Are You a Good Leader? 5 Qualities You Need for Impactful Leadership

It’s taken me a long time to learn what to do in leadership. Why? Because no one teaches you how. What’s with that?

The reality is…if you don’t know how to lead- no one’s going to follow. You won’t reach your goals.

You’ll unconsciously create problems instead of getting ahead of them or preventing them. You won’t be able to identify how to bring out the best in others.

All that good stuff gets to consciously be created from you. That’s leadership.

‘A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.’

-John C. Maxwell

Couldn’t have put it better myself.?

Here’s my five tips on how to lead like a pro…

#1 Believe in Yourself.?

Listen.

Leadership is about KNOWING you can lead (easier said than done, I know).?

If you want to be a great leader you have to believe that you can. If you don’t have faith in yourself, how will everyone else?

Leaders believe that they have the qualities to, you know, lead.

Not hesitating, but being confident in their decisions and in their ability to guide others.

Ask Yourself:

1. What am I good at? So often people bring themselves down. They don’t realize they’re better than they think (I guess that’s human nature huh?) Recognizing what you’re pretty good at identifies positive qualities (and makes you feel great… trust me).
2. What am I afraid of? If you don’t know what’s holding you back- how are you going to improve? Ask questions. Be honest. Then work on it to get better.
3. How can I be kinder to myself? Sounds like a sappy one, I know. But instead of saying, ‘I can’t do this,’ ‘I’m not good at that,’ say, ‘I AM a great leader,’ ‘I CAN do difficult things.’

If you don’t believe in yourself now then make sure you learn HOW.

#2 Delegate Tasks Well. Aka. Be a Leader, not a Hero (there's a difference.)

Let’s be real here.?

You can’t do everything. It’s not humanly possible. You’ve got to give other people responsibility.

It’s all about teaching others. Guiding others. That’s what makes a good leader.?

1. Let go of perfectionism. Don’t think anyone can do the job as well as you? I get it. But you need to trust other people to get the job done. It might not be to your incredibly high standard, but they won’t get good if you don’t give them a chance.
2. Encourage others to learn. It’s frustrating as hell when you’re in a team and you want to gain experience, but your boss doesn’t trust you. Ask yourself, who’s shown interest in developing their skills? Give them a chance, they’ll thank you for it.
3. Stop worrying that someone will replace you. Sometimes we don’t want to relinquish control because there’s a fear that you’re no longer needed. But you’ve got experience and you’ll still be great at what you do. Focus on being supportive rather than denying others opportunities.?

Your role is to help others grow so you can grow too.?

It’s that simple.

#3 Commit to Your Role. Resilience is Foundational to Leadership

You need to commit to being a leader… if you want to do a good job.?

You can’t think, ‘This isn’t for me!’ when times get tough (and believe me, they will).?

Learn how to commit to the job by showing resilience. It gets you through those hard times so you become a better leader.

1. Manage difficult team members. When you don’t discuss someone’s bad attitude in the workplace it can affect the whole team spirit. Don’t ignore it. Think about whether that person is helping or hindering the workflow and offer guidance so they can improve.
2. Support people who feel overworked. There’s always gonna be times when there’s too much work and not enough hours in the day. If it goes on long enough people feel stressed and underappreciated. Take responsibility - check in with your staff and ask about their workload. Can you delegate some tasks to other people? Have meetings with your managers and ask to move deadlines.
3. Forgive yourself if you make a mistake. Look, everyone messes up at times. When you first start a leadership role you might struggle to communicate instructions, forget to give a person key information and then get frustrated when they don’t deliver what you want. Do some reflection and ask yourself how to improve next time. But most importantly, forgive yourself.?

#4 Have Empathy. Humans Lead, Not Robots (or at least not yet…)

Have you ever been in a workplace where your boss doesn’t care if you’re stressed?

It sucks. Not only at work. But in life.

Feeling overworked, not understanding the job, or stuff going on in your personal life happens. Life happens.

You know what that’s like…right?

If someone’s struggling ask them:

1. Is everything okay, do you want support with your work? You don’t need to inquire about their personal life if they’re not open to talking about it. But try and take the pressure off when it comes to work.
2. That does sound stressful. I’ll see what I can do. If a colleague comes to you and says they’re finding work challenging, don’t dismiss their feelings. Maybe you have more work than them - but that doesn’t matter. Acknowledge their difficulties and see if you can help.
3. You seem to have a lot going on. Many people don’t want to come to their boss for help because they fear judgement or worry you’ll think they can’t ‘handle’ something. Take note of the team’s behavior. If someone looks overwhelmed - offer a helping hand.

Be understanding if someone’s struggling. Show compassion if their home life isn’t great. People are people. And a little kindness goes a long way.

#5 Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Yep. Knowing how to communicate is the key to being a better leader.

What makes a great communicator??

Someone who’s open minded and willing to listen to others (but that’s a bit washwasy, so let me elaborate).?

I’ve written in depth on how to communicate like a leader, but in a nutshell follow these three tips:

1. Open your ears and listen - you can’t lead if you don’t listen.
2. Be authoritative - there’s a fine line between doing what everyone says…and being assertive. Walk that line.
3. Use positive language - offer constructive criticism. But don’t bring others down. It never helps.?

In short,

Being a great leader is about balance. That takes practice. Honestly, with some time and patience- you’ll get there.

Just saying.

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