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Great leaders all have some things in common, and when you emulate these characteristics you will become a better leader. Whether you are leading a team, creating your own home-based business or just want to be a stronger business person, learning to master these character traits will help you be more successful.
Strong Ambition
To be a great leader, you need to be ambitious. You need to be willing to work hard to get where you want to be and to lead your team and business to success. Part of ambition is having an innate drive to do things the right way and make things happen, regardless of challenges.
Ability to see the Big Picture
Good leaders can see the big picture, even when working with the details. They can envision success and understand how even the smallest steps will lead to big results.
To foster this kind of skill, set goals and try to keep your eye on the end result, without getting lost in small day-to-day tasks. As a business coach in Canada, I help people set goals and then make them a reality.
Excellent Delegation Skills
Even the best leaders can’t do it all. To be a good leader you need to learn how to delegate efficiently to lead teams to success. Delegation is all about dividing tasks and sharing the workload, and the best leaders are able to assign tasks to the team members that will excel at them.
Open Personality
Good leaders are approachable and get along well with their coworkers, employees and team members. They are willing to listen to feedback and make it known that the people they lead are important to them. To be this kind of leader, get to know your team members and make them feel like they can stop by your office or shoot you an email when the need arises.
Humble Attitude
Leaders who are humble are more likely to be followed and more likely to be able to lead teams successfully. Arrogance and a know-it-all attitude are not inspiring to team members and can even be detrimental to projects and your business. Be humble enough to realize that you probably don’t know everything and that being open to ideas from others will make the entire team stronger and more successful.
Great Resiliency
To be a good leader, you need to be able to keep moving toward the goal, keep coming up with new ideas and keep inspiring those around you, despite challenges that will come your way. Setbacks do happen, and instead of giving up, great leaders alter their plans and find ways to succeed anyway. This pattern and example is also inspiring to team members who will learn to keep working despite problems and challenges.
Skilled Communicator
The best leaders are skilled communicators. They know how to talk to their team members, colleagues, partners and anyone else they come into contact with as they move teams and businesses forward.
Skilled communicators are able to give clear directions, portray thoughts and ideas and create strategic plans that entire teams can understand and execute.
Ability to Promote Enthusiasm
As a leader, your enthusiasm needs to be infectious. Your excitement and ambition need to be powerful and inspiring enough that those around you can’t help but get on board. This enthusiasm can help a team through challenges, a team who has lost the vision for a project or just a group of people who need a little boost on their way to success.
Solid Dedication
Leaders are dedicated to their cause. They want to see results and are willing to do what it takes to get those results. When you take on a project you need to be dedicated enough to see it through to the end, regardless of what challenges may arise along your way.
Good leaders are dedicated to their business, team members, colleagues, investors and anyone else who is relying on them, and they work their hardest not to let those people down.
Passion for the Job
Perhaps one of the most important elements of great leadership is passion. To be a truly great leader you need to have passion for your job, the projects you are working on and your business. When you are passionate about what you do, many of these other characteristics will come naturally and you will be much more successful as a leader and in business.
I am a business consultant in Canada and help people turn their passion into a profitable business. To get started, contact me or connect with Deborah MacDonald Leadership on Facebook.
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