All businesses require strong leadership, but what makes a good leader? What qualities do you need in order to lead your organisation towards the next level of success? An effective enterprise, with a staff team who are engaged and committed to progress, will always have a good leader at the helm. Learning to identify a potential leader of this type, or to become one yourself, requires an understanding of the way in which leadership strategy works, and an appreciation of the skills and attributes that enable effective leadership.

So What Makes A Good Leader?

There is no single ‘type’ of person that can become a good leader, but there are key characteristics that can make successful leadership more likely. Do you recognize yourself or a colleague as having the following traits?

1. Moral purpose. If you are seeking an effective leader for your team, it is vital to be able to trust that the person in control of the operation has the best interests of the project or business at heart, and that he or she is making decisions for the right reasons.
2. People skills. A leader must be able to communicate effectively – and without using jargon – and must be able to forge strong relationships with his or her team members. A leader who can inspire loyalty and respect in his or her colleagues will create many more positive outcomes than those who do not find it easy to build positive relationships amongst their team.
3. Emotional intelligence. The most effective leaders are adaptable, and can modify their own styles of leadership to suit different members of their team. The ability to assess what each team member needs in terms of leadership, and to meet that need efficiently, is a quality that will make a good leader stand out.
4. Strategic thinking. The ability to plan ahead is a key role for a leader, and it is vital to be able to think strategically to make projections about the long-term viability of projects and future plans. Five-year plans are a common concept among business strategists, and a leader who can apply accurate and strategic plans in this way will be more successful than a leader who is unable to do this.
5. Vision and drive. A good leader will have, to some degree, his or her own motivation for doing the job in question. It is useful to understand the factors that drive your potential leaders, whether these are money, recognition, personal life goals or more, so that you understand the perspectives from which they are working, and see what makes them tick.

Discover Effective Leadership Today with Recree8

If you want to enhance your own leadership potential, or that of any of your team members, it can be very helpful to work with a Business Growth Specialist to build on these skills and develop a more effective leadership style. I am happy to discuss the ways in which we can work together: simply contact me today. I look forward to working with you!