What Makes a Great Leader May Not Be What You Think

Are All Leaders The Same?

People often ask if successful leaders have a certain set of strengths. In other words, can you expect to see the same characteristics in all successful leaders?

The reality is that most people are promoted because of their knowledge or competence. This might mean that the Sales Director is a great salesperson, but may not be so good as a people manager. Most of the time we recruit according to job function, not by the person’s strengths. And many times, leaders recruit people who act, think, or behave the way that they do, although not necessarily on purpose. As former Israeli President Shimon Peres said, most leaders prefer loyalty over brilliance.

Great Leadership Teams

What makes a great leadership team? Gallup’s research on executive teams is that the most successful team possesses broader grouping of strengths compared to less successful teams. Executive teams that have team members who can execute, influence outside of the team, build relationships within the team, and have people who are strategic thinkers, are the most successful. One person might have certain elements of each of these categories, but it can be quite difficult to cover each of these categories fully.?However, a great executive team, collectively, would have talents in all these areas.

Leaders who have dominant executing talents know how to make things happen. If somebody has an idea, executors will help to make the idea a reality. Executors might be able to figure out the best configuration of which people in the company can complete the project.?They also will work tirelessly to solve any problems associated with the project so that it can be completed successfully. There are a lot of great ideas out there, but if there isn’t someone to execute the idea, that is very nice, but not useful.

Leaders who have Influencing talents help the team to reach people outside of the team. They have the ability to reach others by selling the team’s ideas, strategies, and future plans. Somebody on the team needs to make the group heard. If someone confidently talks about an idea, projecting authority as they go, others will follow that influencer. If the influencer can make people feel comfortable about a project, issue, or task, people will follow.

“A leader is someone who can get things done through other people.” – Warren Buffet

A team, regardless of whether it is an executive team or in-tact project team, needs people who know how to build relationships on the team. People need people and people enjoy working with people that they like. If the team is just a group of individuals who do not know each other well, research shows that that team may not be as successful. People who know how to build relationships create teams that are better than the sum of their parts.

There are thinkers whose specialty is to convince the rest of us of what the future could hold. Being a strategic thinker is their talent. They look at all the available data and information to help the team to make the best decisions. They create ideas, learn from the past, think of future possibilities, and then help the rest of us to stretch our thinking of what could be.

Are any two great leaders the same??Do they bring the same talents to the table??The answer is no. They might have similar objectives, expectations, and desires, but they won’t approach things the same way because they each bring different strengths and talents to the table.

The CliftonStrengths Assessment

When an individual completes the CliftonStrengths assessment, it helps them to understand their uniqueness and what they, individually, bring to a team. What the assessment tells them is how they are unique.?Once you complete the assessment, you will be able to understand the strength of your executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking talents.

The chance of somebody else having the same Top 5 strengths as you but in a different order is one in 278,000.?The chance of somebody else having the same Top 5 strengths as you in the same order is one in 33 million. What if you add #6 and then #7 (there are 34 talents)??The odds get more unlikely. When we start to see and understand that we have a unique way of thinking, being, relating, etc., we see that we all bring unique talents to the table. Once we learn how to capitalize on those talents, building those talents into strengths, we benefit, but so do those around us.

When a group of people brings all their unique talents to the team – when they bring the best of themselves to the table – the team is more successful. We also realize that we don’t have to be like someone else.?If we are to be leaders, we must be our unique selves, and maximize our talents and potential.

Characteristics of Successful Leaders

Going back to the initial question:?can you expect to see certain characteristics in all successful leaders? The answer is no.?What you can expect is that great leaders – leaders who people want to follow, to depend on them to guide them – are people who know their talents, maximize them, and surround themselves with people who have complimentary talents, maybe even talents that they don’t have. Because a successful team has talents in many areas:?executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking.

Susan Surtel is a certified coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She works with leaders who want to lead great teams. You can contact Susan through her LinkedIn?profile ?or through her web site,?www.strengthscanada.com .