Leaders always play an important role in all walks of life, for example, political leaders who guide nations towards a brighter future, Leaders in enterprises who ascertain the success of that business or leaders in the community who act are their chaperone
In terms of business, it is true that topmost management acts as the main driver of the whole operation but it is also true that each and every business needs a competent leader at every hierarchical level of the organisation for the success of the whole operation.
People in Human Resource management understand this very well and indeed plan for it accordingly when hiring new people. If during an interview they score you well as a leader, they will carefully analyse the skillset of the team you will be joining. If they are hiring you for a permanent, long term role, they will want to see traits of a future leader in you. As you mature in your role and progress through the organisation, you start to become an integral part of the organisation and people will come to you for guidance, direction and big decisions.
If you are planning to apply for a role where leadership qualities are a must, you will be expected to have some specific traits. Not all people are born leaders with these special traits but human beings are very good at learning and improving their behaviour and skills. If you practice enough, they become your traits. In my opinion and from my experience, five of the most important traits are as follows
Confident
Confidence in a sense, is power and yes, it is a fact that if you do not have confidence, it is highly likely that you will not succeed, at least to a level which people expect of a true leader. The link between confidence and success has been proven in a number of scientific studies. You can find limitless literature about it. If you are confused in what you want to do, how will the people who follow you, react and perform? You should have a confident personality. You should be the kind of person who is always determined to achieve your goals. You do not lose motivation on your way if there is an obstacle or setbacks. You keep going and moving towards your goal as you have a clear understanding of what you want to do. When you speak, you have charisma, you are not confused in your thoughts. Your words are clear and direct. You speak slowly but with authority. There is assurance in your speech which calms people down and convinces them to follow your lead.
So learn to be truly confident and to stick to your decisions no matter what the outcome. There is a learning curve, but eventually you will get there.
Courageous
Organisations are always looking for people who are strong and capable. People who are willing to take their own decisions, not just follow others. If you have the right conviction, you will not only create new opportunities, you will also be able to convert an unfavourable situation to a profitable opportunity.
In the lifetime of any business, there will be at least one crisis, although realistically, critical situations are a norm for most businesses. Courageous people are self-disciplined. This helps them to view any situation calmly. Being calm allows them to analyse the problem much more clearly and take appropriate actions instead of following the herd. You will rise above others and bring your point of view in focus. Although taking a leap of faith in all situations is not advisable, but if you believe in yourself enough and you have gained the knowledge and experience, it is not just a leap of faith, it is a calculated risk and experienced person’s courageous decision.
Focused
Being focused is the ability to concentrate. Distractions are now commonly part of normal life. Some people understand how they can power through the distractions and concentrate on the task on hand. There are always others who just give up and get lost in today’s ocean of millions of distractions. It is always a good idea to identify your objective first. Once you have done that, you can understand what is helpful and what is unhelpful, what is cluttering your thought process and what is facilitating you towards your objective. It is also a good idea to create a plan that you can easily remember and visualise. you have a clear path to follow based on your plan, it will make it much easier for you to focus. Nowadays, work life involves you to work and accomplish a number of tasks in a limited time. Multitasking is always the best approach but you must plan and design your approach in a way that prioritises and focus the allocation of resources including your time to the important projects.
Communicator
Communication is not just a one-way street. It means that sometimes when people want to talk and convey their opinion, you listen and understand. It also means when you want to get through to others, you know the best approach. If you want to be an effective communicator, you must have proper oral and written skills. Learning and polishing the necessary skills will go a long way. If you are communicating with your team members, they must understand your expectations clearly. Try to be as specific as you can. Teams have people from all levels, so it is a good idea to first be familiar with your audience. You can make yourself available through different means. This will help the junior team members to communicate in a way that best suits them. The key to effective communication is to always know your audience and design your approach accordingly. So using those short words and abbreviations is not always a good idea.
Motivator
Motivation always works but the same formula does not work for everyone. Some people might be motivated by a monetary factor, others might not care about it at all. In most cases, to be exact around 75 percent, getting rewarded is the reason why people do things. But the motivation for a particular reward does not last forever. You need to able to understand the inner drive of other people. Another good idea is to always be enthusiastic yourself. Your positive energy will flow to others and get them motivated. Motivation has been discussed and researched in science since forever. There are a ton of books, blogs and stories that are widely available on the topic. Learn from the experience of other professionals and try different approaches. Identify the personalities of your team members. Pessimistic people tend to be a demotivator to others. Target them and make them optimistic. Failures always happen so be ready for it and lend a helping and constructive hand to team members to keep them motivated. Keep developing and experimenting with different approaches until you find a one that works.
Like all skills, leadership in itself is a skill. You can always learn and practice more to make yourself better. One way of bettering yourself is to attend leadership training. By learning and working to enhance your skills and knowledge, you will not only strengthen your leadership traits, but also polish them to keep yourself ahead of others.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The content of this blog has been written by Rehan Khan. The author has been part of many successful multinational companies where he learned and excelled. He has worked in IT, Finance, Accounting and Advisory sectors. Currently the author is not only running his own successful businesses but also acting as an advisor for a number of previous employers on a regular basis.
