How to develop leadership qualities in yourself - recommendations for the owner of an online store. How to develop the leadership qualities in yourself How to develop the qualities of a leader

  • 30.05.2020

09:30 29.01.2016

  • What is the most important skill for a CEO and how to develop it
  • What leadership qualities do employees value?
  • What does it mean to be a highly professional leader
  • How to develop managerial and leadership skills

The most important leader quality, even shy - the ability to make decisions and take responsibility. Can this be learned? Some believe that leadership qualities in a person are natural, others are sure that they can be brought up in oneself.

The most important qualities of a leader

We honestly asked CEOs what qualities they think a modern leader should have. And that's what happened.

  • sociability - 57.5%;
  • resistance to stress - 48.4%;
  • the ability to determine priorities - 47.1%;
  • self-confidence - 44.3%;
  • energy, endurance and vitality - 43.4;

In our survey, respondents could choose multiple answers.

But what qualities of their leaders are actually admired by today's employees:

  • the presence of a strategic vision - 71%;
  • self-confidence - 69.2%;
  • the ability to create a team - 66.5%;
  • the ability to determine priorities - 58.8%;
  • sociability - 58.8%.

The difference, as they say, on the face.

What skill can be considered the most-most

Harro van Graafeiland, General Director of TNT Express in Russia, Moscow

I am convinced that leadership is difficult to teach. This is a kind of art, which consists in the ability to make the best use of the accumulated knowledge and experience in specific circumstances. There are no ready-made recipes that unambiguously indicate how to act in a given situation. Therefore, in my opinion, the most important leader quality- the ability to make decisions.

In general, this skill is universal, it is essential for both managers and ordinary employees. Agree that any employee has to make decisions. The only difference is that the future of the entire company depends on the decision of the manager, and mistakes are not always amenable to quick correction, and some of them can be fatal for the enterprise. In my daily work, I have to make many decisions (operational, tactical, strategic), and in this area I find it very important to respect the time frame. An effective leader must solve everything quickly and in a timely manner, therefore, as a rule, he relies on intuition, professional experience and knowledge.

I think most executives are familiar with the so-called rule of three nails[i]. Many believe that the decision should lie down - so to speak, mature. However, very often, waiting tactics lead to the fact that nothing depends on the measures taken, or - even worse - this or that business opportunity is missed. For example, I know from experience that a timely decision sometimes allows a company to retain a client or strengthen its position in the market.

Of course, the ideal option is when, when making a decision, you are based on a thorough knowledge of the issue and detailed knowledge of the situation. But in real life this happens very rarely, especially when it comes to high-ranking managers. Therefore, for a leader, intuition is extremely important, which comes with experience and develops with professional growth.

For many years of work in foreign company I noticed that foreign top managers are more mobile and flexible in making decisions than Russian ones. This is understandable: many Russian leaders You have to develop this skill on your own, by trial and error.

Any General Director should also be prepared to be responsible for his decisions. After all, in any case, business is a risk, so it is important to take responsibility for both success and failure. Everyone makes mistakes, but a person truly reveals himself when he overcomes difficulties. The ability to take full responsibility is the main quality of a self-confident leader. And this is the key to success.

Business and professional qualities of a leader

Emotional balance is one of the key. The leader must remain psychologically stable in any situation, setting an example for subordinates.

Self-confidence is also one of the main qualities of a leader, necessary when interacting with subordinates. Confident man reflects balance and calmness, which also becomes an example for employees.

Stress resistance is considered a fundamental personal quality. You need to always keep a "sober head", not to succumb to stress and panic, not to allow employees to be overly emotional. The ability to make decisions under any unexpected circumstances is, we recall, of paramount importance.

The desire to win - so that the manager can charge employees with enthusiasm. It is the desire to win that allows leaders to move forward. career ladder, since this ability is adjacent to self-confidence.

The positive business qualities of a leader are considered provided that negative goals are not hidden with them. For example, an unscrupulous leader can hide behind entrepreneurial spirit, who can easily cover up his attitude to work.

