Over the years, scholars have developed several leadership theories, which describes the behavior and attributes of a leader. One of them is the trait theory, which is based on the assumption that a successful leader possesses certain traits which make them suitable for leadership roles. As highlighted in the definition of leadership, it is the process by which an individual influences one’s followers to achieve a shared goal. According to the trait theory, the presence of certain personality and behavioral traits makes it easier for the leader to positively influence the employees and drive them towards organizational objectives.
PenMyPaper have identified some of the key traits of leadership, that makes an individual an effective leader. From the academic stand point, learning about these traits can help you to prepare top quality leadership essay, that can fetch good grades. Each of these traits have been found to be critical for leadership practices, and must be developed by a leader.
A leader can only be able to manage others, if they are effective in managing themselves. Self-management refers to the prioritizing the goals and achieving them using the right resources. It is the responsibility of the leader to recognize the priorities of the tasks at hand and achieve them in the most efficient order, so as to meet the interests of the stakeholders. Self-management also includes being aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses, which can be used in favor of organizational goals. A leader should also have higher emotional intelligence, which allows them to have better control over their emotional states. This is quite important while interacting with the team of subordinates. Good leaders also have the ability to handle stressful situations, while maintaining proper work-life balance.
A leader needs to be open-minded and forward thinking in order to be able to face the contemporary business issues. Every decision taken by the leader should be well-thought out and should have positive implications for the organization as whole, as you can find out in the Uber business model. The global business environment is highly dynamic in nature, where organizational leaders need to identify potential opportunities and threats and take necessary actions, which is favorable for the organization. Through constant industry analysis, a leader is able to take informed decisions, which can help the firm to achieve its objective more efficiently and even better than its rivals. Strategic thinking also allows the leader develop new and innovative business processes, which can leverage the existing market conditions and available resources of the company.
An effective leader must have good communication skills to interact with their subordinates. Having good communication skills allows a leader to seamlessly guide and coach the subordinates. The employees get a clear understanding of what is expected from them and how they are supposed to achieve them. Moreover, good communication also helps in building a strong positive relationship with the employees, which is quite crucial in motivating them to commit to their job roles. It should also be noted that as a part of communication skills, the leader should also be a good listener. Along with guiding and coaching the employees, the leader should also ensure that he/she is open to feedbacks from the employees. The leader must encourage the team to provide feedback on their job roles and any issues that they are facing at work. Communication should always be a two process, and a good leader should always facilitate the same.
A good leader always holds themselves accountable for their own actions. They also take full responsibility for their own mistakes. A leader holds authoritative power over the employees, they often lay down the job roles and responsibilities for the employees and expect them to follow orders. The leader is hold accountable by the higher management or board of directors, for the performance of the team. If the team performs well, he is appreciated, and if the team performs poorly, he is hold accountable for it. A good leader never pushes the blame on the subordinates. It is his responsibility to ensure that his team works as expected by addressing all the issues and hindrances that are bottle-necking their performance.
A leader should be a goal-oriented person, who should have all the objectives clearly defined and communicated to the team members. It is the responsibility of the leader to break down the organizational mission into small measurable, attainable and time-bound goals for the employees, so that it becomes easier for them to achieve it. It is important to understand that setting goal does not mean that leader simply highlights what is needed to be done for the quarter. It includes designing of SMART goals, which can easily be communicated to the employees. Moreover, the leader must always monitor the status quo of the set goals, that is how the employees are pursuing them and what is the current status of their achievement. This where the communication skill of the leader comes into play.
The leader must be able to be look into the future and be able to set a vision statement for the organization. The business environment is full of new opportunities that must be identified by a leader and leverage them to achieve organizational growth and sustainability in the future. Being a visionary means that the leader is able to set future goals for the organization and steadily moving towards it, while dealing with the short-term obstacles in its way. Visionary leaders have the ability to identify unmet needs of the market or to recognize uncontested markets, which can offer potential growth opportunity. Understanding this trait is quite important for you. As a management student you are often asked to assume the role of an organizational leader and take certain decisions based on the given case study. In a different context, developing this trait can also help you identify the best potential opportunities to reflect your leadership skills while crafting a college application essay. Or you can also seek expert assistance and simply ask "write my essay for me".
A good leader always looks forward to bring new changes into the organization which can benefit all of its stakeholders, including the customers as well as the employees. The leader should encourage the employees to think out of the box and present innovative ideas to solve existing problems. It is also essential that the employees are given the necessary creative freedom and resources to try out their own ideas. This can help an organization to be more creative, thereby building a strong differentiation in the industry to face the competition from its rivals. Moreover, the leader should always keep an open mind to new ideas that are presented even if it challenges the existing practices. In this context, the example of Kaizen can be presented, where the organization is in a state of continuous improvement through collaborative team work and innovating idea generation.
Successful leaders have been found to have a higher than average risk-taking appetite. However, it is important that the risks taken are calculative, so that organization does not have to face significant loses upon failure. A leader should always try out new business ideas and growth strategies or potential diversification. However, before implementing the new ideas he should gather sufficient information and use his analytical thinking abilities to assess its feasibility. Therefore, a leader must know which risks to take and which ones to avoid.
A leader will always need his team of subordinates to achieve any goal that he wants. Therefore, it is important for him to promote team work among the employees, so that they can function in the most optimized and efficient manner. It is the responsibility of the leader to take leverage the skills and abilities of each and individual employees, while achieving the task at hand. Building an effective team can help the leader to avoid any internal conflict and achieve better performance, through efficient task allocation.
In order to promote better performance, job satisfaction, loyalty and employee retention, a leader needs to motivate its employees. Employee motivation plays a crucial role in organizational performance. You will find the perfect example when you go through the organizational structure of Google only to understand how the company entirely reflects a healthy work environment. It drives the employee to voluntarily commit to their job roles and work harder in favor of achieving organizational goals. Leaders motivate the employees through nurturing, guiding, addressing their problems and offering intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Moreover, a leader should also be able to build good relationship with the employees. Regular interaction and feedback to and from the employees can help in strong relationships, which is crucial to employee loyalty and retention.
Now that you have learnt about all the essential traits of leadership, you can apply them in your own college paper without asking help from expert assignment writers. A successful leader has all of these traits in them, which are effectively used to meet organizational objectives. By this point, you should have had a clear idea about different leadership traits which an effective leader must possess.
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