Importance of Leadership Qualities for Developing Leaders of Highest Quality
Dr. Syed Hassan Amin
Experienced Leader in Data Science & Business Intelligence | Generative AI | Product Management | Product Launch and Implementations | PropTech | FinTech | Author | Speaker
Leadership qualities are important because world today is struggling with extremely poor quality leadership. In present times, we have leaders who are full of greed, self-importance, false pride based on racism, sexism , color of skin, religious hatred, hatred against migrants and so on. This is the result of our collective failure to understand and recognize leadership based on personal qualities of leaders.
We also have leaders who are going all out to make this world a better place by giving away a major portion of their wealth to fight poverty, hunger, disease and solve some of the toughest problem being faced by environment, transport etc.
Leaders are leaders because of what they do, and not because of their title or position. This is the reason that leadership qualities are key to success in leadership. Leadership qualities should be given utmost importance when training, guiding and judging past, current and future leaders. Many of us have to assume leadership roles and need to learn and excel in many of the leadership qualities to get best out of our followers.
We should develop KPI's to quantitatively or qualitatively judge each of these qualities in potential leaders in order to get the best out of potential leaders and to improve quality of leadership.
These are only some of the leadership qualities, there are obviously many others that are equally important :-
1). Selflessness
Leaders have to gain trust of their followers. Leaders should always give credit to team, while taking blame in some cases. However there are many leaders who would do exactly the opposite. Ultimate success of the organization depends on the trust that can be put into leadership, and trust is the ultimate victim of selfishness.
If a leader is always guarding his narrow self-interest, and is totally oblivious of the impact of his actions on followers then followers will hate him in their heart. If a leader keeps changing his position to protect his self-interest at all times then followers will also be trying as hard to protect their self-interest and sometimes their existence.
2). Being Exemplary
A leader should be able to set positive example for the team to follow. For example, a leader always sticks to time when coming to office, reaches meetings on time if he wants his team to do the same. Leader gives respect to his fellow workers, if they want respect from followers. Followers are always looking to leaders and should get inspiration from them. Leaders should always be very conscious about how they present themselves in front of their followers. How they dress, how they speak, what message they are sending out to their followers etc.
A QA lead once came to me, and complained that QA team members were unable to document test cases because they thought it was taking too much time. I asked him to write few test cases for the team member to show them how much time and effort it takes, and how much fun is it to write a test case. We repeated this process for different team members who had issues and by working with them overcame the resistance to change.
Teams cannot break psychological barriers unless leader steps up and shows them that there are no barriers in front of them that prevent them from achieving desired goals.
In Harvard business review Webb recalls. “In Special Operations environments and top business environments, you have the privilege of working with people who just get the job done at all costs. They are self-motivators. Even if they don’t have the know-how, they will figure it out and just make it happen. It’s amazing to have a whole team that thinks this way, and to see what they can accomplish.”
3). Highest Moral Standing
A leader should be respected for his highest moral standing. If a leader is perceived as being greedy, selfish, arrogant then followers will also be safe guarding their self-interest and organization will have a culture where people lack initiative, drive and courage. In fact, a positive organizational culture cannot be built if leadership does not have highest moral standing. The moment, a leader loses respect of his followers, he is no longer fit for the role.
4). Excellence
A leader who cannot set excellence examples for his team will not be able to inspire his followers to achieve excellence.
Alexander set the example of excellence with his leadership style; he led his troops quite literally from the front. He was a great horse rider, and a great swordsman. When his troops went hungry or thirsty, he went hungry and thirsty; when their horses died beneath them and they had to walk, he did the same. This accessibility only changed when he succumbed to the luxury of Persian court life.
5). Ability to Set Priorities
There's an old saying about the difference between a manager and a leader: "Managers do things right. Leaders do the right things."
Stephen R. Covey gives a great example about difference between manager and leader as follows :-
"You can quickly grasp the important difference between the two if you envision a group of producers cutting their way through the jungle with machetes. They’re the producers, the problem solvers. They’re cutting through the undergrowth, clearing it out.
The managers are behind them, sharpening their machetes, writing policy and procedure manuals, holding muscle development programs, bringing in improved technologies and setting up working schedules and compensation programs for machete wielders.
The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, “Wrong jungle!”"
In other words, leader decides the priorities and has the power to change the priorities whereas managers work to carry these out in the best possible manner. However, if a leader is unable to set priorities and is instead lost in detail or gets down to micromanaging the whole situation then he would lose the bigger picture which may result in greater damage.
