FUNDAMENTAL TRAITS OF GOOD LEADERS

Over the years, in the need to get better at managing people I have studied on the subject of leadership; I have followed lives of some inspiring people, people whom I admired. I have learned that what makes a leader great is the ability for them to inspire people to tap into producing their best and deliver amazing result. The ability to reach people in a way that transcends the intellectual and rational is the mark of a great leader – Forbes.

The ability to integrate, motivate, and mobilize others to bring a common aspiration to life is what leadership is all about, not holding positions of formal authority. Leadership is a situation where one person can aid and support other people to accomplish a common task.

Leadership is behavioural and not positional. Great leaders have the ability to read people’s need and desires; this makes them address those needs and when/if possible fulfil them. It is natural that when people feel understood they respond to you and a bond is formed.

Great leadership is not about control and holding the reigns, too many people think so but they are very wrong. You get greater results when you influence, guide and support and not when you control. While doing your job, get out of the way for others to do their own job. Of course there will be those who lag behind in their duties, these you have to nurture.

Great leaders are rarely satisfied with the status quo, there is always the drive to know and do more. They welcome new knowledge and are all about fresh ideas mostly not coming from them but from those they work with.  They invest to know more and influence those they work with to do same.

In the face of work place conflict, it is a natural response for people to respond with retaliation or corroboration. While retaliation is gratifying and immediate, for long term and in the larger global market place it is short-sighted. A great leader knows this and would insist on repairing divides, he would insist on collaboration. The collaboration rule ‘changes people, revolutionize markets, enhances organization growth and development and enriches attitude’.

You cannot talk about a great leader and not talk about integrity and honesty. Too many people lose credibility because what they say and what they do are different; they lose the trust of those who believe in them. With a reputation for honesty, it is easier to deal with challenges and face tough situations because you have people around you willing to work with you come what may. This also follows the saying that good leaders do not finish last.

Treating people and everyone with a basic level of respect is an absolute of leadership. Great leaders treat people around them with respect. Arrogance is a killer of good leadership. Your job as a leader would be made easier if you have a reputation for kindness, honesty and respect.