Did you know that only 48 percent of employees believe that their company leadership is “high quality?” Why? What qualities do their leaders lack?
Many people will tell you that leaders are born, not made. However, the truth is that only 10 percent of people are natural leaders. You can learn leadership skills and become a great leader even if you’re not a natural leader.
Are you interested in growing as a leader? If you are, here are the top five qualities of successful leaders.
1. Accountability
Do you shift blame or take responsibility for your actions? It is easy to blame others or circumstances when something doesn’t go well. However, one of the qualities of a great leader is the ability and willingness to be accountable for your actions.
In addition, when you show your employees that you are accountable, they’re more likely to be accountable as well.
2. Integrity
Unfortunately, only about 36 percent of employees believe that their management will do what is right regarding ethics or integrity.
A great leader will display integrity. They will not make false promises or take shortcuts.
Acting with integrity helps build trust in the people you are leading. This helps create engagement and build confidence.
3. Innovative
Being innovative is not always about coming up with the ideas yourself. If you are innovative, you’re open to new ideas and discussions. This allows your employees to be creative and openly share ideas.
In addition, being innovative can allow you to inspire productivity in new ways that haven’t been used before.
4. Strong Communicator
Having the ability to listen is imperative as a leader.
However, just listening isn’t enough. You need to be able to make your employees feel that they are being heard.
This means you need to practice active listening, which requires attending skills. The good news is that you can learn this trait, and if you can master it, you’ll see the benefits. Employees who believe they are heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work.
However, while you need to be a good listener, you also need to know how to express yourself.
It is important to get your message across and be understood as you direct people that follow you.
5. Positivity
Negative leaders tend to create a negative atmosphere. This, in turn, creates higher rates of turnover and unhappy employees.
It’s hard to be positive when it feels like everything is going wrong; however, approaching problems head-on and maintaining a positive attitude is imperative as a leader.
Not only will this allow you to help create a culture of positivity, but it will also prevent self-fulfilling prophecies.
Become a Successful Leader
Successful leaders are made, not born. While you might naturally come by some of these characteristics, you will have to work on others.
Do not let the work you need to do prevent you from becoming a successful leader.