Leadership Characteristics

Defining leadership characteristics is not simple. This is because each leader has his/her own characteristics. However there are some common features required for an exemplary leader. A typical leader should know how to influence their team members to work harder and committed to achieve the overall organizational goals. A leader can be either task oriented or people oriented. Task oriented leader will be interested in training, performance and in winning. Whereas people oriented leaders will concentrate more on inter personal relationships.

1. A leader must have the characteristics which he/she wants to incorporate into his/her team. Discipline, self confidence etc are the essential qualities of a leader. As he/she is the role model for the followers, his/her movement will be keenly watched by others. Therefore a leader must carefully behave in a way they wish to be emulated.

2. Leaders are not born and they are made by hard work. Hence hard work and intelligence are the important leadership characteristics. A leader must take decisions after analyzing each and every aspect of the situation and must be able to use common sense in accomplishing complex tasks. They must also know how to select right strategy to tackle the situation. Adaptability to various situations and willingness to accept changes are crucial to leadership success.

3. All excellent leaders regularly invest in themselves. Leaders have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, but if you don’t like the idea of having to read through 30 leadership books then you should take a look at The Ultimate Leadership Guide . Its an excellent base upon which you can build your personal development – and contains the core teachings from 30 top leadership books. I use the electronic version which sits on my desktop, to constantly refresh these principles throughout my working week. Doing so multiplies the effectiveness of literature because being able to re-visit means you’re far more likely to remember infomation and find ways to apply it.

4. A good leader must be able to motivate his/her team members to get success. They must create task excitement and confidence in accomplishing a task. They must be easily approachable to his subordinates. A great leader is one who is a master in the art of communication. He/she must be ready to listen to the words of his/her team members. Two way communication is therefore essential in leadership.

4. A leader must be able to push the entire effort of his team members. They should have the capacity to use the full potentiality of the members. They must give opportunities to the team members to prove their leadership skills. A good leader should motivate his team people to use the opportunities correctly.

6. A great leader is one who guides a team and not rules the team. Providing a trusting and open environment to the team members is one of the crucial leadership characteristics. They should offer an environment to the team members where they can learn and grow. An excellent leader will have the strong sense of vision.

Apart from the above characteristics mentioned, a good leader must have the following characteristics:

7. Self esteem. Self esteem is an important quality of a leader which will help to face tough challenges.

8. Need to achieve. a leader must be goal oriented and must be able to strive hard to achieve the goals. Heshe should be ready to take risks. A good leader is one who takes moderate risks and not extreme risks.

 

8. Screening for opportunity. A leader must have the ability to screen the opportunities as useful and useless. They must also be able to grasp any small opportunity missed by their competitors.

9. Optimism. A good leader must be an optimist. They should be able to see problems as challenges. A great leader will always view an obstacle as a way to new direction.

10. Courage. An outstanding leader is one who has courage to face challenges. Risk-taking is a crucial characteristic of a leader. They must be able to make changes and to accept changes.

Ultimate Guide To Leadership Motivation

You may be looking for the Ultimate Leadership Guide.

Intrinsic motivation is when an individual is motivated by internal factors, as opposed to external factors.

Examples of intrinsic motivation would be doing something because you feel it is the moral and ethical thing to do; doing something because you know it will benefit others or doing something because it brings you pleasure and joy.

The latter is common in regards to an enjoyable pastime or a hobby.

It is believed that intrinsic motivation is far stronger than extrinsic motivation however there are times when extrinsic motivation can become stronger because it displaces intrinsic motivation.

This is known as the over-justification effect. For example this occurs when you begin doing something for intrinsic reasons and then are offered monies or another type of reward for doing it that overrides the reason you started doing it in the first place.

In many cases when this happens, a person loses interest in the activity once the reward is taken away. The key is to not offer large extrinsic rewards for something that is meant to be motivated intrinsically (in other words, from within).

Motivation is also completely intertwined with the idea of self-investment.

