Leadership in Business

Anyone will tell you that a team is more effective than an individual. But what makes a team? Is it just a group as opposed to one person? Is it just a group of people all working on the same project? It’s definitely a group of people working on the same goal, but it’s more than that too. Every true team has one thing in common, they have a leader. With a leader, a team is focused and organized. They can take advantage of their numbers and truly maximize their effectiveness. The big question is though, what really makes a good leader? In my opinion, there are four main traits that a great leader absolutely must have. Of course there are countless minor traits that are good qualities, but the following four traits are the big ones.

The first and most noticeable quality is charm. A good leader needs to be admired and liked by those who follow him or her. This is usually the first thing that others will notice in their leader. Someone with charisma will naturally draw attention from a group of people. Leaders need to have their team’s complete attention, and this trait will make it very easy. A leader’s charm will act as the glue that holds the team together. When all else fails, this trait will come through for the leader. It isn’t really a trait that can be learned completely though. A person can work on this trait somewhat, but for the most part they either have it or they don’t.

The second trait that a good leader should have is a take charge attitude. Leaders need to know what they want and they need to be the one in charge. If a team has no leader, it would not have direction. Multiple members of the team would try to steer it in different directions. This is very counter-productive. To prevent this anarchy, a good leader needs to be head strong and assertive. Unassertive leaders don’t instill confidence in their teams, and they don’t encourage people to follow them.

A leader, being the head of a team, obviously needs to understand the concept of teamwork. They need to be able to delegate authority effectively, be able to coordinate their team’s tasks with each team member and understand each of their team member’s strengths and weaknesses so they can assign appropriate tasks. They also need to be able to handle a relationship between themselves and their teammates. This relationship needs to be consistent with all of the team members; in other words a leader should not play favorites. A team leader, as part of the team, needs be responsible for his or her mistakes. They should also expect all team members to take responsibility for their mistakes. Essentially this trait is simply understanding and being able to apply the teamwork concept to maximize the work output.

The last trait a good leader needs to have is a stable emotional well being. They can’t fall to pieces when trouble arises, because trouble always arises. They need to have patience with their team members, because it will be very difficult to follow the leader if he or she is agitated all the time. Also, if a leader gets really upset when things don’t go right, their team members will tend to act in a similar way. This will cause the team to lose control and lose sight of their goals. This is a tough skill to develop because, like charisma, it is something that you are born with. It can be developed somewhat over time through experience. This trait allows a leader to be cool under fire, which is crucial for any authoritative figure to have.