What kind of leader should be - what qualities should he have? Leadership Qualities

The personality of the leader, his experience, business and character characteristics play a leading role in the management of organizations. But the requirements and qualities of a leader’s personality cannot be considered separately from the type of his activity. For example, some qualities encountered when analyzing the activities of production managers are absent in the characteristics of leaders of scientific teams, and vice versa. In addition, the mutual correspondence between the leader’s personality and his activities is characterized by certain dynamics. The question of the manifestation and formation of the personality qualities of a leader and his activities should be considered in direct connection with the fact that the leader’s activities themselves also change significantly as a result of his acquiring new qualities and changing existing ones. However, the above does not exclude the possibility and necessity of defining in the most general terms the requirements that a leader of any managerial rank in various social organizations must meet.

Basic properties of a leader:

1. Social orientation of activities

The manager, as an official, must be well aware of the legislative and regulatory acts that regulate the activities of social organizations. He must have a good understanding of the main trends in the development of modern politics, economics, law and other spheres of state life.

2. High competence in a certain professional activity in accordance with the profile of the team being led (politics, science, production, law enforcement system, etc.), since the leader does not generally manage people, but manages their activities in solving professional problems. However, due to his work related to the organization of people, a leader must master a system of knowledge in a number of related fields: modern economics, law, philosophy, pedagogy, psychology, etc. Such leaders know how to communicate with people, combining word and deed. They often set goals for their activities, know how to justify them, and make people believe in the need to achieve them.

3. Organizational skills

One of the main qualities of a leader is the ability to organize joint work of people. However, combining solutions to organizational and technical problems with people is not so easy. Many leaders find it easier to do something themselves than to get others to do it. This is the easiest, but most unpromising path, since you cannot do everything yourself, and over time the manager discovers that his subordinates have become unaccustomed to independence and are unable or no longer want to make decisions on their own. Meanwhile, at present, one of the central tasks that managers have to solve in their teams is to create conditions for the manifestation of activity, initiative, creativity of people, and the development of their active motivation.

A number of studies have shown that organizational abilities include the following psychological properties of a person:

• the ability to reflect with sufficient completeness the psychology of the managed group in the course of solving joint problems;
• practical orientation of the mind - mastery of knowledge and skills in the field of practical psychology, readiness to apply them in the process of solving organizational problems;
• psychological tact - having a sense of proportion in relationships with people;
• presence of energy - the ability to charge organized people with one’s energy;
• demandingness - the ability to make adequate demands on people depending on the specifics of the situation;
• criticality - the ability to detect and express deviations from the conditions dictated by the task that are significant for a given activity;
• a penchant for organizational activity—a need for it.

4. High moral character: fairness and objectivity in assessing employees, humanity, sensitivity, tact, honesty. Not only in terms of his business competence, but also in his moral qualities, a leader must be a model for his subordinates. It would be a mistake to limit communication with subordinates to official matters only. You need to be interested in their personal problems, family, living conditions, health, employees’ opinions on various issues, listen to them carefully, even if their opinion seems wrong.

The character of a leader is reflected in his leadership style, for he also serves as a standard of behavior for subordinates. That is why it is so important to take into account character traits when appointing a person to a leadership position. Employees of production teams believe that it is difficult and unpleasant to work with a manager if he is unbalanced, rude, and unfair. This significantly reduces labor productivity.

5. Emotional-volitional character traits: purposefulness, integrity, perseverance, determination, discipline, passion, the ability to show these qualities to your subordinates and lead them. The volitional qualities of a person have long been considered his main management skills. Socrates, for example, believed that the main advantage of a leader is to be able to command people, and the main enemies of a leader are gluttony, laziness, passion for wine, and weakness for women. Strong-willed qualities include self-criticism, necessary to realize one’s weaknesses, and self-control, necessary to suppress them. An important role in the structure of these qualities is occupied by a sense of responsibility, which a leader must constantly experience, for the moral and physical condition of his subordinates, for the results of the activities of the team he leads.

6. Intellectual abilities: observation, analytical thinking, ability to predict situations and results of activities, efficiency and consistency of memory, stability and distribution of attention. A manager must constantly replenish and update his knowledge and be able to creatively and quickly use it in frequently changing, sometimes extreme situations characteristic of his non-standard activities. So, A.V. Suvorov believed that the knowledge in the commander’s memory should be systematized, as if laid out in boxes so that they could be quickly found and used in a certain situation. Napoleon highly valued intelligence, but believed that people with a lot of intelligence and little character are least suitable for the military profession, because for this you need to have more determination and less thinking.