Among the main professional (business) qualities that any manager can develop, one can also note:

Practical intelligence is the ability of logical and critical thinking, with the flexible, fast and efficient use of one's experience and knowledge to solve specific problems. practical tasks. Mandatory, but insufficient quality. The ability to work with information and the ability to communicate with people equally affect the effectiveness of management.

Social intelligence is the ability to understand and correctly interpret the feelings of other people, putting oneself in the place of another, with an understanding of what to demand from a particular person and what is not worth it. It consists in the ability to behave according to the situation, with the creation of an atmosphere that will create favorable conditions to do business.

Adequate self-esteem - the ability of self-observation, self-control, criticality, correction in one's behavior. A manifestation of inadequate self-esteem is the selective perception of information. The inability to correctly assess one's capabilities, professional competence, and inflated self-esteem cause a situation where a manager takes on tasks that are beyond his strength.

Professional knowledge. As we approach the top of the managerial pyramid, the amount of highly specialized knowledge required decreases. In particular, it is not necessary for the president of the company or the director of the plant to have a thorough understanding of the production technology as much as the chief technologist knows it. But a top manager needs to understand whether their production processes meet world standards, they need to know the economic and technological ties of the industry's enterprises, the most promising product options.

Managers and senior executives need competencies that create the basis for:

  1. Identification of the problem, taking into account the relationship with other management tasks.
  2. Making optimal decisions, taking into account the opinion of different experts.
  3. Operational management and control of the work of subordinates.

With the growth of the level of management will also increase necessary requirements in relation to the psychological qualities of leaders - including the ability to think ahead, a sense of responsibility, purposefulness and perseverance. The ability to socially activate other people, charging them with the proper energy, self-confidence, and will, is also of great importance.

For lower levels of management, attention is paid to the tendency to systematic daily work, the ability to quickly reorient to changes in the current situation.

Hard and soft leadership

In the modern world, the concept of "management leadership" has firmly entered the theory and practice of management, and the leadership qualities of managers have become an indispensable element of management. Depending on the hard or soft approach to personnel management, management leaders, primarily General Directors, require hard or soft leadership.

soft leadership

A soft approach to human resource management is based on the principle of matching the interests of the company and the employee. This principle is supported by the personnel management system: the company seeks and recruits its employees. Such employees not only have the knowledge, skills and experience that are necessary to succeed in official duties, but also personal characteristics that determine the efficiency of business processes and a positive atmosphere in the company (in one case - innovative, in the other - team, in the third - aimed at development and self-improvement, etc.). Such a personnel management system creates and maintains a fairly effective feedback and actively uses the method of delegation of authority.

With a soft approach to personnel management, emphasis is placed on the qualitative aspects of management, such as the commitment of the company's employees and their satisfaction. The goal is to create optimal conditions to unlock the potential and increase the motivation of employees to achieve.

Companies that have chosen this approach need managers who have the traits of a soft leader who can provide support, training and coaching to their colleagues, encourage their active participation in solving problems, inspire action, inspire creativity. Features of soft leadership - a short distance between the leader and followers, the wide participation of followers in the development and decision-making, constant dialogue. The conditions for the leader to maintain his leadership are his authority as an expert in the subject area, inspiring respect personal qualities(consistency, honesty, openness, decency) and the unconditional strength of the individual, but the main thing is the coincidence of the values ​​​​of the leader and followers.

Tough leadership

A strict approach to human resources management is based on the principle of non-coincidence of the interests of the company and the employee. In this case, the personnel management system does not provide for the waste of time, effort and resources to search for their employees: work is carried out with those who are accepted into the company. Therefore, a strict HR management system focuses not so much on the commitment and satisfaction of the staff, but on performance indicators that are easy to measure. The purpose of personnel management in this system is to obtain maximum benefit at minimum cost.

