Defining the effective traits of a leader
What is most important in your organisation? Is it the Product? Strategy? Culture? Innovation?
These are all important aspects of an organisation, but the core answer contributing to all of them is: the Right People. Because the right people design profitable products, develop the right strategy, create a healthy culture, bring new ideas and innovation, and on it goes.
Getting the best out of your people rests on the strength of its leader. Strong and capable leaders drive growth and innovation, and can be the make or break of an organisation’s success.
Identifying individuals with leadership potential within an organisation is a crucial task for its long-term sustainability. In this first part, we will lay the foundations with: defining the effective traits and qualities of a leader in your organisation.
I believe every organisation has its own unique set of leadership values, so it’s important that senior leaders put aside time to explore and determine key qualities that are commonly associated with effective leaders in their respective organisations. Here are some traits for your consideration:
Integrity
Integrity is a fundamental quality of a leader, amounting to honesty and trustworthiness. A leader with integrity is easy to spot - when the life they live on the outside matches with who they are on the inside.
Adaptability
Welcomes change, open to new ideas and able to pivot strategies when required.
Resilience
Bounces back from setbacks, learns from failures, and inspires their team to persevere through challenges.
Strategic thinking
Possess a clear vision and the ability to think strategically. Able to analyse complex situations, anticipate trends, formulate long-term plans and develop a roadmap towards them.
Emotional intelligence
Understands and manages their own emotions, empathises with others, builds strong relationships, navigates conflicts, handles difficult situations and inspires their team members.
Collaboration and Building strong teams
Able to recognize and utilise the diverse strengths of team members, foster collaborations and create a culture of trust and cooperation.
Effective communication
Ability to communicate clearly, listen well, ask powerful questions, convey ideas inspiringly and foster open dialogue
Writer and philosopher Robert M. Pirsig once said, “If you can’t define something, you have no formal rational way of knowing that it exists. Neither can you really tell anyone else what it is.” In short, if you can’t define leadership potential, you can’t identify it. ●