What Makes a Great Leader
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Sadly, based on my experience in the workforce, great leaders are hard to come by. For whatever reason, most bosses lack the ability to lead effectively. Often poor leaders are surrounded by a bunch of people who are just as unhappy as they are. Here are some qualities that I believe every great leader should have.
1. They don’t belittle people.
I’ve had my fair share of being talked down to by people who were quote on quote higher up than me. Now I don’t have a problem with someone correcting me when I’m wrong, but there’s a way to go about it and being disrespectful is not it. All you’re doing is giving that person more reasons not to like you and that is the exact opposite of what you want as a leader. If you want people to follow you, you have to be likable. You can’t be disrespectful and then expect everyone to respect you back. That’s not how it works. You can correct someone without talking down to them. Don’t use the moment your worker makes a mistake as your chance to turn them into your punching bag. I’ve seen it done way too many times and I’m pretty sure it goes on at most work places. So a good leader isn’t someone that uses their position as a means to treat people like crap. The people who take this course of action on a daily basis with no remorse are often the most unhappy people you will ever meet.
How do you respond to this type of behavior?
Stand up for yourself and make the first offense the last. As your boss, coworker, or whoever tries to talk down to you, say if you want to talk to me that’s fine, but you are not going to talk down to me. It is as simple as that. As long as you allow someone to use their position as a reason to take advantage of you, they’re going to keep doing it. Let them know at the very beginning that you are not okay with that type of behavior. Period.
2. They listen to criticism.
Taking the time to listen is perhaps one of the best qualities that you could ever have. Having the ability to admit that you don’t have all of the answers is one of the very first steps in becoming a great leader, because then you can start surrounding yourself with people who’s strengths are your weaknesses. Have people that you can go to with opposing views that you respect so you won’t be a narrow minded leader.
When you’re open to criticism, you’re more likely to change for the better. Rather than being stuck in your ways and surrounded by a bunch of yes men who are too afraid to tell you how they really feel. You need to create an environment where it’s okay for everyone to be honest with you. Because as a leader the last thing that you want is to be in a room full of people where everyone knows something except you, because no one feels like they can talk to you about it. Leave the doors of communication open and you’ll eliminate the possibilities of being out of the loop.
3. They don’t micromanage.
A great leader is not going to hold a talented worker back by always hovering over their shoulders. They’re going to see that talent and let that person blossom. Through listening, they’ll also know what your goals are and they’ll want to help you get to them. A leader needs to know when to let go so their workers can do their job. If not they’ll only be getting in the way which is very counter intuitive.
I will even go as far as to say that a great leader will even be okay with letting you go if it means that you’re moving on to bigger and better things.
4. They’re decisive.
Just like a great carpenter, they measure twice and cut once. After listening to everyone, they make the the final decision. They have the vision to know what needs to be done and who should do it. You do not want to put someone that’s indecisive in a leadership role. This is so important because a leader can not lead a group of people if they have no idea where they’re going.