Companies that follow this approach, need leaders who have the traits of a tough leader, able to influence, convince, take and solely bear responsibility for their own decisions. With this approach, “sentiment” fades into the background. The features of tough leadership are a large distance between the leader and followers, the concentration of power and responsibility in the hands of the leader, the undeniable obedience of followers, the replacement of dialogues with monologues (the principle of interaction between the leader and the subordinate - “if you want to talk to me, then be silent!”). Hard leadership for success needs charismatic leaders - able to inspire others with an irrational belief in themselves. The conditions for the leader's leadership are not so much his charisma (few people have it), but the control of resources and the preponderance of power ("administrative resource").

What role to play

In the ranking of leadership competencies in demand in modern conditions management, dominated by competencies associated with tough leadership, which is necessary to solve not so much strategic as tactical management tasks. It is significant that the leaders themselves value leadership competencies, which for the time being are not in demand by their companies and are associated with strategic management and gentle leadership.

Of course, it is easier to be a tough leader than a soft leader. But the practice of personnel management used in leading companies convincingly shows that sustainable competitive advantages have companies whose leaders have built a management system based on trust, support and development, and not on fear, high responsibility of managers with resignation of staff.

  • What qualities does a modern leader have: common features

How to develop leadership skills as a leader

Keep your hands clean. The main problem facing the leader is to maintain a balance between the desire to be in the know and the scale of the tasks to be solved. A leader who is not afraid to get his hands dirty may end up trying unsuccessfully to control everything and everyone. If your hands are too dirty, then you are doing the work for subordinates. Some employees will happily go out for coffee while the boss does their job, but others will feel cheated and robbed.

Draw. To make the idea more accessible, try sketching it. If this is difficult for you, study children's drawings: children are excellent at transferring a mental model of the world to paper.

Invite employees to criticize you. Without provocation it is impossible to learn anything new. The author of the book came to the conclusion that the most fast way understand how to become better - listen to the critical statements of others. But how to get people to share their opinion, especially the negative one? Start your next meeting by asking, “How do I get things done?” When John Maeda did this, his interlocutors often asked in surprise if he was joking. However, the author warns, do not immediately act in accordance with the comments. We must learn to highlight the most valuable of what has been said. After all, everyone has different opinions, and the advice of one employee may contradict the recommendations of another.

Communicate with employees personally. If you do not have the opportunity to meet with each employee, ask department heads to circulate necessary information. This method is less efficient, but the information will still be reported in the right context.

  • Strategic Leadership: 6 Qualities That Make Good Leaders

How to develop managerial qualities as a leader

The ex-president of Coca-Cola and Revlon, Jack Stahl, wrote the book Seven Basic Management Skills for Leaders at All Levels in 2008, in which he shared the secrets of management. The success of any leader, he is sure, depends on the ability to influence people. This is what you need to learn first. The methods proposed in the book are not always humane, but always effective. We read the book and wrote down the main recommendations for effective management.

Set yourself high goals. It is better to achieve 80% of the maximum goal than to overfulfill a not-too-ambitious plan. For example, the North American division The Coca-Cola Company set itself the goal of growing by 8% every year. Real growth was only 6%, but it was still more than would have been expected with less stringent planning. Find an approach to people. When I joined Revlon in 2002, I understood why it had not been possible to extract the appropriate financial results. Six thousand employees of the company had no idea what their corporation was striving for and what their role in this process was. Discussions between divisions helped, during which rank-and-file employees suggested good ideas regarding product packaging and merchandising.

Help employees improve their skills. The owner of a small restaurant allowed students to study in working time. At first they served visitors, and then they prepared for study in the back rooms. This was cheaper than urgent replacements for “sick” employees who were actually catching up with the curriculum.

Formulate the main advantage of the brand. State in one paragraph what is special about your product or service. These phrases are the basis marketing strategy. Marketing resources are always limited, so try to be specific about who is in your target audience and target those consumers.

Talk to clients. Ask them about work and business development plans, try to understand how you can be useful to them in achieving their goals. One day we learned that one of our major clients (Coca-Cola) was preparing to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. We offered our consultations, because we had similar experience and were well versed in the issue. Our interest in the successful development of the client company has strengthened partnerships.

