John Maxwell said, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Organizations can flourish under great leadership and falter under poor leadership. So, what qualities form a person into someone that can lead their organizations to flourish?
Here are 27 of these qualities that a great leader should embody:
1. Humility.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.” Humble leaders are not quick to take credit for the team’s wins, nor will they deprecate themselves after a loss. Humility may be the cornerstone to these other qualities.
2. Trust.
Trust is the way a leader gains relational equity. Once trust is broken, especially if it is broken often, the people will stop following the leader. A leader earns trust through consistency and follow-through. Trust is also gained through a genuine relationship. This relational equity is an essential characteristic of leading well.
3. Influence.
This is purely what leadership is on a team or organization. The person with the most influence is the leader. Once a leader has gained the trust or relational equity previously mentioned, they have influence. Tim Elmore from GrowingLeaders.com calls this, “Pocket Change.” You gain pocket change or influence as you gain trust. You lose pocket change as you lose trust.
4. Personal Development.
Great leaders invest in themselves. They learn the art of personal development beyond standardized, normal educational development. This means they listen to podcasts, read books and take online courses in the field of their expertise to continue to better themselves.
5. Teachability.
Teachability is the most underrated essential quality of a leader. A person that is teachable means they can be coached and taught without being defensive. The age-old question is, “Are leaders born or made?” The answer is “yes.” They are both. Someone may not be a great leader naturally, but with the quality of teachability, they can become better than they first imagined.
6. Listening Skills.
Leaders earn trust and build influence by being good listeners for their people. Leaders are, by nature, problem solvers, but sometimes they often lack good listening skills because they are only thinking of what they want to say instead of holding eye contact, processing what is being said, and responding in a way that makes other feel heard.
7. Integrity.
There are many definitions for integrity, but one that is adaptable for this leadership quality is, “integrity is doing the right thing at the right time no matter how you are being treated or if you will be rewarded.” Leaders can have skills but if they lack integrity, eventually, they will implode and cause damage to the organization.
8. Adaptability.
Change is the only constant in the world. Change is difficult, and a good leader knows how to adapt to ongoing changes in an organization by remaining flexible and open-minded.
9. Genuine Care for Others.
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. People don’t quit jobs, they quit people. It is imperative that a good leader has the quality of genuinely caring for those they have been entrusted to lead.
10. Self-awareness.
This is the art of knowing yourself. Leaders know their strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement. They are mindful of how they come across in their communication and their effect on others.
11. Gentleness.
A big part of leadership is correcting others and having tough conversations. A great leader uses “kid gloves” when correcting but continues to hold people accountable in a kind way.
12. Ability to Receive Correction.
Leadership is not just giving correction but also receiving correction. The only way to grow is to improve and leaders especially need constructive criticism and feedback in areas that may cause their organization to plateau.
13. Being a Mentor.
A leader’s success is only as good as their successor. This means personal mentoring of others is one of the major ways a leader multiplies their influence.
14. Does Not Make Excuses.
A person can make excuses or progress, but rarely can they do both simultaneously. A good leader may give reasons why something wasn’t accomplished but in the same breath they have diagnosed the problem area and how they will prevent the situation from happening again.
15. Spiritual Foundation.
Faith and spirituality make a leader accountable to God and to a greater purpose. A great leader submits to God and allows their religious text to help them become better. They also pray for solutions and for those on their team.
16. Chemistry.
This may be one of the most overlooked qualities, especially in sports. Rarely do “super teams” of random free agents become dynasties. Rather, it is when a group of people becomes a team. This requires chemistry. Leaders must be able to adapt to the team around them.
17. Meets Deadlines.
This one may seem elementary, but it is a problem with many leaders. They lose trust and influence because they are always late and they miss deadlines. An important quality of a great leader is they are able to meet deadlines and hold themselves accountable.
18. Excellent Communication Skills.
Leaders by nature are communicators. They are always communicating through emails, in team meetings and from a platform. Great leaders are great communicators in all of those arenas.
19. Dependability.
If a leader tells their team they will do somethings, their team needs to know that they will follow through. This ties in with meeting deadlines and earning trust but deserves its own category. A good leader is known to be dependable, and their employees or team members should feel comfortable relying on them.
20. Self-care.
This means that a leader knows how to engage in self-care instead of self-medicating. They have learned what replenishes them, how to unplug and refuel their serotonin levels. They don’t forsake their responsibilities to do this. It is for the sake of their responsibilities they do this so that burnout is prevented.
21. Can Wear Many Hats.
A true great leader is one who is willing to fill in any empty spots on their team or organization. This means taking responsibility for things “not in the job description.” A good leader will never say “that’s not my job.” They wear many hats during their leadership to get the job done because that is what teamwork is.
22. Hard to Offend/ Quick to Forgive.
A leader must have thick skin and a soft heart. Someone even once said, “Leaders must possess a ‘Teflon soul.’ Nothing sticks for long.” A leader who harbors unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment can never lead people to their purpose.
23. Works Well with Difficult People.
Everyone wishes they could avoid difficult people. However, the leaders who rise to the top work well with them collaboratively and helps maintain unity on their team among all members.
24. Has a Healthy Venting Outlet.
This is what Dr. Tim Elmore calls “The Lightning Rod.” A lightning rod takes raw electricity and grounds it so it is not destructive. Venting to the wrong people is like lightning striking a tree. It destroys it. A good leader has healthy and sustainable outlets, outside of their teams, to process with in times of stress or crisis.
25. Encouragers.
People need to know what they are doing well in. A very important quality of a leader is to delve out specific and constant encouragement to those they lead.
26. Resilient.
Leading any organization involves setbacks. Leaders must have the ability to bounce back quickly and calmly to lead the organization out of the ditch and into a fruitful season.
27. Sincere in Apologies.
The greatest two words a leader can utter are, “I’m sorry.” Leaders aren’t perfect. A good leader will take the blame and tell those they lead that they are genuinely sorry when they make a mistake.
