Qualities of a successful leader: list and how to develop them

Remember the phrase “he is not meant to be a leader”? But is this a given? I'm sure not. Leadership qualities in yourself can be developed, like other soft skills, and predisposition - charisma and other natural data - only help in this, but are not decisive. How can you independently “pump up” your leadership and what leadership skills are especially needed by developers who want to become team leads?

My name is Ekaterina Dementyeva, I am the HR Director of the Russian software developer MyOffice. In many areas of life, including professional ones, you need to constantly learn. To succeed and achieve what you want, it is important to continuously develop. In this article I will tell you how you can independently develop such leadership qualities as:

1. Long-term vision
2. Goal setting
3. Perseverance
4. Flexibility
5. Ability to bear responsibility and share it with the team

The post will be useful not only to current and future team leads, but also to those who do not seek to formally lead a team.

What is the difference between a leader and a manager?

A leader is not always a manager, and not every manager is a leader. Look: the manager manages goal setting, controls performers and relies on analytics; leader - inspires the team, increases its involvement and inspires trust. Sometimes these are different people. And if this is the same person, they will definitely say about him: “god of team leads”

Companies value leaders very much because they are often about innovation. They are original, support change and think long term. It is leaders who can make the team’s work as efficient as possible and give the company impetus for development, which is sometimes critical for the survival of the business. Cultivate your leadership skills and you will be worth your weight in gold.

What does a leader look like?

Who is a leader externally? Look - a successful person is always noticeable. If you are determined to develop leadership skills, work on your appearance. Charisma is a set of external characteristics of a person as a leader that attracts people. You must have:

• good stylish clothes;
• neat hairstyle and well-groomed appearance;
• clean shoes;
• stylish accessories – briefcase, watch, diary, gadgets.

Long-term vision

Taking the long view and seeing potential in unexpected or unnoticed things is an invaluable leadership quality. The management of any company wants to know what will be in demand in their industry tomorrow, how to solve the problem with less cost and greater efficiency, what products everyone will use in the future. Suffice it to recall services that were very popular in the past, but over time they were replaced by more original ones - who knows how things would have turned out in these companies if they had a forward-looking vision?

How to improve long-term vision

BOOKS:

• Luc De Brabander, Alan Iny "Think in Other Formats"
• Dave Stewart, Mark Simmons "The Game of Business." Spaghetti ideas, garbage collectors, Viagra and other ingredients of creative doping"
• Scott Belsky, Bringing Ideas to Life. How to bridge the gap between vision and reality"
• Ivan Bubnov “Vision as a resource. Strategic session with yourself"
• Bill Torbert "Action Research"

VIDEO:

Rosalinda Torres: " How to Become a Great Leader "

FREE CLASSES:

“Netology”: How to evaluate the result of personal development

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS:

• Think about your ideal job - what is it like? What does it include?
• Make a list of 50 of your accomplishments (minimum). Think about it, is there something that unites them? Based on this information, create a chronology of future achievements—just a list with approximate dates will do.
• Talk about the future as if it were the past. Imagine that your plans came true, how the world has changed?
• Make a list of so-called places where you would not like to be - kind of flags, what kind of life you definitely do not want. And make sure that your actions do not lead there.

External manifestations of leadership qualities

A dominant person in a community is not always active. But it is quite easy to identify it by external manifestations of leadership qualities:

• They dress well. They take care of their appearance, but without extravagance in their appearance. They have their own style.
• They surround themselves with people.
• They look straight into the eyes and confidently shake hands.
• Direct the conversation when communicating.
• They always listen to the speaker to the end and do not rush to answer.
• Quite polite and tactful.
• In the classroom they are placed at some distance from everyone in order to have an overview and not allow strangers into their personal space. But they don’t hide behind their backs.
• Characterized by a confident gait with swinging arms.
• They themselves volunteer to perform duties from which the majority remain silent.
• They immediately grasp the essence of the problem.

