The modern business world requires collaborative decision making and the success of that process depends on someone stepping up to lead. Let’s take a look at the five traits of effective leaders and how those attributes help an organization reach their goals.
1. Willingness to Take Risks
An effective leader must be able to acknowledge the risk of potential failure and then make a case that the reward will be worth it. In order to demonstrate leadership to your team you need to be the one who’s capable of making hard decisions and then seeing them through.
This does not mean that you should proceed into high risk scenarios blindly – that demonstrates nothing more than carelessness. But solid risk assessment combined with the ability to succeed under pressure will raise your visibility as an effective leader.
2. Accept Responsibility for Mistakes
No project goes perfect from start to finish. When things start going wrong, someone has to take responsibility for the problem so the process of amending the error can begin.
Being that person will help make you a stronger leader and allow you and your team to begin creating solutions instead of sidestepping obstacles.
3. Flexibility
One of the most important parts of becoming a more effective leader is finding a way to avoid rigid thinking. After all, in today’s business world, there is almost never just one way to do something.
If you are capable of adapting to changing situations you will avoid the unhelpful label of micromanager and instead earn your team’s respect as a collaborator.
4. Humility
The best leaders have the ability to be self-aware of their own limitations. The only way to become a better leader is to recognize what aspects of your team could benefit from improvement, and then committing to making those changes
In addition, humility is an important part of creating a functional organization. If you can’t receive criticism, then you are closing the door to valuable insight from your team.
5. Clear Communication
Effective leadership is rooted in honest communication and fairness. To establish a better rapport with those around you and exert stronger leadership, you need to be able to communicate your vision of how things should progress.
A leader with clarity can help everyone involved see why their work is crucial and how small goals play into the big picture.
No one is born with all five of these traits in perfect alignment.
It takes training and dedication to maximize the potential of each of these attributes and become a more effective leader. Envision Global Leadership can help you start that journey.
