7 Characteristics of a Great Leader You Should Know

Being a great leader who can lead their team to success is not an easy job. After all, behind the success of a company, there must be a leader who can inspire and empower each team member to do their best for the company’s success.

A good leader is the kind of someone who possesses the ability to be able to communicate effectively, delegate tasks wisely, think strategically, and motivate the team to always give their best contribution. It is important to know that the ability to lead is not just because you are born with it. You can also learn all the skills that are needed to be able to lead your team better.

Want to know what are the characteristics that you have to learn to become a better leader for your team? Check out our curated list below!

Able to Empower Team Member

As a leader, being able to empower others is one of the most important things that you should have. After all, you are responsible for being able to help your team learn how to refine their skills to earn success. 

Do keep in mind that if you want to be a leader who can empower your team, you should avoid being judgemental or lead with bossiness. Instead, to gain your team’s trust, you should try to build close but respectful relationships with each other. Additionally, when your team encounters specific problems, you can also try to provide solutions for them instead of playing the blaming game.

When your team feels empowered, they can give their best contribution to the company. That way, your team can produce optimal performance as everyone will be passionate about carrying out their responsibilities. 

Able to Communicate Effectively

For a leader in the business world, great communication can significantly enhance professional life. On the other hand, a leader who lacks communication skills can jeopardize the company and impact teamwork performance.

If you want to refine your communication skills as a leader, you can start practicing by asking for feedback from your team. Listen to them thoroughly before conveying what’s on your mind, try to answer any question directly, and always tailor your message to the intended audience.

For some people, communication may be one of the most difficult things to do. However, the good news is that effective communication can be learned along the way.

Have a Higher Level of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to control and express emotions properly. This is very useful in interpersonal relationships, and any kind of leader will need to have this skill.

Leaders need emotional intelligence so they can effectively understand, manage, and respond to their own emotions and the emotions of others (teammates or clients). This will help to foster better communication, teamwork, and conflict resolution.

Able to Delegate Tasks Wisely

A great leader is someone who excels at delegating tasks, developing team members’ skills, and ensuring the project runs smoothly. To achieve this, leaders must understand that they cannot do everything themselves. Thus it is also important to rely on team members and be able to delegate tasks wisely among all members. 

When delegating tasks, it might be beneficial if you can ask your team members what they would like to work on, offer suggestions and input for skill development, and promote effective time management to meet targets.

Do keep in mind that you should not only give your team members tasks but also try to empower your team by encouraging them to take responsibility and learn from their mistakes. 

Visionary

A leader must have a visionary outlook, thus they can foresee the result of a project before taking action. This trait will allow you to identify promising ideas that can drive the company’s success. You can practice to be visionary by envisioning your team’s achievements for the year to come. To also push your team members to be visionary, you can try to facilitate brainstorming sessions and encourage them to engage in critical thinking.

Open Minded

Being open-minded means that you can see different points of view in life without judgment. Although some might think it an easy thing to do, the truth is that – it’s not always easy to accept other points of view that are not in line with our values. 

But if you want to be a successful entrepreneur and a good leader, then this skill should be developed. Open-mindedness allows you to gain a broader perspective and more meaningful insights, helping you see the overall picture of the problem at hand. This, in turn, can significantly help you in making accurate and well-targeted decisions.

Adaptive and Agile

Great leaders should always actively seek the opportunities or challenges that their team might have in the future. Knowing everything in advance will help them to easily adapt to all those changes. This will also help leaders to be able to respond logically and not impulsively, whenever the business is hit by a challenge.

This is certainly not easy, after all our natural reaction to problems is often stress and fear. To develop adaptive and agile traits, you should try to continuously improve your problem-solving skills. By being adaptive and agile in the face of change, you can easily devise the right strategy without panicking each time.

These are the ultimate traits of a great leader that you should learn and aim to develop. These skills are really important, especially if you plan to incorporate a company in Singapore. Without these skills, you might not be able to achieve the successful business that you dream of.