It is very important to consider the implicit leader in the team in order to direct his activities for the benefit of the entire organization.

Goal setting

Don't be a samurai who "has no goal, only a path." Improved goal setting helps to formulate a vision as a tangible result and plan steps towards it. If all your actions directly or indirectly affect the goal, you will reach it. Additionally, a leader with a clear plan energizes and motivates others.

How to improve your goal setting

BOOKS:

• Brian Tracy "Achieving a Goal"
• Robert Maurer “Step by step to achieve your goal. Kaizen method"
• Theo Tsaousidis, The Brain with Obstacles. 7 hidden barriers that prevent you from achieving your goals"

VIDEO:

• Reggie Rivers: “ If you want to achieve your goals, don't focus on them ” (in English)
• Playlist of five TED Talks “ Tips to help you set and reach your goals ” (each video has a Russian translation)

FREE CLASSES:

• Seminar by Margulan Seisembayev “ Kaizen planning as the basis of a happy life ”
• GeekBrains: Course “ How can a team lead organize work in order to maintain team efficiency and not burn out himself ”

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS:

• What goals have you achieved over the past year? What didn't work?
• Try to understand the nature of past goals - were they your internal desires or external impulses?
• Determine what goals you want to achieve in a year. Plan each month, ensuring that they contribute to achieving your annual goals.
• Learn SMART goal setting and set goals using this methodology.
• Record not only your successes, but also your failures. If something didn’t work out, try to explain to yourself in writing why.
• Determine your starting position in relation to the goal. This is your starting point that will help you plan your first steps.

Skills of a modern leader

Leaders or managers are the problem. While managers can be leaders, the opposite is not necessarily the case. In fact, the two roles are often separate. After all, modern business prefers this approach. While leaders lead, managers manage, but this is not the solution to the problem.

Every organization strives for success. Therefore, every team wants to achieve more. That is why the development of leadership skills is of great importance for managers and executives in order to combine not only management functions, but also to find an approach to employees.

Below we will talk about how and what leadership qualities you need to develop in order to become an outstanding leader in the modern world.

Focus on people

To become an effective team leader, you must always remain aware of the relationships within the team. For example, if someone has been feeling out of sorts lately, you need to know what's going on. What does an employee need to get back on their feet? Who can help him do this? Meanwhile, you should also consider how the rest of the team is feeling. While someone is on vacation or sick leave, they will have a higher workload. Knowing your team is very important when dealing with sensitive situations.

You can learn to understand others in several ways. These are psychological courses or trainings aimed at developing emotional intelligence. The second method is very unobvious, but even if your work has nothing to do with sales, study this topic. In fact, any sales training helps develop soft skills.

Be able to make difficult decisions

Risky or difficult decisions are difficult to make. Therefore, most people prefer to avoid such decisions. Your team will expect this from you. And you must quickly take responsibility and suggest the best course of action. At the end of the day, leaders inspire trust and get others to trust them.

Therefore, leaders must be able to make difficult decisions. Without this ability there is no direction to lead to. Decisions are difficult due to several factors:

• Total number of options
• The complexity of their interaction
• Speed ​​of required response

To become a better problem solver, practice math, logic, or both. Some are working on math Olympiad problems. This may seem too strange, but in fact, the good thing about mathematics in this regard is that it always contains a solution, no matter how long and difficult the path to it may be.

Inspire the team

Leaders tend to be confident in everything they do. Communicating this to the entire team is challenging. One thing leaders must do is to never reduce confidence in the team effort. Praise employees publicly and criticize them privately—there should be no room for public humiliation on your team.

Use this advice for many other situations. For example, celebrate even small team victories and encourage your employees.

The best solution is to have amazing recruiting. In fact, trust in your team begins with recruiting and continues with every joint achievement. If your team initially includes people who share the company’s values, then working together and inspiring them will be much easier and will bring more significant results.