There is an opinion that people with high creative intelligence prefer to work in solitude. People of average abilities are more inclined to work in a team and to lead people. In difficult modern conditions, a person aspiring to leadership must have highly and harmoniously developed characterological and intellectual properties.

• the official status occupied by the leader (position and power);
• recognition of his superiority and right to make responsible decisions in the context of joint activities.

8. Leader's image- an important component of his authority. The concept of image reflects modern requirements for the external appearance of a leader who not only communicates with subordinates, but also carries out the function of representing the group he leads in front of other social organizations. Therefore, the leader’s appearance, speech culture, manners are all elements of his image. In modern conditions, there are image makers who create the image of a leader, shaping this image in accordance with the expectations of the public.

9. Good health. The activities of a modern leader are characterized by extremely high nervous and physical stress. The causes of professional diseases among managers include increased nervous excitability, sleep disturbances, and cardiovascular disorders. Therefore, it is believed that, no matter how strong a person is, his health in a managerial position will last no more than 8 years. But many managers neglect their health, trying to show the team an example of professional zeal, not taking into account that their health is a factor that largely determines the effectiveness of the teams they lead. In addition to the fact that the manager must lead a healthy lifestyle, he must undergo systematic medical examinations. After all, the health of a highly competent, experienced leader is not only his personal asset, but also a social value for the team, organization and state.

Even if a person is under the leadership of two or three people, he is a leader who must organize their work. What if the life of an entire team depends on you and your actions? What should a leader be like? What qualities should you have? Is it easy to lead, or not everyone can become a leader? We will talk about this in our article.

Do you know what the word "leader" means? Leading by hand. And the essence of a leader’s activity is to monitor the whole. Do not deal with specific specialized tasks, but monitor the entire process so that it is effective.

A leader is a leader whom people follow

Is it possible to learn efficiency?

How do you understand the word “efficiency”? The answer is quite simple - it is the correct implementation of the assigned tasks. So is an effective leader. He may be endowed with excellent mental abilities, have the best knowledge, but in practice show ineffective work.
Therefore, the ability to manage people and be a leader is not given to everyone. The ideal leader in specialized literature is described as a person with the following abilities:

• ability to analyze;
• making decisions and taking responsibility for them;
• ability to work with people;
• creative thinking;
• good knowledge of mathematics;
• understanding the management structure and features of your enterprise.

There are catastrophically few people with all these qualities. But this does not mean that you cannot develop them in yourself. Yes, this is a lot of work, but it is possible. A leader who can be said to be in the right place knows how to achieve results in everything. To be effective, a person in a leadership position needs five qualities that can be developed:

1. Skill manage time. Spend it correctly.
2. Concentration needed for the final result.
3. Developing Strengths not only for yourself, but also for all members of the team. Start solving those tasks that are doable. It is better to postpone tasks that cannot be solved at the moment.
4. Skill determine priorities.
5. Skill make the right decisions. We must understand that the right decision is not one action. These are the right steps in the right sequence.

How to manage your time

Time is priceless. Take care of him

Everything on earth can be replaced by something, but not time. Therefore, you must definitely learn how to manage it. Determine what you spend it on. And if there is little productivity, reduce the time for this process as much as possible.

Time management can be divided into three stages:

Registration

It takes a certain amount of time to complete any job. And you need to learn to analyze it. By recording time spent, you can identify ineffective actions that need to be eliminated.

Control

Useful and necessary things need to be done according to plan. Poor management of the entire production process takes up a lot of time. And a good leader shouldn’t have this.

Read also: How to fire for absenteeism if an employee does not show up for work

Consolidation

Don't divide things into small blocks. Thus, you will waste too much time to no avail. Time blocks can be enlarged by planning all your activities in advance. Save your time. Conversations with clients, holding meetings, issuing necessary documents takes a lot of time. Your assistants can do this work so that your time can be spent on more productive activities.

We talked about how to manage your time so that there is enough for creativity and implementation of plans. Let's consider what qualities a leader should have.

