Leadership Traits – A great List
What are the qualities and characteristics of a good leader? Great leaders possess core leadership traits and skills. The list includes the most important leadership qualities and skills to look for in a great leader. These are must-have traits of a powerful and successful leader, the qualities a leader possess to be great.
A broad classification to six categories of traits is also done below:
Physical Characteristics of the Leader:
- Age
- Height
- Weight
- Alertness
- Energetic
- Masculinity
- High energy level
- Physical stamina
- Tolerance for stress
- Not concerned about being overworked
- Vitality
Background Characteristics of the Leader:
- Education
- Social Status
- Mobility
- Experience
- Experience in a variety of different types of situations
- Broader perspective
- Expertise in dealing with different types of problems
- Competent and skilled
Intelligence Characteristics of the Leader:
- Ability
- Judgment
- Knowledge
- Clever (intelligent)
- Conceptually skilled
- Creative
- Knowledgeable about group task
- Intellectual breadth
- Insight
- Learns from experience
- Adapts to change
- Good judgment
- Foresight
- Intuition
- Creativity
- Self-knowledge
- Coordinator
- Objective
- Decisive
- Asks for more responsibility
- Knows how to delegate
Personality/Emotional Characteristics of the Leader:
- Aggressiveness
- Alertness
- Dominance
- Decisiveness
- Enthusiasm
- Extroversion
- Independence
- Self-confidence
- Authoritarianism
- Assertive
- Tolerant of stress
- Conservatism
- Desire to improve
- Understands own strengths and weaknesses
- Self-objectivity
- Emotional intelligence
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Self-regulation
- Ambitious
- Courageous
- Knows self
- Risk taker
- Not intimidated by superiors
- Personal competence
- Optimistic
- Exhibits concern for others
- Encourages and engages opposing viewpoints
- Constant and reliable
- Self-disciplined
- Determination
- Need to achieve
- Caring
- Empathizing
- Constancy
Task-Oriented Characteristics of the Leader:
- Achievement Needs
- Responsibility
- Initiative
- Persistence
- Ambitiousness
- Achievement-orientated
- Decisive
- Persistent
- Willingness to assume responsibility
- Organized (administrative ability)
Social Characteristics of the Leader:
- Sociability
- Supervisory Ability
- Cooperativeness
- Popularity
- Prestige
- Tact
- Diplomacy
- Adaptability
- Adjustment
- Cooperative
- Dependable
- Tactful
- Persuasive
- Socially skilled
- Emotional stability and composure
- Good interpersonal skills
- Well-adjusted
- Oriented toward improving self
- Detached
- Honest
- Ethical
- Trustworthy
- Behavioral flexibility
- Understanding
- Empathy
- Social Insight
- Charm
- Tact
- Diplomacy
- Persuasiveness
- Listener
- Collaborative
- Strong motivator
- Cooperative
- Influencer
Communication:
- Ability to communicate
- Ability to articulate a vision
- Ability to persuade others
- Communicate purpose
- Communicate direction
- Communicates passion to others
- Good communication skills
- Use metaphors
- Experts at one-to-one communication
- Superior speakers
- Excellent writing skills
- Creates and maintains a communications network
- Has people keep them informed on problem situations
- Networks with people inside the organization
- Maintains contacts outside the organization
- Doesn’t depend on only one source for information
- Able to communicate with key individuals
- Eager to explore new approaches to their work
- Are not fuzzy about results, interested in ways to track their progress
- Communicates persuasively
Related Links
You May Also Like
-
The Valence Model of Leadership
The valence model of emergent leadership is based on a group-development sequence. As per the valence model, the process of emergent leadership passes through three distinct stages; Orientation, Conflict, and Emergence. Group members willingly start following and obeying the leader who has passed the "emergence threshold."
-
Michigan Leadership Studies led to behavioral Leadership Theory as a result of a leadership study conducted at the University of Michigan. Michigan studies identified three important behaviors of leadership called task-oriented behavior, relationship-oriented behavior, and participative leadership. Two leadership styles associated with studies are employee orientation and production orientation.
-
Action Centered Leadership is a model developed by John Adair and focuses on the three responsibilities of a leader which are achieving the task, managing the team, and managing individuals. All these action elements are mutually dependent and important for any leader.
-
In emergent leadership, the leader is not appointed or elected to the leadership role but emerges as the leader as he is perceived by others over time as a result of the group's interaction. A person steps up as the leader over time by taking on tasks voluntarily, helping others complete their tasks better, and building consensus among groups.
-
Attribution Theory of Leadership
The attribution theory of leadership deals with the formation of individual opinions about the reasons for particular events or observations. People will always try to understand why people do what they do. The leader will make a judgment about his employees based on his attribution of the causes of the employees' performance. Individuals will also make inferences about the leader and react to poor performance by the leader.
-
According to Environmental theories of leadership, a leader needs to deal effectively with environmental complexities and lead in a certain style as a result of environmental responses. Environmental influenced leadership demand leaders to learn how to adjust environmental factors. Leaders also have the responsibility of creating the right kind of environment for their followers by focusing on environmental factors and pressures.
-
In this study of power, Raven identified five bases of power as coercive, reward, legitimate, referent, and expert. The 5 Types of Power can help you decide when it is appropriate to use a particular type of power in important situations. Leadership involves authority and it is very important for leaders to understand what type of power they're using.
-
Leadership Traits – A great List
What are the qualities and characteristics of a good leader? Great leaders possess core leadership traits and skills. The list includes the most important leadership qualities and skills to look for in a great leader. These are must-have traits of a powerful and successful leader, the qualities a leader possess to be great.
-
Generating Ideas using Brainstorming
The brainstorming technique was developed by Alex F. Osborn in 1957 and brainstorming means where a team of members generates a large amount of alternative fruitful ideas on a specific problem without any criticism and then evaluates each idea in terms of their pros and cons. Brainstorming techniques fall into four broad categories: visioning, exploring, modifying, and experimenting.
-
Early studies on leadership were done at Ohio State University using the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire to identify the leader's observable behaviors. Ohio State study on leadership found two behavioral characteristics of leadership - people-oriented (consideration) and task-oriented (initiating structure) leadership style.