Think strategically

A leader has a vision that inspires and leads teams forward. A leader must also see the long-term goals of the team and individuals at the same time. Leaders must look to the future and analyze every step. Strategic thinking is at the core of any modern business. This also applies to modern leadership.

Vision and strategy. To develop a vision, leaders must take the right steps. The right step is not one step forward, but one step higher. Strategy is a step forward, vision is a step higher.

The solution is not simple. You can study strategy, play chess. Spend 15 minutes every day thinking about a few steps to improve something. Learn algorithmic thinking.

To be an example

Leading by example and motivating others through personal action is the most effective method. For example, if employees have a tight schedule due to a new project, the leader will be the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Problems with teamwork? An effective leader will consider the best solution for collaboration. Perhaps even offer some minimal training to help the team adapt.

Leadership through learning is effective. Teachers are leaders. So are coaches, professors, etc. Typically, the people involved in teaching others are leaders. This is why anyone interested in leadership should try to become a coach. Solution: attend a training of trainers.

Develop new capabilities

Leaders create and seek new opportunities. They use strategic thinking to activate resources and invest in creating change. This is most valuable when working with sales. Sales leaders are constantly developing new capabilities. They know how to open a lead and they know how to successfully close a sale.

To discover new possibilities, open your mind. You have hundreds of ways to develop yourself and your team. Use technology, optimize processes, implement new practices, look at every situation as an opportunity. At worst, it will be just another lesson.

Use effective communication

Leaders are effective communicators. More precisely, they use the right information: 100% reliable and complete, clearly targeted, accessible, understandable and delivered on time.

When leaders speak, other people listen. They know that the information they receive has value. Fortunately, leaders are also good speakers and don't wait for people to gather around them to speak.

To develop effective communication, you can do many things. These include public speaking courses and excellent examples of TED lectures.

Perseverance

Yes, this quality can also be developed! It is important to understand that there will always be obstacles and difficulties, this is our life. It is persistence that will help you not to give up, treat defeat as feedback and continue working. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” - remember this phrase of Theodore Roosevelt?

How to improve perseverance

BOOKS:

• Linda Kaplan Thaler, Robin Koval "True Grit. How to develop the qualities necessary to achieve success"
• Hardy Darren “Cumulative effect. From action to habit, from habit to outstanding results.”

VIDEO:

• Angela Lee Duckworth “ Grit: The power of passion and perseverance ” (translated into Russian)

FREE CLASSES:

• Skillsoft: “Resilience & Perseverance ” (course in English. Paid, but there is a trial period of 14 days - you can complete it in time. 10 books on the topic are also included).

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS:

• Remember one of your significant achievements and write down what difficulties you encountered while moving towards implementation. How did you find a solution in each case? How significant do these problems seem now?
• Think about what inspires and motivates you? Make a list of what creates the right mood: music, movies and more. Turn to these things when you feel low.
• Train self-discipline: specifically set difficult tasks for yourself, fit into challenges, start running. Even simple decluttering, when you decide that it’s time to throw away things, trains willpower.
• Think about who among your loved ones can support you and become like-minded people? Tell these people about your successes, do not hesitate to praise yourself.

OTHER:

• Try the service for achieving goals Smart Progress : there you can practice setting and achieving goals, and also watch how other people solve similar problems and find like-minded people.

Trust and fairness

Never let power cloud your brain. Let your subordinates make their own decisions—by demonstrating trust in your team members, you help them grow and find the right path. When people achieve something for themselves, they feel more fulfilled, are less likely to burn out, and are less tired from work. Just prioritize and empower the team to make good decisions: “Let's increase sales by 10 percent. I trust that you will come up with some plan.” And be fair in your assessments of results.

Flexibility

To prevent your persistence from turning into obstinacy, it is worth developing another systemic quality of a leader - flexibility. This is the ability to switch and easily abandon non-working strategies. A leader always has a “Plan B” and a “Plan C” in case something goes wrong. One of the most important soft skills in a world where every day is different from the previous one.

