Written By: Aimee Laurence
The leader role isn’t an easy one to fill. There have been many problems in the past that have resulted in involuntary departures of leaders as well as employees. So, it can be pretty hard to find a proper leader for a company.
So, what makes a good leader?
There is a famous stereotype of the perfect leader being a tall white man with a strong university degree who has charisma and a seemingly straight to the top career path. But this often isn’t the best profile and many of these CEOs haven’t been successful.
For example, research found that introverted leaders are slightly better than extroverts in surpassing the expectations of boards. The educational pedigree is unrelated to the success and most successful CEOs have made mistakes in their past. For example, high confidence helps people land the job but it also doesn’t add anything to the performance.
But successful leaders all show specific behaviours which are crucial for their performance.
Decision Making With Speed And Conviction
High performing leaders don’t stand out because of the accurate decision making all the time but they do stand out for being decisive. They make decisions quickly and early, with conviction. They do this consistently even if there is no complete information and when there are some unfamiliar domains.
People who are decisive like this are more likely to be high performing.
Good leaders realize that even a wrong decision is better than making no decisions at all.
The most intelligent leaders often struggle with decision making even though the quality of the decisions they make is good. But they spend too much time picking out the perfect answer and choice and set priorities so their teams pay the price. They become bottlenecks for the company and their teams get frustrated.
The thing is that most decisions can be undone when they are bad but no decision can’t be fixed because there is nothing to fix. Leaders have to learn to move with the right amount of speed.
They can’t wait for the perfect information and as soon as they are somewhat certain in the answer, they can make a decision.
“They also often poll a small group of advisors which can give them proper tips. Successful leaders also know when not to make a decision. They know when to delay the decision or delegate it,” says Gerard Fuller, a Business Coach at Boomessays and UKWritings.
But once a leader chooses a path, they have to stick to it.
Engage for impact
Once the leader has set the course and the rules for their business, they have to get approval with their employees and stakeholders. Strong performers balance the insight they get with their own opinions and they deliver business results based on the priorities.
They start by understanding what the stakeholders need from them and then they get people on board. They drive the performance of employees and get them motivated around a common goal.
Leaders who are great at bringing others to a common plan and they communicate properly are some of the best leaders out there. They get the most important people on board with the decisions and they identify their concerns.
They channel those concerns into positive things and they make it clear that the people are important to the process. When interacting with the stakeholders, they are aware how their body language and moods affect the communication. A wrong word or a wrong gesture can cause a lot of damage.
Every comment and expression is examined. Good leaders have to prove strong and calm under pressure. Leaders who engage with stakeholders are not doing it to be liked but they want to gain support and instill confidence in their teams.
They don’t shy away from conflict and they manage conflict strongly. They listen and want to hear the views but they don’t make decisions based on consensus. None of this means that they should behave as lone wolves. They need support from the teams.
They Adapt Proactively
It’s very important for a business to adapt to changes quickly and effectively. Leaders who are adaptable are more successful. Most leaders know that they need to be divided between paying attention to short term, medium term and long term goals and perspectives but more of it on the long term.
“This focus helps them pick up on early signals of changes. They scan various networks and areas to find these signals and they plug into information flows. They find relevance in information that may not seem relevant at first,” says Elen Baskins, a Senior Manager at Revieweal and Assignment Writing Services.
Adaptable people can recognize the setbacks and changing courses.
Reliable Delivery
The ability to produce proper results is one of the most powerful of the leadership behavior, no matter how ordinary it may sound. Leaders ignore this but it’s very important. Steady and predictable results make for an excellent trend and most companies hire people who are highly reliable. The research shows that these highly reliable leaders are far more successful than leaders who have had a huge success only once.
Consistently following through is very important. The key here is to set realistic expectations at the start. Another thing successful leaders do is to prevent jumping into action straight away but they rather look through the plans, budgets, engage with teams and stakeholders as well. They also research and engage with customers and then they understand the expectations better. They assess the business and develop their own point of view.
The leaders need good organisation and planning skills, understanding of metrics and clear accountability. They also surround themselves with strong teams.
Respect For Employees
Every effective leader needs to show respect to their employees. This is very important if leaders want to be successful and get that respect back from their teams as well. Then the team can work in harmony and they can also be more productive.
Aimee Laurence is a leadership coach and writer at Australian Help and Assignment Help Australia. She develops training courses for leaders. In her free time, she loves to blog at Dissartation Writing Service to help people reach their full potential.