As an alternative method, many motivated leaders I have come across regularly invest in themselves. Leaders have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and motivation. These days more and more people are investing in their own self development and self motivation through leadership courses and/or coaching.

Intrinsic motivation has been widely studied by researchers in the realm of education since the start of the 1970s and their findings have been that when students are intrinsically motivated to do well in school, they tend to perform better, make higher marks and they also tend to enjoy the material they are learning a great deal more.

A man named Bernard Weiner created a theory known as the “Attribution Theory” and he looked at such things as the orientation of goals and the locus of control (internal and external).

As an aside, an internal locus of control is when a person believes that they have control over what happens to them whereas an external locus of control means that a person believes that control is outside of themselves and has more to do with extraneous factors as opposed to their own actions.

According to Bernard Weiner, students are much more likely to possess intrinsic motivation in their studies if they feel that their educational achievements have more to do with their own efforts as opposed to anything else.

As well students will experience intrinsic motivation if they feel that they play a paramount role in attaining their own personal educational goals as opposed to feeling as those it has more to do with luck or simply a “roll of the dice.” Finally when students have motivation that comes from within they will work harder to completely understand and master a given subject as opposed to simply learning the work at hand so they can pass a test or exam and then forgetting it afterwards.

Keep in mind that intrinsic motivation holds no promise of rewards for students as opposed to extrinsic motivation, which is all about rewards.

Many decades of research has given rise to a theory known as “Goal Theory” which has shown that intrinsic motivation in some communities and groups is altruistic in nature as the desire to help others and contribute to the greater whole is the number one motivator.

When a person appeals to the common good or does something based on a moral obligation or commitment to others this is when intrinsic motivation is shown to be alive and well in the world.

Guest Author:

Charles Williams is a writer for http://www.lsft.org which is an excellent place to find Motivation and Self Improvement links, For more information go to:www.lsft.org

3 Ways To Boost Your Career With Leadership Skills

The recession is now an economic and statistical reality. With large recruitment departments shrinking and some even making redundancies, career prospects have never looked so bleak in the corporate world.

This is why Leadership is becoming such an important skill for job seekers to have. Leadership is the key driving force that keeps businesses alive and sometimes profitable during economic turmoil. Great leaders increase motivation of workers, encourage the free flow of ideas, and improve the atmosphere of working environments. The effect of a phenomenal business leader can be felt from shop floor workers up to the board. It’s an incredibly desirable trait in any employee. So here are 3 ways to boost your leadership skills for a potential employer.

1. Take opportunities to lead teams. Leadership isn’t a characteristic you can simply claim to have, and hope nobody will call your bluff. It is such a self-evident trait, that a veteran interviewer will be able to smell it on you when you walk through the door. You need to gain experience as a leader, so grab every opportunity you can to direct, coach and lead teams in your organisation or in local clubs and societies. I suggest you have 5 varied experiences to talk about confidently with an interviewer, where you can show you demonstrated the skill of leadership.

2. Read leadership literature and invest in yourself. All excellent transformational leaders regularly invest in themselves. Leaders have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, but one e-course that is still respected by leadership professionals such as myself is The 11 Forgotten Laws. It’s generally seen as an essential and core ‘crash course’ in the laws and secrets you need to know to further your leadership & career and even help find happiness in other areas of your life. Its an excellent base upon which you can build your personal development.

3. Just say yes. More often than not, people take the safe option and say ‘no’ to choices that perhaps seem to carry mediocre benefits and at the same time, plenty of risk of embarrassment or humiliation. What also is often the case however, is that these people are actually instantly sensing the risk, and then not bothering to really look for the bonuses that could come from completing such a task. Next time you’re presented with a public speaking opportunity for instance, or a chance to organise a charity event within the office. For your career’s sake, say yes. The benefits to your CV will more than justify the risk of embarrassment.

So there you have it. If you make sure you incorporate these 3 tips into your working life, you will boost your leadership skills and be able to present these effortlessly to an impressed employer. I wish you every success in your future career.

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