How to improve flexibility

BOOKS:

• Susan David, Emotional Flexibility. How to learn to enjoy change and enjoy work and life"
• Gareth Moore Brain Trainer. How to develop flexible thinking in 40 days"
• Srini Pillay “Jew's harp, sprinkle, marai and taste. Unlock the power of a relaxed brain"

VIDEO:

• Tatyana Vladimirovna Chernigovskaya “ Training the brain: speed, cognitive flexibility, decision making ”
• Irina Khakamada, blog about leadership on YouTube in general and answer to the question “ How to develop flexibility ” in particular

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS:

• What topic do you understand best? Find someone who wants to dive into it and try to teach them.
• Remember what games you loved when you were a child? Find games that you might have also enjoyed as a child. With age, a person loses flexibility - and we’re not just talking about physical abilities.
• Imagine that another person was in your place - fictional or real. What would he do first? What would you say to the people around you, how would you solve current problems?

Disadvantages of Leadership

Each group leader behavior model has its pros and cons. We have considered the positive characteristics, let’s move on to the “fly in the ointment”.

With a competitive model of behavior, the manager is not inclined towards cooperation and useful communication. He will try by hook or by crook to gain self-interest only for himself. This is the main negative quality of a leader, because such people, as a rule, “go over their heads”, not paying attention to those around them.

He is focused only on business, he is not interested in human relationships and understanding. Observations of such people show that such a family man, consciously or unconsciously, makes the life of his loved ones hell. He is drawn into total competition, constantly on the razor's edge. Such leaders are dangerous, because they rarely care about the people or the social aspect.

With a cooperative model, there is a danger of a leader being a doormat. He is focused on understanding, humanity, and strives not to offend anyone. As a rule, this leads to the fact that he loses a clear line of leadership. One employee will tell him to submit such a layout, the second will insist on a different layout, etc. And he, in order to please everyone, will suffer and choose the most average solution, knowing that it will be a failure.

This is fraught with the appearance of anxiety, emotional burnout, and disruption of communication in the team. He himself loses the skill of effective group management. These are the main disadvantages of leadership. Plus, problems can also affect physical health.

The optimal, as always, is the golden mean. When a smart captain of his team in production or any other group can be so flexible as to show dominance and competitiveness in fundamental matters, and in life remain a good and kind person who knows how to show emotional intelligence.

Negative quality of a leader

Ability to bear responsibility and share it with the team

The leader has to bear responsibility not only for himself, but also for the entire team. What makes a truly good leader and manager is that he shares responsibility, accomplishments, and blame equally. This is perhaps the most “stressful” leadership quality, but the larger a person’s area of ​​responsibility, the larger his sphere of influence. Yes, you have to be responsible for your decisions, especially unpopular ones, defend team members and keep promises; As a reward, the leader receives trust from management and subordinates, and therefore freedom to find the most effective path to the goal. And this skill is not a given from above, it can also be developed!

How to level up responsibility

BOOKS:

• Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Risking Your Own Skin. The Hidden Asymmetries of Everyday Life"
• John Miller "5 Principles of Proactive Thinking"
• Bregman Peter “Emotional courage. How to take responsibility, not be afraid of difficult conversations and inspire others"
• Dalio Ray Principles. Life and work"

VIDEO:

• Rob Cook " The Cost of Work Stress and How to Reduce It "
• Simon Sinek " Why a Good Leader Makes You Feel Safe "

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS:

• Get into the habit of the “one minute rule”: before reacting to a negative event, exercise self-control and wait 60 seconds. And before you speak yourself, listen to the other.
• Do you trust yourself? Think about which areas you don’t ask for advice from others, and which areas make you feel insecure and doubtful. Try to make choices in such areas on your own and observe the consequences, moving towards confidence.
• Think back to your big failures where you were held accountable. How did you cope with the consequences? How scary do they seem now? Think about what works best to help you cope with failure.
• Ask yourself: what depends on me and what doesn’t? Write a list of what is in your control right now and what you can control. Your attention should be directed to these aspects, since you cannot be held responsible for what is not in your control.

