, Communicator, Empathy, New Ideas, Micro-Managing, Trust, Open Minded, Pressure, Recognize & Reward, Risks & Failure, Role Model, Solutions, Focus, Vision, Improvement.
Great Leadership is essential to your company’s bottom line, but leadership skills are often considered to be inborn. The fact is, though, that these attributes can all be identified, learned & strengthened. Moreover, a skill set that accounts for over 70% of the variations in employee engagement scores should not be left to each Leader’s instinctive talents. While you probably rely on your own familiar set of Leadership skills, it never hurts to analyze how what you’re doing.
Top Traits of a Leader
The right qualities of a Leader can make all the difference. To be able to listen and accept is what any employee would find valuable in a leader. If a Leader is able to establish trust with their team, they can increase employee retention, productivity, & engagement. Consider these qualities of a Leader that can lead the journey to professional excellence.
1. Strong Analytical Abilities
You may be a super-persuasive, charismatic people-person, and be skilled at communicating with your team, but those talents are still only part of the package. You’ll also want to leave yourself enough mental energy to maintain a good overview of your workforce analytics. A strong cognitive & analytic approach as one of their vital leadership traits, because it leads to good decision-making.
2. Communicate Employee Appreciation
Using employee rewards to let your team members know their efforts are appreciated has significant benefits throughout your organization. Recognizing people for their good work sends an extremely powerful message to the recipient, their work team & other employees through the grapevine.” When you reward great work, you transform the entire climate of your company.
3. Assertive – when needed
Naturally, assertiveness must be paired with empathy & diplomacy. Fearlessness is essential in a Leader. A leader must be able to overcome resistance, weather social adversity & get out in front to lead employee success.
4. good Decision-Making
They an do so with limited information. A leaders typical day is often filled with many meetings in which they need to make decisions. The successful ones would rather make a decision with limited information and then change it if they are wrong, rather than let it drag on.
5. Develop Employees’ Careers
Have you been concerned that supporting your employees’ training & development may only prepare them to move on? HR best practices suggest otherwise: Google’s research shows that identifying opportunities for employees to master new skills, actually builds your team’s depth & strength. Furthermore, you convey a powerful message that you care about your people’s personal well-being.
6. Charismatic.
Being charismatic is a blessing. Charisma is one of those leadership qualities that will amplify all of your other attributes & traits. Charismatic leaders are able to lead their teams in extraordinarily difficult situations. By being charismatic, a leader is able to project that everything is under control even if things are not. Another advantage of being charming is that you have an edge when it comes to negotiations. If you are charming, other people will be more inclined to give you what you want. As a leader, getting what you want is always great for your team and for yourself.
7. Communicate Honestly
Like assertiveness, candidness has to be balanced out by a sensitivity to your workers’ perspectives. However, HBR research notes that a great Leader gives direct feedback and doesn’t hide truths behind a shield of politeness. The report found that “Subordinates felt they could always count on straight answers from their leader.” Your employees will have trouble improving, if they don’t understand exactly which behaviors are difficult.
8. Empathy
Empathy will take you places. Instead of only thinking about short term gains, modern leaders are in the long game of building relationships and keep customers coming back again. As a leader, you are directly responsible for your team & employees. By taking care of your team, you are giving your team the support they need to do maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Taking care of other people isn’t just limited to your team. Great leaders make sure to find solutions that help everyone & employ empathy for the greater good.
9. are Open to new Ideas
As a Leader, you need to keep an agile & open mind so you will notice when an operation can be improved. Great Leaders let their team members share new ideas, and act on the best creativity.”
Rapid Learners. They ask questions as needed and are extremely quick to sort out the important issues from the situation.
10. No Micro-Managing
Recognizing that “Teams with great Leaders were happier & more productive,” Google notes that successful leaders don’t try to rule over every detail. If you’re invested in your team’s success, you might fall into the trap of feeling that you have to guard every detail. In fact, micro-managing can erode worker initiative & damage employee motivation.
11. Build a work Culture of Mutual Trust
Harvard Business Review [HBR] analyzed what goes into leadership excellence, and trust is a major element. If your employees are going to feel safe coming up with possibly risky experiments, they have to be confident that you’ll be receptive to their ideas. Productive teams know that mistakes are just milestones on the road to the next great innovation.
12. Open Minded.
A vast majority of great leaders have an open mind. Having an open mind means that they are willing to acknowledge and even adapt viewpoints and perspectives that are significantly different from theirs.
13. Handle Pressure Well
As a Leader, you’re held accountable for the performance of others, and there will be days where you feel you’ve got a target pinned to your shirt. A study placed emotional stability at the very top of a list of essential Leadership traits. Your ability to take good care of yourself and withstand work-related pressure will keep you thinking clearly during periods of stress.
14. Recognize & Reward good work
Only one in three U.S. workers “strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work in the past seven days,” according to research published by Gallup. The report points out that offering employee rewards & recognition is a golden opportunity for Leaders that is often overlooked. Employee recognition “not only boosts individual employee engagement, but it also has been found to increase productivity & loyalty to the company, leading to higher retention.
15. take Risks, accept Failure & Bounce back
Successful Leaders have no problem talking about their mistakes and the lessons learned from those mistakes. They take pride in the “scars” they have earned and view them as a part of growth.
16. Good Role Model
As a leader, you set an example and express the diligence, enthusiasm & other skills that you expect from the people whom you manage. The ability to be a role model is one of the top two qualities that executives look for – when they’re choosing new Leaders.
17. Find Solutions to Problems.
Problem-solving is an absolutely necessary Leadership trait. They must gather all the info asap, then make quick decisions on simple problems. On complex problems, they propose solutions to their Team and get feedback to consider. We give leaders a higher respect and have more confidence in them with this trait.
18. Focus on Employee Strengths
A strengths-based workplace culture offers measurable advantages: Gallup presents the “powerful connections between employee strengths development & business performance.” Their report shows that a strengths-based workplace increases employee retention by up to 72 % in high-turnover industries, increases profits by 14 to 29%.
19. share Vision with all
Top executives have a clear “vision” for themselves and their organizations They may not understand exactly how they will get there, but they are committed to finding the way through planning, action & flexibility.
20. dedicated to Continuous Improvement.
They do not settle for “good enough” for their own performance or the performance of their teams. They hold themselves accountable to learning, growing & improving, + they appreciate & recognize this behavior in their team members.
Conclusion: How many qualities of a good Leader do you possess from the list above? Each Leader brings different strengths to the table, and you can use this checklist to identify those areas where you can improve. Without adopting essential leadership traits, you won’t be able to lead and manage your people effectively. Things can be unpredictable in life, but good leaders are able to make their way even through these uncertain situations.
Comments: Do you know any other useful Traits of successful Leaders?
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