6). Effective Listening
Listening to your people, peers and organization is very important. Create channels for listening within your organization, clients and also to vibes of the world that impact your organization, your people and everything else. Don't forget to filter out the noise to ensure effectiveness of listening.
Look at legendary businessman, Jack Welch of General Electric. Welch knew that to push GE to new heights, he had to turn everything upside down. So that's just what he did.
He developed the whole idea of a "boundary less organization." This means that everyone is free to brainstorm and think of ideas – instead of waiting for someone "higher up" in the bureaucracy to think of them first. He wanted his team turned loose, and he promised to listen to ideas from anyone in the company. And he did. Everyone from the lowest line workers to senior managers got his attention – if they had something to say or a new idea that might make the company better. It wasn't just talk, and it didn't take his team long to figure that out.
Welch stayed true to his passions and what he knew was right. As a result, GE became an incredibly successful company under his management. His team was always willing to follow his lead, because the people within it knew that he always kept his word.
Effective listening sometimes means that you setup means for organizational communication e.g. slack.
7). Vision
A leader without vision is a body without soul. "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion." --Jack Welch
When leaders share a powerful vision and organize and staff the workplace to accomplish it, a powerful dynamic drives employee performance. When leaders walk their talk, it's a demonstrated motivator for people. When leaders share a strong vision, employees flock to it - even choosing the job in the company over other options.
Alexander had a great vision, "he wanted to unite the world". Perhaps he got his vision from his father who told him that Macedonia was too small for him, and he had to find a kingdom big enough for his ambition.
8). Assertiveness
According to Harvard Business Review, number one skill for the majority of leaders to improve is assertiveness. A leader will have great difficulty with getting things done, or driving the team without being assertive. Assertiveness means being able to challenge people, assumptions or even senior management, to fight for resources when required. It’s nearly impossible to lead change without overcoming resistance which requires assertiveness. Timid people who fail to speak up their mind during meetings are not capable of providing leadership needed in most circumstances.
9). Taking Control
Leaders should pay attention to taking effective control of their teams and organization. Sun Tzu was one of the greatest Chinese generals whose fame spread far and wide, his book on art of war is read even today. In his book, Sun Tzu shows how to take control and why taking is important for leadership. When one of the kings in china heard about Sun Tzu and asked him to lead his armies, but to test his leadership he gave him 180 women from his palace. Sun Tzu divided them into two companies and explained his commands to them. He said to them, that if commands are not clear then General is to blame otherwise officers are to blame. Sun Tzu then gave orders to them to march left and right, but orders were not followed instead women began to laughing, Sun Tzu repeated his orders and asked whether those were not clear. Orders were not followed again. To his he asked leaders of two groups to be beheaded. At this, seeing his favorite concubines being beheaded King intervened however Sun Tzu went ahead with his decision explaining to King that there are certain orders of the King that he cannot accept. He then proceeded to give orders to his troops, troops were now disciplined and followed orders. After satisfying himself, he went back to the king and explained to him troops were now trained and they will follow orders even if asked to go into fire.
10). Steadfastness
Goals worth pursuing will never be easy, and would require much effort, time, ability to face failures, overcoming mighty challenges and so on. If you cannot make self-sacrifice and accept failures while adapting to overcome challenges then ultimate goals are compromised. Leadership should be willing to change tactics, but not ultimate goals if those are worth achieving. Nelson Mandela spent 25 years in jail to achieve his goal of ending apartheid in South Africa.
11). Accountability
A leader has to have good judgement and strong character to hold his team accountable when required. Without accountability, it is not possible to safeguard interest of the organization and team. Basically, leader has to rise above interest of the individual(s) and greater good of the team and organization in order to achieve desired goals. If a leader does not have courage to throw deadwood out, then he is risking everything for something that is not valuable anymore.
12). Negative Leadership Qualities
While it is important to teach and impart positive leadership qualities to your team, it is equally important to make it clear to your leadership team what are some of the negative leadership qualities that should be avoided at all cost.
There are plenty of negative examples of negative leadership traits that demoralize team and creative negative culture within the whole organization. This kind of negative mindset leads to negative organizational culture and organizational failure.
For example,
a). There's the boss/manager who tells everyone to stay late, and then leaves promptly at 5:00pm to go golfing.
b). There's the supervisor who criticizes everyone for spending time on the Internet, but is discovered buying groceries online in the middle of the afternoon.
c). And the CFO who recommends layoffs to stop "unnecessary spending," but then buys herself brand-new luxury office furniture.
d). There's PM who always comes late, and expect followers to deliver on time.
e). There's executive, who does not do his homework, disrupts plans in the middle, tries to take short cuts everywhere and expects quality and highest efficiency from the team.
g). There's an executive who uses foul language over a parking dispute and brings brand into disrepute because of his arrogant behavior.