Decide what kind of leader you are or what kind of leader you want to become

In a group, the leader is a person who has authority among most of its members. In a large community, for example, in a student group or production team, there are always several leaders. Analyze what kind of leader you can be:

• formal and informal. This is a familiar situation to everyone - the formal leader is the official head of the company, but the informal one sets the tone;
• leader - an inspirer who generates ideas and organizes a group around it, or a leading performer who knows how to best complete a task;
• business - the organizer and inspirer of the production process, who knows how to correctly distribute work tasks;
• emotional – the heart of the group, evoking sympathy and trust;
• situational - manifesting itself at a critical moment and taking leadership to solve a specific problem;
• a universal leader who combines all these qualities.

Try to become one of these leaders, use your innate characteristics. Decide what you do best - organize work, generate ideas, or masterfully conduct business meetings. Achieve perfection in this and climb one more step up on the path to your goal.

Leadership qualities, such as the ability to motivate people, allow group members to reveal their potential and push them to do more than they could before. His energy allows you to unlock the hidden resources of others - the personal properties of a person, the hidden capabilities of a group or company. A leader is a beacon that marks the path for others and is followed voluntarily.

How companies manage leadership

It is clear that hiring a strong leader for your company is costly both in terms of resources and time, so many organizations strive to develop their own leaders. This is a great opportunity for the employee too, because with the support of the company, professional growth will be faster - thus, everyone will benefit.

Let me give you an example of leadership management in our company. Here's how we develop MyOffice employees:

1. We identify leaders . First of all, we find among new and current employees those who have an aptitude for leadership and, importantly, want to grow themselves. Sometimes it is enough just to listen to your colleagues and pay attention to the names that they repeatedly pronounce in a positive context, to situations where this or that employee aroused respect when solving a problem or finding a way out of a difficult situation. Most likely, this person will in fact be a leader who is worth developing.
2. We establish communication with colleagues . Another important stage is receiving feedback from employees about their needs, motivation, and wishes. We not only observe, but also use various tools: surveys, interviews with experts, 1-to-1 meetings with managers, and also conduct reviews. And based on feedback, we can see who is ready to help and inspire colleagues, what we would like to develop and what our colleagues are strong at.
3. We create conditions for the development of leadership qualities . At the beginning of 2021, we launched the “Knowledge Hub” - the center for organizing MyOffice training. One of his tasks is to help the company develop specialists. Colleagues from help and organize seminars, strategic sessions and meetings where the team can exchange experiences and learn new things, and knowledge is shared by both internal experts and invited specialists. We have recently begun to develop the practice of working with internal speakers. Anyone can declare themselves, prepare for a performance, and we are ready to provide all possible assistance in this. Colleagues also have the opportunity to mentor new employees and guide them through the difficult onboarding process.
4. We provide the opportunity to receive additional education . For employees who can and want to grow, we develop an individual development plan that includes courses and events aimed at key growth competencies. A mandatory step to start the program is a willingness to learn. Before moving forward, an employee must be internally certified in their knowledge of our processes and products.

As you can see, we cherish and cherish people with leadership potential. If you are interested in development and work in MyOffice, look at our open vacancies - we will be happy to discuss cooperation.

Behavior

A natural leader is motivated by power, efficiency and goal achievement. I have met many quite successful people in this regard. The love of power allows them to find a way out even in the most dead-end situations. But they are vulnerable precisely in this very power: as soon as they overdo it, people understand their intentions and turn away from them.

Every leader must be able to cope with difficulties; his success depends on it. Models of behavior that he consciously or unconsciously follows help him cope with difficult situations. I'll try to explain it in a not too abstruse way.

