A great leader has multidimensional traits that make him appealing and effective in behavior. Great leadership depends on the organic structure of the personality, which includes experience, skill, responsibility, intelligence, the power of organizing people, and social interaction. To become a good leader, one needs to possess leadership qualities.
16 Qualities That Great Leaders Have
These are explained below;
Physical Appearance
A leader must have pleasing appearances. Physique and health are very important for a good leader. A leader can influence and direct others by his or her physical impression.
Every movement of a leader can motivate his or her subordinates. So he or she should be careful about this.
Vision and Foresight
A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is forward-looking. He has to visualize situations and, thereby, frame logical programs. And also, the programs will be understandable to the subordinates so they can follow the orders.
Intelligence
A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult situations. He should be analytical, weights the pros and cons, and summarize the situations.
Therefore, a positive bent of mind and a mature outlook is very important.
Communicative Skills
A leader must be able to communicate policies and procedures dearly, precisely, and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and stimulation.
If his or her communication is not skillful, he or she will be tailed to give his or her subordinates a good direction.
Objective
A leader must have a fair outlook that is free from bias and does not reflect his willingness toward a particular individual.
He should develop his opinion and base his judgment on facts and logic. He should be impartial to his subordinates.
Knowledge of Work
A leader should very precisely know the nature of the work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his subordinates.
If he has lacked in knowledge of his work, the subordinates will ignore him and won’t follow his direction.
Sense of Responsibility
Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work are crucial to a sense of influence.
A leader must have a sense of responsibility toward organizational goals because only then can he get maximum capabilities exploited in a real sense.
For this, he has to motivate himself; and arouse the urge to give the best of his abilities. Only then can they motivate the subordinates to be the best.
Self-Confidence and Will-Power
Confidence in him is important to earn the confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full willpower.
His confidence will also motivate the subordinates to give their best effort to fulfill the organizational goals and will increase their confidence.
Humanist
This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with great care and attention.
Therefore, treating human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.
Sympathy
It is an adage, “stepping into the shoes of others.” This is very important because fair judgment and objectivity come only then.
A leader should understand the problems and complaints of employees and have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations personal contact with the employees.
Cooperation
Without good cooperation and coordination, no organized plan could be executed.
Thus a successful leader must understand and apply the principles of cooperative efforts and be able to induce his followers to do the same. Leadership calls for power, and power calls for cooperation.
Decision Making
The man, who wavers in his decision, shows that he is not sure of himself and cannot lead others successfully. A good leader needs to make the right decision at the right time.
Because everything depends on his decision and his subordinates follow his decision. So he needs to be very careful about his decision-making.
Manning
The successful leader must plan his work and work his plan. A leader who moves by guesswork, without practical, definite plans, is comparable to a ship without a rudder. Sooner or later, he will land on the rocks.
Fundamental Understanding of People
It is not enough to know the theoretical aspects of motivation. The manager’s ability to apply them to real people and situations is more important.
But a manager, who understands the elements of motivation and motivation theories, is more aware of the nature and strength of human needs and is better able to define and design ways of satisfying them and administering to get the desired responses.
The Ability to Inspire Followers to Apply Their Full Capabilities
Inspiration to do something usually comes from leaders, who may have qualities of charm and appeal that give rise to loyalty, devotion, and a strong desire on the part of followers to promote what leaders want.
This is not a matter of need satisfaction but a matter of unselfish support from followers to their leader.
The best examples of inspirational leadership come from hopeless and frightening situations. The workers of a dying concern may come forward and follow the leader to overcome the crisis.
The Ability to Develop a Climate Conducive for Arousing Motivation
This ingredient of leadership has to do with the leader’s style and the climate she or he develops. As we know, the strength of motivation greatly depends on factors that are part of an environment and an organizational climate.
There is no denying the fact that the primary tasks of managers are the design and maintenance of an environment for performance.
The fundamental principle of leadership is this; since people tend to follow those who, in their view, offer them a means of satisfying their own personal goals, the more managers understand what motivates their subordinates and how these motivations operate, the more they reflect this understanding in carrying out their managerial actions, the more effective they are likely to be their leaders.
From the above qualities present in a leader, one can understand the scope of leadership and its importance for the scope of business.
A leader cannot have all traits at one time. But a few of them help in achieving selective results.
Finally, a good leader must be faithful to his group members and activities. This, in turn, will result in an atmosphere of assurance among the followers.
Having faith in self-abilities and the world around him/her, the leader gains inspiration and inspires others in the organization.