If you want more of a leadership position in your career and you currently feel as though you’re stuck where you are, there are some important factors to consider to make the difference. There are several characteristics that make a good leader, and applying as many of them as you can to your daily work should help to increase your chances of being noticed and being seen as a good leader. Read on to find out what some of these characteristics are, and start putting them into practice as soon as you can.
Be A Team Player
It might sound strange to suggest that a good leader needs to be a good team player, but it’s true. Just look at Dr. Bashar Hanna to see that it really does work out; the more you can work well in a team, the better a leader you are going to be. When you’re in an interview for a leadership position, you may notice that the employer asks many questions about working in a team, and it is for this reason.
Being a team player makes you a good leader (or makes some people good leaders, as there will need to be other attributes too) because it shows that you understand people and how they work together. You can use this experience and knowledge to lead people in the right way, keeping them in line without having to be too strict or someone no one wants to work with.
Be Open To Feedback And Criticism
If you want to earn a leadership role, you need to be open to feedback and criticism. You need to then use that feedback – and criticism – to grow as a person and as an employee. When you respond well to feedback, listen, and then implement those changes, you turn yourself into much more of a leader, taking those all-important leadership traits and using them when you can.
It’s also important to be able to admit when you are wrong and to ask for feedback to help you find the correct route. This is not something everyone is comfortable doing, and it may not be a sign of leadership to some, but it is; it takes a much stronger person – a leader, in fact – to admit they made a mistake and ask for help fixing it than someone who never admits any wrongdoing and continues making mistakes because of it.
Good Communication
Perhaps one of the most important traits – maybe the most important trait – in a leader is to have good communication skills. If you want to lead a team, you need to be clear and concise, you must always talk about facts and try to leave emotions to one side if possible, and you must be willing to answer questions truthfully.
Without good communication, instructions won’t be clear and could be misconstrued, and misunderstandings will be commonplace. If employees can’t trust the person put in charge to lead them because they never quite know what they mean, the entire dynamic will shift in a negative direction.