The 5 traits every great leader needs
Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky to work with great people. This goes from the temporary worker (which I was one for a while myself) to all the way up to C-level management. As no one is a carbon copy of anyone else on this planet, each of them brought their own blend of strengths to work. I always have tried to take note about what they brought to their roles that distinguished them from everyone else. In some cases, they were model employees and shied away from former leadership roles. While others felt most comfortable in their own skin when they were placed in leadership roles. Either way, I found that there was a collection of traits that spanned the vast majority respected and looked at as true leaders within the organization.
I want to share with you today five traits every great leader needs:
They listen
In our information driven and jam-packed calendar world, it can sometimes feel there is more talking than mental processing of information. Leaders differentiate themselves in this way by being good listeners. There is a saying that is often mentioned but rarely adhered to – we were born with two eyes, two ears and only one mouth for a reason. I believe in our society there has been an overemphasis on verbal communication. Listening has been framed as passive, even though this is far from the true.
When you listen, you win. The best ideas do not come from one person (unless your last name is Da Vinci and your first name is Leo) but from a collection of great minds.
I’m going to blow the dust off an old game show to shed some light on this trait. When Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was riding high in its heyday, contestants had three lifelines: 50/50 (removes two wrong options out of a possible four), Phone a Friend or Poll the Audience. There was a lot of chatter about which lifeline was the most effective. I remember a lot of people thought phoning a friend (or even 50/50) was vastly superior to polling the audience. There was a misconception that asking the broader public about a piece of trivia would lead to the wrong answer. Studies have proven otherwise. Polling the audience was found to be correct a whopping 91% of the time compared to 65% of the time when asking a friend.
This applies to brainstorming ideas and coming up with solutions. To bridge ideas and use our collective creativity, knowledge and intelligence, we need to hear what others are bringing to the table. Great leaders I have worked made a point of listening to other stakeholders and using the best of their ideas with their own to come up with the ideal solution or course of action.
They reflect
Great leaders always make a point of reflecting. Reflection included the impact a leader makes, where one has performed well and fallen short as well as looking ahead to the future. This trait is one of the hardest to develop and immeasurably valuable. To reflect effectively, leaders need to have developed a foundation of self-awareness. By being honest with themselves, leaders can go from good to great by pinpointing areas they need to improve or make adjustments and create an action plan to address them.
One of the most effective methods of reflection is through journaling. Reflection, journaling “and all that yoga stuff” isn’t usually spoken in the same breath as leadership. But there are many good reasons why journaling helps shape great leaders. This is something with which I’ve had a spotty track record. I go for a couple weeks consistently journaling every night and then up to a month without touching my journal. I can tell you that I am always happier, more focused and motivated when I journal – and I rarely journal for more than three minutes a night! That’s pretty decent ROI if you ask me.
They Empower
One of the tougher experiences in the modern workplace is working for a manager and not a leader. A manager gets people to work for them, a leader gets people to follow them. There is a huge distinction and it plays out in many ways: motivation, productivity, team synergy and work culture. The way an employee goes from being a manager to a leader is by empowering their employees.
When I was in management, I would leverage the power of delegation. There were many instances when I onboarded an employee that was a superstar – they would eat new work for breakfast and come to me with an empty plate asking for it to be loaded up. They would always be curious and always trying to add value. What I did to keep my superstars motivated was delegate part of my work to them. The effect was twofold. My employees were more satisfied at their jobs from great challenges and delivered amazing results; I created more bandwidth for myself to work on IT transformation initiatives that added huge value to the organization. Win-Win.
They are courageous
Doing the right thing and doing what you are supposed to do should line up neatly. We all know this is not always the case. Many people will fall in line over speaking up when something does not jibe with them be it from an ethical, efficiency or customer satisfaction standpoint. A great leader has the courage to stand up for what they believe in and what they believe is the right thing to do.
They can say ‘I don’t know’
I find many people vastly underestimate the power to say ‘I don’t know’. If you think saying I don’t know makes you look incompetent, think again. You are doing yourself, the people you are working with and the organization a disservice if you fabricate an answer to a question just to look like you have it all together. News flash: no one knows everything.
Those working at C-level management should be able to answer most questions regarding vision or strategy but will likely defer to others when it comes to operational details (unless they are COO – and even then!). A frontline worker can likely walk you through all the intricacies of their system’s user interface but would refer you to their director when it comes to the department’s operations budget or quarterly cost savings.
So there you have it. Work on developing these traits and you will have a following in no time!
What traits do YOU think are critical in leadership?