You might be a class monitor, college representative or team lead in office. Being at the lead position where a group of people looks up to you is not easy. Leadership might look heavenly from others point of view, but in reality, it has many challenges. From performance of the team to achieve impossible targets – a leader can play a dominant role and bring in enormous success.
However, to perform well as a leader you need to have some inbuilt traits. These traits of a leader can only be practiced and not learned from someone else. The application of these unique qualities at the right time can make you the perfect leader.
Here is listing the eight traits which you can practice time to time in order to stand out and get noticed in your performance as a leader:
No partiality or being biased
In a team, a leader can very well understand who is putting in their best effort and who is not working. When you observe such difference, try to handle the situation smart. Do not get inclined to any individual or good performer in the team personally, as this effects others. Others might feel less important at this point of time and this can effect the team performance as a whole.
Do not over exercise power
A leader is a good guidance and pillar of support. Your team members or subordinates should look upon you. Just because you are a leader, do not exert your power on others and expect them to do your job. In a team, your contribution equally counts when it comes to doing the job. So, do not mask yourself and stand apart just because you have the tag of leader. Be a part of the team and integrate completely with others – in order to get your work done.
Re-define goals and vision
While everybody in a team might be performing good, the same might lag back just because the leader is not putting ample effort. Here comes in the role of a leader, who repeatedly reminds the team on what they are aiming at. Do take the same moment to let everyone know their work deadlines. Also, distribute work likewise among your teammates and ensure they are doing it. The final aim is to achieve the team target over individual completion of work.
Clear communication to all
When communicating with your team, you need to be clear and vocal such that they understand your every word. If working in a very large team, try sending your side of communication via written medium such that everyone gets to know about it and there is no void. In case as a leader, you communicate wrong or partial, it can directly impact on the overall execution by the team. Therefore as a leader, your aim should be to pick the right medium of communication, put your idea in simple words and convey it straight to all members reporting to you. That will make the communication from your end clear and bring in clarity within the team.
Maintain your diary or journal
Though you are a leader, you are at the end of the day a human being as well. As a human, you might forget important work updates of your team but your leadership quality does not allow so. As remedy, how about maintaining a diary or journal only for the purpose of your team? Jot in all to-dos and work updates, so whenever you think you are forgetting – you can simply cross check in your diary. Try not to share this diary with your team member for professional authenticity.
Judge your leadership qualities
Now, who assess the work of a leader? You cannot ask your subordinates to rate you. You might count on your boss but their remarks are occasional. So to ensure your leadership quality, how about taking a leadership personality test. This kind of test is trending and there are websites that offer it for free. At the end of the online test, you are given a score that you can consider to judge yourself as a leader. Leadership personality test is also conducted in offices where you can take part.
Set short term goals based on your team
Being the leader you have to set goals for your team. You know very well what the ultimate target for your team is. Do not put it straight on your teammates as they might get horrified on learning that they have so much to do. Fragment the total work into short term targets and divide it among team members based on their personal strengths. This will easy the task of each member and also ensure goals are being pursued.
Welcome feedback
Communication is a two process and as a leader, you should respect it. Hence, take time with your group members where you allow them to talk and try learning their feedback as well. This will let in a process of reciprocation within the team from both leader and team member end – resulting in clarity among the group. This will let you know, minute problems that your subordinates are facing in work or in personal life and you can help them derive remedy of the same.
