What makes a great leader?

As business owners, we are often leaders in our workplace and our communities. However, as we all know, some leaders are more effective than others.

So, what makes an effective leader? In this article, we take a look at some of the general skills and experiences great leaders share.

Leaders are committed to their staff.

Someone not well suited to leadership is someone who strives only for their own growth, and not the overall growth of their team. Strong leaders are committed to the professional growth and development of all their staff.

These people will:

• Mentor the team members who work for them.
• Help create opportunities to give their staff new responsibilities and room to develop.
• Take the time to give clear and meaningful feedback.
• Understand their employees’ needs and goals.

Likewise, effective leaders in business will put their employees ahead of their customers. That might sound controversial in a world where the customer is always right, but this is an important part of strong leadership.

This means dedicating time, resources, and emotional investment into proper training, motivating, and meeting their employees’ needs. When employees are cared for and empowered in their place of work, they will become more engaged with what they do, and in turn, customers will also be more satisfied. Great leaders know that caring for employees is a top priority.

Leaders don’t avoid conflict.

A good leader knows that conflict is unavoidable, and while we cannot prevent or hide from it, we can use it to develop our problem-solving skills and improve communication.

Effective leadership avoids being passive aggressive or avoidant in the face of conflict, and will display active listening skills, perspective, and mediation to try and resolve issues present in the workplace.

This goes right back to taking care of employees’ needs. Instead of taking the “it’s not my problem approach,” a leader who cares about their team makes sure conflict doesn’t get in the way of a healthy work environment.

Leaders prioritize a safe work environment.

Along with properly handling conflict, great leaders put significant effort into creating and maintaining a safe workplace for all their employees.

This means several things:

• Creating a workplace culture where employees are free to share opinions and feedback, experiment with new methods of doing their work where appropriate, and ask for help when they need it.
• Ensure that all employees have the appropriate accommodations needed to succeed.
• Creating a culture with zero tolerance for discriminatory or hateful speech.
• Making sure employees feel able to say no if they are uncomfortable or unable to do something that is asked of them.

If employees don’t feel safe, they could experience fear, stress, anxiety, and more negative emotions, that compounded, are detrimental to their success. Effective leadership prevents that.

Leaders are human.

This one may seem obvious, but it’s less common or accepted than you might think. Obviously, all leaders are human beings, but only effective leaders show the full human side of themselves in their workplace.

First, leaders must be vulnerable. Some see vulnerability as weakness, but the other side to that coin is trust. Trusting in your team, being able to delegate to them, and believing in their skills is foundational to effective leadership. Trusting and building trust with a team includes being comfortable sharing failures, concerns, weaknesses, as well as accomplishments and moments of pride.

In conclusion…

Leadership takes practice and effort. While some business owners and managers are inherently more suited for great leadership than others, everyone has the capacity to work on and improve their leadership skills.