10 Traits of High-Performing Leaders

What does it take to be a high-performing leader?

You don’t have to look very far -- the word LEADERSHIP broken down says it all:

Listen

Empower

Attitude

Driven

Encourage

Relate

Simplify

Helpful

Imagine

Passion

Listen:

Leaders take the time to listen to what is being said and, more importantly, to what is not being said.  Leaders create an environment that fosters discussion at all levels.

Leaders create an environment that encourages people to share their opinions with you the leader, instead of complaining to others.

Empower:

High-performing teams get there because their leader empowers them. They’re encouraged and supported in making their own decisions.

Empowered teams know they have the support of their leader regardless of the outcome. One critical step is ensuring people understand the vision and goals of the organization and have been equipped to carry them out.

Does each member of your team fully understand the vision and goals of your organization?

Attitude:

Leaders understand how much attitude can and does impact the performance of the team.  The skills and knowledge of a team will never be fully realized unless the team has a success-oriented attitude.

Organizations adopt the style of the leader and, in turn, the attitude of the leader quickly becomes the attitude of the organization.  When leaders fail to embrace a people-oriented, growth attitude, they become managers of a process.

Leaders know their attitude is on display in good and bad times.

Driven:

Leaders do not allow setbacks to become permanent. Rather they use setbacks as stepping stones to accomplish the team’s goals.

Leaders know people are watching them during difficult times to see how they should respond.  It’s during difficult times when the leader’s true spirit comes through, and it’s this spirit that becomes part of the organization.

Being driven does not mean proceding with reckless abandon. It means driving themselves and the team to achieve results the team did not think were possible.

Encourage:

Leaders never underestimate the power of the team and are always drawing out the best in people through their encouragement and support in large and small things.

Encouragement is an intangible, yet few traits are more important than the visual and verbal encouragement that comes from the leadership.

Encouragement from a leader is many times the missing ingredient that can take a person or team to the next level.

Relate:

Great leaders understand the personal and professional sides of their organizations and they understand how those sides interact.  Leaders allow themselves to become exposed on their personal side.  This allows people to know how to relate to them and how the leader relates to the organization.

We are long past the era of leadership where people expected their leader to be a mythical, supreme being. Leadership today is real people in real life situations.

Simplify:

Today information is overloading everything and everybody.  Leaders know how to prevent information from complicating tasks and they work to streamline processes.

Just as important is the simplification of the tasks at hand.  This is achieved when everyone knows and understands the objectives of the team and its purpose.

Time is the one asset that is limited, so the leader who can simplify and in turn free time up for their team is the leader that will equip their team to achieve more.

Helpful:

Leaders are never too busy that they can't help -- nor are they too proud not to help. True leaders help people in all kinds of situations.  However, leaders also know when not to help and allow the team and the individuals to achieve the satisfaction of accomplishing the task themselves.

Imagine:

Leaders dream and, more importantly, they allow others to dream with them.  Through this process, they allow the organization to move to a higher level through the use and application of imagination as a leadership tool.

High-performing leaders have a vision of things to come and are able to use their imagination to ensure their organization is ready for whatever the future may hold.

Passion:

Nothing determines the level of output more than the passion exhibited by the team, and this starts with the leader.  Without demonstrated passion from the leader, there is no hope of the team ever achieving greatness.

The level of output is directly related to the passion of the organization and each member of the team.

Some people may dismiss the need for passion. I feel of all of the traits described here, to be able to demonstrate passion will create more goodwill with the organization than anything else.

Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter "The Sales Hunter." Mark Hunter blogs regularly at www.TheSalesHunter.com and is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.