Personal qualities

Productive work at an enterprise is possible when an appropriate psychological climate is created in the team. And here the role of the leader is great. If he is confident in himself, he commands respect from his subordinates and a desire to carry out all his orders.

By respecting your subordinates, you will receive respect from them

Resistance to stress is also important. Problematic issues may also arise during the production process. And if in such circumstances the leader loses self-control, authority is lost.
Leadership skills are undoubtedly important to lead people. It is important to be strict but fair. People look not only at the professional qualities of a leader. They also see little things: what example their boss sets. And if he is demanding of himself personally and is not afraid of responsibility for his actions, his employees will try to match him.

Humane qualities are very important. Nobody canceled the human factor. Respect for subordinates, understanding of their personal problems, faith in their strengths will cause a return feeling of respect and a desire to do their job better.

An interesting survey was conducted of a large number of ordinary employees of various companies who were asked what kind of leader they would like to see. The answers were mostly the same. Everyone would prefer a boss who is able to come up with new ways and new ways of organizing the production process. So that his decisions are consistent with the opinions of his team, he provides freedom and is supportive of the initiatives of his employees. So that he sees them not only as workers, but also as people, being interested in their needs, helping to solve their problems.

To summarize: the personal qualities of a leader are:

• high moral requirements both for yourself and for the people around you;
• good health;
• the presence of an internal rich culture;
• kind, caring and responsive attitude towards employees;
• Confidence in your strength.

Professional quality

These qualities should characterize the manager as a specialist, experienced and competent:

• availability of appropriate education and, of course, experience;
• competence;
• erudition, self-improvement;
• the ability to critically perceive reality and rethink it;
• search and use of new technologies in work;
• training your staff;
• work planning.

But having these qualities may not make you an ideal leader. Because in addition to the above qualities, business qualities are of great importance for a good leader. It is thanks to them that he leads people to success. These qualities can be combined into three blocks.

Ability to solve assigned problems

Practical Intelligence

Logical thinking. Using your knowledge, skills, and experience in solving production problems. Necessary qualities, but the effectiveness of management does not always depend on correct thinking and working with information. This happens in conjunction with the ability to establish the right relationships with people. And here the second block is no less important.

There are only a few left on the market, and success largely depends on the character and personal qualities of the company’s leader. Below we have collected the most important qualities and told you how to develop them in yourself.

We often hear the phrase that a modern entrepreneur must be a leader. This is obvious, but the concept of leadership includes several qualities inherent in real conquerors:

• Energy;
• Willpower, perseverance, consistency;
• The gift of persuasion.

To develop these qualities in yourself, you need to start small. Just sit down and write down your goals with a clear strategy for achieving them. Be an enthusiast - take part in interesting activities and learn something new. Keep your finger on the pulse of time and follow the news. This will make you an interesting and competent conversationalist to be reckoned with.

To develop the gift of persuasion and oratory, you can regularly give “speeches” in front of the mirror on various topics or even sign up for debates.

Organizer

A businessman knows how to select employees and motivate them. The organizer knows how to quickly and correctly evaluate people and coordinate their work, and complete all assigned tasks on time. How to develop this quality in yourself? First, learn how to manage your time effectively.

The so-called “to do list”, where all matters are recorded in order of importance and urgency, will help with this perfectly. If you can organize your own time and motivate yourself to work, then you can move to the next level.

Dealer

You need to be able to sell your products, services, “yourself” (your company, business) to partners and investors, etc. This includes the ability to inspire confidence in consumers and employees, arouse interest in your products, and captivate people without coercion.

The first step towards achieving this quality is communication. And not only with friends, but rather with strangers. Make new acquaintances, start conversations in stores, in transport, bargain while shopping.

There are a number of interesting trainings for developing selling skills. For example, ask a friend to choose any, even the most absurd, environmental item that you must sell to him in 5 minutes. This will teach you how to select arguments, quickly navigate a situation, and at the same time works to develop imagination and logical thinking.

Analyst

In order to do this, you need to learn to calculate everything in advance. Is it worth taking on the project, what will be the demand for the product, etc. To develop foresight, you need to have a good understanding of your own business, all its processes, the market situation and human psychology.

An analytical mind can be developed, for this you need to read the relevant literature, monitor the environment, draw conclusions from certain situations, look for prerequisites, and predict consequences.