1. Competitive model. This model is followed mainly by men. They constantly compete with someone in their actions. They are characterized by aggressiveness, dominance, charisma, egocentrism, and self-sufficiency. It is important for them to have more privileges compared to their subordinates, to differ from them not only in their status, but also in what they can afford.
2. Cooperative. Such people are respected because they did not come to leadership through a “raider seizure of power.” They are communicative, intellectual, aimed at collaborating with everyone who will benefit the whole group. Most often, everything is OK in their personal lives, they are loyal to female and male leadership.
3. Masculine. This is a type of competitive. The leader must be a man, although there are women too, but they are called “a man in a skirt.” They are competitive, sexy (there are only men here, this style does not suit women), dominant, aggressive.
4. Feminine. This model only works if there are no other candidates for the position of manager. As a rule, these are women who were “thrown into the breach” for lack of other candidates. Such leaders have little ability to compete and dominate. They obey more, do not show aggression, and try to come to an agreement with everyone.

Main types

The desire for leadership is the desire to take a worthy place in society. And it is common to all people. According to the style of decision-making in a team and methods of approach to resolving problems, types of leadership are determined: authoritarian, liberal or democratic.

Authoritarian leader

Authoritarian leadership provides the leader with the ability to make decisions autonomously, and also implies the subordination of all team members to management. The implementation of decisions made is monitored. The manager has the right to criticize and, without giving reasons, take measures to punish subordinates, which causes mass discontent in the team.

Disadvantages of an authoritarian type of leadership:

• high probability of making wrong decisions;
• lack of initiative and passivity of employees;
• team dissatisfaction;
• difficult moral situation.

This style is advisable only in critical situations: an accident or a threat to life. The authoritarian style is capable of suppressing mass discontent.

Liberal leader

The liberal view is characterized by a lack of control and clarity in requirements. There is the possibility of unpredictable penalties.

Such a personality tends to regress and is characterized by a lack of incentive to work and employee dissatisfaction with management and overall work. The climate in the team is unfavorable. The negative influence of people on each other is expressed by hidden conflicts.

Democratic leader

In a democratic form, a person involves the team in discussing the most important tasks and goals and making decisions. The group is given a certain level of freedom to discuss and stimulate work activity.

Such a leader is the most effective. High probability of making the right decisions, good performance indicators, favorable psychological environment. This type of leadership is an indicator of the professionalism of a manager and a good leader.

Sometimes in the know

A good leader stays aware of what affects his company. He stays up to date with new techniques that are available to improve his organization. He grows up reading books, magazines, attending conferences and seminars.

Not only should he share information with his employees, he should allow them to attend conferences and undergo training to keep them up to date with everything new.

Shows integrity

An effective leader is committed to his organization and the people he leads. He doesn't lie to them or keep them in the dark about what's going on.

While no one is perfect, a good leader must be someone who has good character and lifestyle. After all, people love to follow good people.

Some qualities of a good leader:

• smart;
• honest;
• creative;
• confident;
• able to manage;
• brave.

How to stop being shy

Shyness is one of the main negative qualities that prevents one from becoming a leader and preventing one from being realized in life.

In order not to be embarrassed, it is recommended to eradicate habits that interfere with a normal life. Imagine that all your shyness is a program that can easily be rewritten.

Talk to strangers, honing your communication skills on them. It's important to warm up before important conversations. Practice in front of a mirror or on others if you have an important conversation about which you are very worried.

Helps others succeed

A good leader does not envy those he works with. In fact, he should strive to see others succeed. Some leaders are afraid that other people will beat them to the punch and end up getting their job. Therefore, they hold their employees back from promotion.

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Demonstration of qualities

The qualities of a leader are demonstrated by words, intonation, way of conducting a conversation, facial expressions and gestures, confidence and firmness of opinion.

1. A confident person maintains good posture.
2. Doesn't take his eyes off the other person's eyes.
3. Smiles only in appropriate situations.
4. Treats the interlocutor with respect.
5. Dress appropriately for the position held.