Skills of Effective Leaders
There are many factors that determine how a team views their leader. It is these factors that can differentiate between how effective or ineffective a leader may be.
Effective Leaders use Active Listening
Effective leaders are concerned with people. They cultivate good relationships by focusing more on their staff than the profits. Effective leaders are also active listeners. They fully focus on the person speaking, giving them the opportunity to be heard. Active listening conveys that you care about the other person and value what they have to say.
Relationships are key
Effective leaders intentionally interact with their staff. They ask for input and take ideas and suggestions into account when making decisions. And finally, effective leaders view their teams from a positive perspective. They give people the benefit of the doubt, believing in their capabilities. Relationships and relationship building are key when it comes to being an effective leader.
Leaders sometimes fail. Everyone is human and no one is perfect all the time. Effective leaders learn from their failures. They use them to grow and improve.
Learn from it. Use your failure as a learning opportunity to know how to do things differently next time around. Move on from it. Don't let your failures get in the way of your future successes. Let the failure go and move on. Leaders should convey to their employees that everyone fails sometimes and that it is okay if they fail. The key is learning and growing from the mistakes.
Own the mistake. While this can feel hard, by taking responsibility for your failure, you are demonstrating to your employees the importance of honesty and that everyone makes mistakes. Fix the mistake. Once you have accepted and owned up to the failure, do what you can to fix it.
Accept that you made the mistake. When failure occurs, don't put your head in the sand. Acceptance is the first step in moving forward to fix the issue.
Ineffective Leaders
Now that you know many of the important qualities of effective leaders, it may not be difficult to guess the qualities that make up ineffective leadership. Ineffective leaders lack vision. They are not good listeners and their communication strategies promote conflict. Ineffective leaders create chaos rather than bringing order to the organization. They make hasty decisions without taking each side into account, and they are more concerned with the bottom line than the people who make things happen.
Qualities of Effective Leadership
Leaders who concern themselves with people, are active listeners, intentionally interact with their employees, and view their teams from a positive perspective. Some other qualities of effective leaders are:
Here are some myths to look out for:
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Honesty
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Transparency
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Humility
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Authenticity
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Being approachable
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Leading by example
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Making hard decisions
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Communicating effectively
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