"Eternal student" and innovator

Self-learning is an important condition for the development of entrepreneurial qualities. Master new computer programs, understand economics, learn effective sales, just don’t stop! At a minimum, you develop your brain, and also acquire new useful knowledge and skills.

Innovation allows an entrepreneur to be one step ahead of competitors, to look for something new in the familiar, gaining a competitive advantage. Although caution is needed in business, A dose of healthy adventurism and willingness to take risks can bring amazing results, moving your business an order of magnitude forward.

Regular reading, the experiences of other people and companies, and special exercises will help you develop innovative thinking. For example, remember any event in the form of a picture-image, imagine what the color blue smells like, come up with visual accompaniment to your favorite music, etc.

Character traits

Possessing the above business qualities is much easier for people with certain character traits:

1. and poise. They help deal with failures, attract people and investments to their side, navigate difficult situations, and resolve conflicts within the team.
2. Determination. A good leader knows how to concentrate on the most important details, discarding less important matters. This helps the company not to become scattered and move forward quickly. Write down what you need to do first and what tasks are secondary.
3. Observation. This trait allows an entrepreneur to look for new ways of development, quickly notice and prevent emerging problems.
4. Determination. You must not be afraid to act quickly, sometimes harshly, quickly responding to changes in the environment. You can develop this trait in everyday life by quickly and effectively solving simple everyday problems.
5. Sociability. It is important to be able to communicate in person, by correspondence, and by telephone (for example, making “cold calls”).
6. Stress resistance. In addition to organizing the work of the company and its promotion, the entrepreneur has to solve a lot of problems: from pressure from competitors and inspections by regulatory authorities to eliminating the consequences of an accident at work. The future of the enterprise may depend on the manager’s resistance to stressful situations.

A person with such qualities will be able to open a successful business and cope with any difficulties.

Leading an organization, or even a group of people who have a common goal, is not easy. At the same time, many are trying to manage, to be at the top of Olympus. It’s just that the success and reputation of the one in charge depends on the correctness of actions.

And yet, what qualities should a manager – a manager or a group leader – have?

What qualities should a modern leader have?

• Self-esteem. It is important that it reaches the golden mean - not too high, but not too low. You need to be able to see your mistakes, understand how to behave correctly and stick to one position without changing it until compelling circumstances arise. Good management treats employees loyally, without distinguishing itself as an incredibly important and influential person whose interests need to be defended (instead of the interests of the company).
• Experience and skills. Experience is very important. It is difficult to become a leader without understanding anything in a certain field. Even if you don’t have experience, you must have knowledge. If there are people in the group who are more competent in professional matters, have the courage to admit it and take advantage of their skills without discriminating against those people.
• Patience. A good leader must be able to keep his emotions to himself and be patient.
• Demandingness. Management must demand from employees what they are required to do. Control, encouragement, reprimands, punishments - all this should be in place and present where it really should be.

What else is important for a modern leader?

It is important to pay attention to the social component. You need to be able to navigate society, be able to distinguish between representatives of different groups of people, and understand what kind of approach is needed to whom. At the same time, not forgetting that the attitude must be fair, adequate, and not biased.

Personal characteristics are also very important. In general, this is the ability to position yourself. Qualities can be manifested both verbally and non-verbally. Keep track of your thoughts, which also affect your actions, facial expressions, and gestures. People will trust you if you are confident and act like a leader.

Personality characteristics are something close to the personal characteristics of a person. The individual is, rather, what fills a person. How he works, what attitude he has towards people, others, employees, clients, criminals, animals - everything is important. Whatever your individual position in life, it should be clear and stable. This will also reflect your self-confidence.

This is probably why many people don’t like leaders, considering them snobs, upstarts, arrogant, etc. This can also be attributed to the skeptical attitude of others towards the actions of the leader, as well as the usual low assessment of his intelligence and intelligence.

In my opinion, the person who became the leader is at least worthy of respect. I don’t consider cases when the owner’s son or mistress gets a warm place. It is clear here that the whole point is not in the personal qualities that a leader should have, and not in the knowledge that he must have, and not even in work experience, without which there is also no way. There are other factors at play here. How morally justified this is is a topic for a separate discussion, but we will look at the ideal leader who has earned the right to be called that.

