16 qualities of a great leader

Great Leadership depends on the organic structure of the personality which includes experience, skill, responsibility, intelligence, the power of organizing people and social interaction.

For becoming a good leader one needs to poses leadership qualities.

1. Physical Appearance.

2. Vision and Foresight.

3. Intelligence.

4. Communicative Skills.

5. Objective.

6. Knowledge of Work.

7. Sense of Responsibility.

8. Self-Confidence and Will-Power.

9. Humanist.

10. Sympathy.

11. Cooperation.

12. Decision Making.

13. Manning.

14. Fundamental Understanding of People.

15. The Ability to Inspire Followers to Apply Their Full Capabilities.

16. The Ability to Develop a Climate Conducive for Arousing Motivation.

These are explained below;

1. Physical Appearance

A leader must have pleasing appearances. Physique and health are very important for a good leader. A leader can influence and direct others by his or her physical impression.

Every movement of a leader can motivate his or her subordinates. So he or she should be careful about this.

2. Vision and Foresight

A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is forward-looking. He has to visualize situations and thereby has to frame logical programs. And also the programs will be understandable to the subordinates so that they can follow the orders.

3. Intelligence

A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult situations. He should be analytical who weights pros and cons and then summarizes the situations.

Therefore, a positive bent of mind and the matured outlook is very important.

4. Communicative Skills

A leader must be able to communicate the policies and procedures dearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and stimulation.

If his or her communicative is not skillful he or she will be tailed to give his or her subordinates a good direction.

5. Objective

A leader has to be having a fair outlook which is free from bias and which does not reflects his willingness towards a particular individual.

He should develop his own opinion and should base his judgment on facts and logic. He should be impartial to his subordinates.

6. Knowledge of Work

A leader should be very precisely knowing the nature of work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his subordinates.

If he has lacked in the knowledge of his work the subordinates will ignore him and won’t follow’ his direction.

7. Sense of Responsibility

Responsibility and accountability towards an individual’s work are very important to bring a sense of influence.

A leader must have a sense of responsibility towards organizational goals because only then he can get maximum of capabilities exploited in a real sense.

For this, he has to motivate himself; arouse and urge to give best of his abilities. Only then lie can motivate the subordinates to the best.

8. Self-Confidence and Will-Power

Confidence in him is important to earn the confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full willpower.

His confidence will also motivate the subordinates to give their best effort to fulfill the organizational goals and will increase their confidence.

9. Humanist

This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with great care and attention.

Therefore, treating the human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.

10. Sympathy

It is an old adage “stepping into the shoes of others”. This is very important because fair judgment and objectivity come only then.

A leader should understand the problems and complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations personal contacts with the employees.

11. Cooperation

Without good co-operation and coordination, no organized plan could be executed.

Thus a successful leader must understand and apply the principles of cooperative efforts and be able to induce his followers to do the same. Leadership calls for power, and power calls for cooperation.

12. Decision Making

The man, who wavers in his decision, the show’s that he is not sure of himself, cannot lead others successfully. A good leader needs to take the right decision at a right time.

Because everything depends on his decision and his subordinates follow his decision. So he needs to be very careful about his decision making.

13. Manning

The successful leader must plan his work and work his plan. A leader who moves by guesswork, without practical, definite plans, is comparable, to a ship without a rudder. Sooner or later he will land on the rocks.

14. Fundamental Understanding of People

It is not enough to know the theoretical aspects of motivation. The more important is the ability of the manager to apply them to real people and situations.

But a manager, who understands the elements of motivation and motivation theories, is more aware of the nature and strength of human needs and is better able to define and design ways of satisfying them and to administer so as to get the desired responses.

15. The Ability to Inspire Followers to Apply Their Full Capabilities

Inspiration to do something usually comes from leaders, who may have qualities of charm and appeal that give rise to loyalty, devotion, and a strong desire on the part of followers to promote what leaders want.

This is not a matter of need satisfaction: rather, it is a matter of unselfish support from followers to their leader.

The best examples of inspirational leadership come from hopeless and frightening situations. The workers of a dying concern may come forward and follow the leader to overcome the crisis.

16. The Ability to Develop a Climate Conducive for Arousing Motivation

This ingredient of leadership has to do with the style of the leader and the climate she or he develops. As we know, the strength of motivation greatly depends on factors that are part of an environment, as well as an organizational climate.

There is no denying the fact that the primary tasks of managers are the design and maintenance of an environment for performance.

The fundamental principle of leadership is this; since people tend to follow those who, in their view, offer them a means of satisfying their own personal goals, the more managers understand what motivates their subordinates and how these motivations operate, and the more they reflect this understanding in carrying out their managerial actions, the more effective they are likely to be their leaders.

From the above qualities present in a leader, one can understand the scope of leadership and its importance for the scope of business. A leader cannot have all traits at one lime. But a few of them help in achieving selective results.

Finally, a good leader must be faithful to his group members and activities. This, in turn, will result in an atmosphere of assurance among the followers.