13). Focus
Leadership requires great deal of focus. In recent times, some leaders have taken great examples of how this can be done. This is evident from lives of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg; these leaders tend to wear same dresses every day. Famously, Steve Jobs had tens of similar trademark dresses in his cupboards.
References
Other Articles By Dr. Hassan Amin
Legacy can be Golden Trap, read more
Poor Quality Text Books can destroy future of our children, read more
A chance encounter with Abdul Sattar Edhi left a deep mark on me, read more
My personal perspective on Big data, read more
Collection of Dr. Hassan's writing on linkedin, explore
https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/0_2NN3xDQeX16qlOVL6Aqo6P?trk=prof-sm
A great post, and reading it sparked a query around your view of leadership qualities in the face of their being so many other different formulations of qualities . Looking through a few LinkedIn posts about leadership, many different qualities, characteristics, traits, virtues, attributes, and so on, can be identified, as indicated in the list below. The profusion of lists of qualities can be supported by a simple online search around leadership qualities, characteristics, traits, virtues, attributes etc. that makes it obvious the countless similar lists to yours available online (e.g. https://bit.ly/1Xeirzc). This is intended as an observation rather than a criticism. Faced with the many compositions of qualities I'm finding it difficult to make sense of, and what to do with, your list. With the likelihood of your knowing there are many other lists available while writing the post, and that readers will likely appreciate the same variety, I’d be interested in what advice would you give to an aspiring leader with regards interpreting and making use of your list of qualities? As I’m wrestling with leadership I hope the above question makes sense. ------------------ Be Brave | Don't take failures personally | Positive Attitude | Proper Vision | Proper Mission | Proper execution | Self-awareness | Social awareness | Self-confidence | Capacity for learning | Able to influence | Make decisions. decisive | Manage change | Have integrity | Be open | Big picture thinking | Humility | Integrity | Authenticity | Transparency | Empathy | Execute Strategy | Ethical | Asking right questions | Good listener | Recognise others efforts | Seek input from others | Coming from alternative directions | Visibility | An 'art' | Accessibility | Clear Goals | Remover of barriers | Provider of resources | Act with honour | Empathy | Rigor | Energy | Collaboration | Fairness | Inspirational | Walk the talk | Emotional Intelligence | Like Simplicity | Create atmosphere | Dauntlessness | Other-centeredness | Critical Thinking | Vigorous Vision | feel the passion for the thing is doing | know the ways to get it, like master the actions | hear others, specially the team | do it first | Create great teams | accept other’s opinions to improve | motivate other’s, encourage them and follow up the actions | Success will be a plus | give the credit to the team or to each one, or both | evaluate and take correction actions | Reduce Ambiguity and uncertainty | Be nice | Be punctual | Show compassion | Lead by example | Open to criticism | Not stuck in corporate bureaucracy | Sense of Urgency | Part of the solution, not part of the problem | Not comfortable with the status quo | Empathetic engagement | Engaged | Mentor | Recognise and (more importantly) value differences | Be willing to give up power, knowledge, information, credit | Make building relationships with all your stakeholders a priority | Model collaborative behaviour at the top | Encouragement | Genuine interest in people | Passion | being humble | Good posture | Physically fit | Sound Right | Understand values | Discipline | Wisdom | Vision | Initiative | Honesty | Willingness | Humour | Generosity | Coaching | Day Dreaming | Balance proactive and reactive forces | Display excellent strategic vision | Have a strong customer focus | Create a climate of reciprocal trust | Display fearless loyalty to doing what’s right for the organization and customers | Put their faith in a culture that magnifies upward communication | Are persuasive | Excel at setting stretch goals | Emphasize speed | Are candid in their communication | Inspire and motivate through action | Agile | Facilitation | Servant - servant leadership | Service | Responsibility | Joint venture, a journey, a challenge | Instil Hope…
Professional of planning and policy
7 年Dear Intellectuals. World does not run and can't be operated by Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. One can be a politician, senator and a minister of large governments with no education therefore leadership will remain in the hands of the financial and resources elite. There will always be great thinkers working for the little skilled leaders. I believe prayers are needed not sermons and lectures.
Excellent article Dr. Hassan Amin. In my humble opinion, couple more, + Realist - Elephants cannot fly. + Excellent Time Manager - How to best utilise your laziest resource to gain best output.