Good leaders are not born, they are made. Each of us, in the depths of our souls, cherishes the thought of career growth, arrogantly believing that he would cope with this position “one or two times.” But for some reason, life goes by, and still there is no coveted promotion. Maybe it's all about the character qualities that a boss should have, and which most people don't have?

And this is actually true. The bad news is that if you are not a leader, then your character is lacking some qualities. The good news is that any quality of nature can be nurtured, nurtured and developed. If you want to sit in the boss’s chair, develop all the business qualities that lead to success. Only in this case will you be able to achieve a promotion.

And now let’s take a closer look at what personality traits and character traits a leader should have.

Ambition

In my opinion, this is the main quality that drives career growth. A bad leader is one who does not dream of rising a little higher. A person with such a quality of character will certainly do everything possible to ensure that the results of his activities improve the work of the company and, as a result, he is noticed, appreciated and offered a promotion.

If a person works “for himself,” then only ambition can develop the activities of his company. Without this quality, he will remain the owner of some small stall and, quite possibly, may go bankrupt, instead of “growing” from a small kiosk to the owner of a supermarket.

Determination and Perseverance

The second professional quality that goes hand in hand with ambition. Fear of the unknown and suspiciousness towards the opinions of others can do a disservice. Any normal person worries about what might happen. But! Only a person with the qualities of an effective leader will be afraid and do. And you can't stop. You need to persistently move towards your goal, and not give up after the first failure.

Most often, all our fears are far-fetched and exaggerated.

How everything begins to come together into a picture on its own. Like a puzzle.

Decision making ability

A very important quality. If you don’t know how to make decisions, then you have nothing to do in the manager’s chair. The boss must quickly react to the situation, instantly analyze it and issue “on the fly” orders. Hesitation and doubt are the enemy of the ordinary person, and the one who is responsible for people and goods and materials must know exactly how and what needs to be done.

The following follows from this postulate:

Education and knowledge

To make the right decisions, you need to have an idea of ​​what you are doing. And not superficial, but deep. And to do this, you need to constantly educate yourself, monitor the development of technology, observe competitors and realistically assess the situation. Of course, an ideal leader should not only thoroughly know the specifics of the work of his institution, but also be a versatile person as a person. This is good for the recognition of others. But there are examples in the world when a good leader is absolutely uncommunicative in life and has no interests other than his work. This is not very good for a human person, but for a boss it is quite acceptable, because his main task is the development of the company.

Organizational skills

Also a necessary factor. A leader must be able to organize people and their work. If you let everything take its course, it will turn out to be “some into the forest, some for firewood.” The coordinated work of the entire team is the key to the prosperity and growth of the company.

Equilibrium

Another quality without which you cannot become a good leader. You need to keep your emotions in check. There's nothing worse than a slobbering, yelling boss. What is needed here is a firm voice, not a raised tone. The instructions of superiors must be carried out quickly and unconditionally, and this must be achieved not by intimidation and shouting, but by an even, friendly, but at the same time strict and fair attitude.

Subordinates should never know what is going on in their boss’s soul and how difficult it is for him.

A calm, balanced leader commands respect.

And the last quality that I think is important in defining a good leader is

Responsibility

The manager must feel responsible not only for the work being performed, but also for his team. If a boss distances himself from the team and opposes himself to it, then he is worthless. In addition, people feel alienated and stop believing and trusting their leader. And in such conditions there will be no productive work.

That’s why we don’t have many leaders, because not everyone is ready to take on additional responsibilities and responsibility. And there are even fewer good leaders, because not everyone is ready to learn what qualities a leader should have and develop these qualities in themselves.

A good person does not mean a good leader. Conversely, very often a good leader will not be called a good person. Although there are exceptions.

I think that:

The chief is like a battalion commander. If necessary, he will send a soldier to his death, making a difficult but correct decision. But he himself will always be ahead of his group and will not allow anyone to speak badly about his fighters.

The boss is like a father. And he can punish, and scold and caress (for example, write out a bonus). And it’s fair.

The boss is like a friend. He will understand the situation, understand the circumstances and try to help.

The boss is like a boss. The interests of the company are a priority, and only then everything else.

If you also think so and even can do so, then you have a direct path to the upper echelons of power. Everyone else - start with ambition and good luck in your career growth!

Image: JonoMueller (flickr.com)