Key Traits of Effective leadership traits: Character, Communication, and Optimism

Question

Task: What are the key traits that make a Effective leadership traits in guiding their team and achieving organizational goals?

Answer

Introduction

The number of businesses globally has increased considerably in recent years and every business must have staff, skilled professionals, and labour to operate function. The increasing number of businesses also means businesses need to adopt better Effective leadership traits approaches so as to attend to their staff needs. Skilled professionals are today looking out for leaders as opposed to managers making it important for the senior management to adopt alternative staff management skills. Seniors management must, therefore, ensure they adopt certain traits so as to win team confidence and trust (Adair, 2013).

Exemplary Character

For a leader to gain team recognition and respect it is vital for the individual to demonstrate good character, this includes behaviour at the workplace as well as during extra-curricular activities and their personal time. A good leader should have good habits so as to set an example to the team, smoking, drinking alcohol, behavioural misconduct and vulgar language should be avoided always. During parties I have seen my team leaders indulge in having beers with the team members but in very controlled manner while making sure he does not misbehave as this could damage his reputation among the team.

Clear Communication

Communication is the backbone of Effective leadership traits that organization and a leader must be able to master the art of communicating with his team and colleagues. The leader must demonstrate clear communication with clear objectives and goals. There must be no space of “maybe” or “I think” and decisions must be very clear even when wrong. I expect to build clear communication with my team lead as this opens up my ability to communicate freely relating improvement and problems as well as propose solutions which can improve the process. Developing fear or limited communication only encouraged negative energy resulting in lack of communication and process failure.

Effective leadership traits Directions and Goals

Business objectives, Directions, and goals must also be clear while communicating with the team. While the manager is expected to build a positive friendly relationship with the staff, the organisation's goals must always remain superior and the first priority (Day, 2014). Direction and goals need to be decisive so as to allow me to make a decision and I also expect a clear stand on the process. Changing goals and objectives leads to unsureness which affects my concentration and focus on achieving goals thus is always prefer leaders who provide clear directions.

Remains Optimistic

Being optimistic can be a handicap but leaders must be able to remain optimistic while dealing with the team. This is especially important while dealing with underperformance and misconducts whereby the leader needs to reaffirm his dominant position and authority among the team or an individual but also be able to set the issue aside and interact with the team to resolve other issues. I would not mind being scolded for doing something wrong as I would take it as a learning experience but at the same time I don’t expect this to be kept at heart as this would affect my performance and confidence while on the job

Conclusion

An effective leadership trait is a skill which must be mastered but at the same time, it is important for the leader to prioritize the team’s needs and remembers he is their representative and role model. A leader must be able to set targets, align and guide towards the targets and defend the team when required so as to gain respect from the team.

References

Adair, J. (2013). Develop Your Leadership Skills. Philadelhia : Kogan Page Publishers,.

Day, D. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Leadership and Organizations. New York: Oxford University Press.