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"Do You Possess These Essential Leadership Qualities?"

    - by Simon Hazeldine MSc BA (Hons) FInstSMM
 

(c) Simon Hazeldine. All Rights Reserved.

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DO YOU POSSESS THESE ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP QUALITIES?

There are many different views and opinions on the qualities
that a "perfect" leader possesses.

It is virtually impossible for anyone to define the
definitive profile as leadership is such an individual
thing.

However, there are some common themes that are a useful
starting place for you to consider your qualities as a
leader and these are:

Change agent
Leaders are the initiators and drivers of change. 
They seek constant improvements in the performance of their
organisations.

Communication
Good leaders know that communication is vitally important. 
They know they need to communicate with their people
throughout the organisation. People want to know what is
going on and why.  The leaders motto is “Communicate,
communicate, communicate”.

Empathy
Leaders need to be able to empathise with the people they
lead.  They know the value putting themselves into other
people’s shoes and seeing things from their perspective. 
The ability to empathise and understand others is a vital
leadership ability.  Great leaders know that you have to
win not only the mind of your followers but also their
hearts. And that takes empathy.

Enable others
Great leaders know that they can’t do it by themselves. 
Not only do they delegate, they also enable others to do
more and in doing so develop their people in the process. 

Energy
It can be hard work being a leader and therefore energy is
vital.  People are affected by their leader and the leader
with energy stimulates energy in his people.

Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is infectious and it is hard to see a leader who
lacks it being successful.  Enthusiasm does not have to be
loud and out going, but leaders do need it.

Influential
It has been said that management is about using position
power whereas leadership is about using personal power. 
To get people to follow you, you have to convince them
about your vision, ideas and concepts.  The ability to
influence others is one of the keys to successful
leadership.

Integrity
People will follow a leader that they trust.  If a leader
demonstrates great integrity, people will trust them more
easily.  Management may indeed be about doing things right
but leadership is most definitely about doing the right
thing. And doing the right thing when the pressure mounts
takes integrity.  Great leaders always walk their talk.
They don’t say one thing and do another.

“The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives,
everything he does becomes tainted”
Mahatma Ghandi

Open minded
Leaders don’t always have the answer. Leaders need to
understand that they may not always be right. They know
that at times they will be wrong. It is important to stay
open minded and to consider the views of others.

People Focus
If you haven’t got any followers then you aren’t a leader. 
Leaders know that the only true advantage that their
organisation possesses is the quality of its people. 
People make organisations successful, which is why great
leaders have a strong people focus.

Politically aware
Every organisation seems to have its politics and leaders
are adept at reading the political signals and working with
the political environment in their organisation. They
understand the power of networking and how to get things
achieved.

Self aware
Exceptional leaders understand and leverage their strengths
and they understand and compensate for their weaknesses.

Self confident
Leaders have confidence in themselves and in their abilities.
This is not to be confused with arrogance as many confident
leaders also demonstrate a healthy humility.

Shared vision
Leaders know that people need to know where they and their
organisation are going.  Leaders understand the importance
of having a guiding vision for their organisation. And
critically they understand the difference between a shared
vision (everyone understands the direction of the
organisation) and a shared vision (everyone feels part of
the organisation and feels that they can contribute to the
direction of the organisation).

Strategic
Leaders understand the value of rising above the hurly
burly of modern organisational life and taking a helicopter
view. They consider the past and consider the future. They
reflect and think about where their organisation is going
and what it needs to be to get there.  They step back to
give themselves space and time to think.  They make
connections and links and then bring this insight back into
their organisations.
       

How do you as a leader shape up when you compare yourself
to these qualities? We all possess these qualities to some
degree or other and all of the qualities can be developed
and improved.



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Simon Hazeldine is a best selling author, professional
speaker and performance consultant. He is passionate
about helping individuals and organisations improve
their performance.

Simon has run leadership development programs in over
15 countries across 4 continents.

Simon is the bestselling author of Bare Knuckle Selling,
BareKnuckle Negotiating, Bare Knuckle Customer Service
and The Inner Winner

For more valuable information on improving your
sales, profits and performance (including sample chapters
from all of Simon's best selling books) at zero cost to you
visit: http://www.simonhazeldine.com today!


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