How would you describe a good leader? Some of the most important qualities for a strong leader to have are:
- Adaptability
- Intelligence
- Assertiveness
- Conscientiousness
- Emotional intelligence
The best leaders are individuals who are empowering, inspiring and positive people. They value their team and inspire them to be the best that they can be. Whether you’re a manager, supervisor, or even a business owner, leading people is likely going to be a big part of your job. So, what can you do to embrace and improve these qualities in yourself and become the kind of leader that everybody wants to follow?
There are plenty of strategies that you can use to become a better leader, and the best part is that they don’t take a lot of hard work; you can make small changes and implement them in your daily life straight away and start seeing positive changes in your team.
So, how do you become a better leader? Start implementing these strategies into your workday.
Understand Your Own Leadership Style
In order to become a better leader, understanding your current leadership style is the first crucial step. Ask yourself:
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- Which areas need improvement the most?
- What are your major leadership characteristics?
- Do these qualities help or hinder your leadership?
Be as honest with yourself as you can, even if the answers aren’t exactly what you wanted to hear about yourself. If you’re struggling to determine your leadership style, it might be worth asking some members of your team to be honest with you; explain to them that you are trying to improve yourself as a leader and want their honest feedback on what you do well and what you could improve on.
Once you have determined which areas need some work, you will be able to get some direction when it comes to the best ways to start improving your leadership qualities.
Be a Good Role Model
Transformational leaders aren’t just inspiring individuals; they are impeccable role models for their team. A good leader doesn’t just talk; they walk the walk too. They exemplify the characteristics and behaviors that they want to see from their team. And as a result, their team members admire them as a leader and want to emulate those behaviors.
Research suggests that successful leaders are able to foster specific beliefs and use them to inspire their team. As a result, teams are more optimistic and tend to have higher standards for both achievement and performance.
If you want to become a better leader, work on displaying the qualities that you would like to see in your team.
Be Passionate About What You Do
It’s unlikely that you would look to somebody for leadership and guidance if they didn’t seem bothered about the goals of the group. A great leader is not only focused on getting tasks finished; they have a genuine enthusiasm and passion for their work, and it shows.
Work on developing this leadership quality by thinking of different ways that you can show your passion for what you do and share it with your team. Make sure that your team members know that you are genuinely proud of their accomplishments and progress; when a team member shares an idea with the rest of the group, make sure that you let them know just how much you appreciate their contribution.
Encourage Creativity
Transformational leadership is defined by intellectual stimulation. Leaders who are highly focused on just getting tasks done, rather than allowing and actively encouraging team members to express their ideas and creativity, do not tend to be the most transformational.
In order to be an effective leader, you should:
• Offer new challenges
• Provide ample support to team members in order to help them achieve these goals
• Make sure that the goals are within the grasp of team members’ abilities
• Encourage people to stretch their limits
Improving your coaching skills can help in this aspect; check out this article by the University of Exeter Online on why learning to coach is an important skill.
Improve Your Listening and Communication Skills
A focus on providing effective one-to-one communication with team members is another highly important quality of good leadership. Transformational, inspiring leadership is at its most effective when leaders are able to clearly communicate their vision to their team members, who are then inspired and motivated by it.
A good leader should:
• Express sincere care and concern for team members both verbally and nonverbally
• Keep the lines of communication open and encourage clear communication between team member and themselves and within the team
• Ensure that team members feel that they are able to make contributions
• Provide recognition to team members for their achievements
Be a Positive Person
The best leaders are characterized by their genuinely optimistic, upbeat attitude that becomes a source of inspiration for others. When the leader appears to be apathetic or discouraged, members of the team are more likely to follow suit.
As a leader, even when things aren’t looking too great and your team begins to feel disheartened, it’s important to try and stay positive. While this doesn’t mean always looking at everything through rose-tinted glasses and forcing false positivity, it does mean maintaining a sense of optimism – trying to see the bright side to situations and having hope even in the face of a challenge.
Encourage Your Team to Make Contributions
As a leader, make sure that your team members know that you welcome and value their ideas, suggestions and contributions. A democratic or participative leader is somebody who encourages active involvement from their team, rather than simply telling people what to do. Although they may have the final say over decisions, they encourage their team to share their visions, ideas, plans and changes in a project.
Research has shown that when leaders have a democratic or participative leadership style, it leads to several benefits for the entire team, including:
• Better productivity
• More loyalty amongst employees
• A better workplace environment
• Stronger team relationships and better teamwork
• More creative problem-solving
• Greater commitment to the task at hand
Be a Motivator
The best leaders don’t just tell their team what they need to be doing; they provide inspirational motivation to encourage them to do it. As you probably know, being inspirational isn’t always the easiest of tasks, but the good news is that you don’t need to give lengthy motivational speeches every day.
To be an inspirational leader, work on becoming:
• Genuinely passionate about the ideas you’re heading or the goals you’re working towards with your team
• Getting team members involved and included in the process
• Valuing contributions
• Offering recognition and praise for the accomplishments of individuals and your team as a whole
Recognize Your Team
Another hugely important quality of any good leader is that they know offering effective rewards and recognition is one of the best ways to make sure that their team feels appreciated and valued, which leads to greater happiness and satisfaction at work.
It probably comes as no surprise that people who’re satisfied in their job tend to perform better at work. And as a leader, offering rewards and recognition doesn’t have to be something that takes up a lot of effort or money. It can include:
• Genuinely saying thank you to team members who have contributed their ideas and suggestions
• Praising the team for achieving their goals
• Offering team or individual incentives when working towards goals and following through with them
Be Willing to Learn from Your Team
Leadership is by no means a one-way street, and the best leaders know that they aren’t just teachers or coaches; there’s also a lot they can learn from their team members.
The best leaders are humble and accept that there’s no way they can know everything; even if they have the best qualifications or the most experience compared to their team members, there’s always going to be something that somebody else can teach them, and they are open to learning as much as possible. A good leader is never too proud to admit that they didn’t know something, and thank somebody for showing them.
Ask for Feedback
The main quality that separates the good leaders from the rest is the fact that they aren’t improving their leadership qualities for themselves; they are doing it because they know that it will have a good impact on their team.
Regularly ask your team for feedback on your leadership performance; after all, they are the people that you are leading and will be able to provide you with details about what you can do to improve your leadership skills and qualities in your individual situation. Sitting down with your team members and asking for honest feedback, then taking what they say into account and working on those areas, is the best way to make sure that you are the kind of leader that your team looks up to and is inspired by. And along with getting valuable feedback that you can use, you’ll also make sure that your team members know their opinions and ideas are valued.
While there are many courses and programs out there to help you become a better leader, it’s practising these qualities in your daily work that will separate you from the bosses.