When talking about achievements, use numbers. Employees are not always able to understand how their actions affect the change in the value of the business. Help them see the connection between their day-to-day activities and the growth of the company's capitalization. Do not limit your communication with investors either. In the 1980s, Coca-Cola gave the investment community details of its US and international operations. I believe that it was this openness that contributed to the growth of the company's capitalization over the next ten years.

TNT Express in Russia
Field of activity: express delivery of goods.
Form of organization: LLC.
Territory: head office - in Moscow, branches - in 13 cities; coverage of the regional network - 11,000 settlements.
Number of staff: 800.
Number of processed orders: more than 125,000 per month.
Length of service as CEO: since 1999.
Participation of the General Director in business: a hired manager.

[i] This rule says: when subordinates report a problem, mentally hang it on the first nail; if someone is interested in your solution, move the problem to the second nail; and only after a few reminders should it be moved to the third nail and urgently resolved. - Note. editions.

  • What is the most important skill for a CEO and how to develop it.
  • What qualities of leaders do employees value?
  • What does it mean to be a highly professional leader.
  • How to develop managerial and leadership qualities.

The most important leader quality, even the shy one – the ability to make decisions and take responsibility. Can this be learned?

Some believe that leadership qualities in a person are natural, others are sure that they can be brought up in oneself.

The most important qualities of a leader

We honestly asked CEOs What qualities, in their opinion, should a modern leader have? And that's what happened.

  • sociability - 57.5%;
  • resistance to stress - 48.4%;
  • the ability to determine priorities - 47.1%;
  • self-confidence - 44.3%;
  • energy, endurance and vitality - 43.4;

In our survey, respondents could choose multiple answers.

But what qualities of their leaders are actually admired by today's employees:

  • the presence of a strategic vision - 71%;
  • self-confidence - 69.2%;
  • the ability to create a team - 66.5%;
  • the ability to determine priorities - 58.8%;
  • sociability - 58.8%.

How good are you as a leader: a quick test

Even if you think you know everything about the work of a leader and how lead the company to success Let's take this simple test. Test yourself with a test from the editors of the magazine "General Director".

Business and professional qualities of a leader

Emotional balance is among the key ones. The leader must remain psychologically stable in any situation, setting an example for subordinates.

Self confidence is also one of the main qualities of a leader, necessary when interacting with subordinates. A confident person reflects poise and calmness, which also becomes an example for employees.

Stress tolerance considered a fundamental personality trait. You need to always keep a "sober head", not to succumb to stress and panic, not to allow employees to be overly emotional. The ability to make decisions under any unexpected circumstances is, we recall, of paramount importance.

How to manage stress as a leader (7 tips)

Striving for victory- so that the manager can charge employees with enthusiasm. It is the desire to win that allows leaders to move up the career ladder, since this ability is adjacent to self-confidence.

The positive business qualities of a leader are considered provided that negative goals are not hidden with them. For example, an unscrupulous leader can hide behind entrepreneurial spirit, who can easily cover up his attitude to work.

Among the main professional (business) qualities that any manager can develop, one can also note:

  • Practical intelligence- the ability of logical and critical thinking, with flexible, fast and efficient use of their experience, knowledge to solve specific practical problems. Mandatory, but insufficient quality. The ability to work with information and the ability to communicate with people equally affect the effectiveness of management.
  • social intelligence- the ability to understand and correctly interpret the feelings of other people, putting oneself in the place of another, with an understanding of what to demand from a particular person and what is not worth it. It consists in the ability to behave according to the situation, with the creation of an atmosphere that will create favorable conditions for doing business.
  • Adequate self-esteem- the ability of self-observation, self-control, criticality, correction in one's behavior. A manifestation of inadequate self-esteem is the selective perception of information. The inability to properly assess one's capabilities, professional competence, and inflated self-esteem cause a situation where a manager takes on tasks that are beyond his strength.

As we approach the top of the managerial pyramid, the amount of highly specialized knowledge required decreases. In particular, it is not necessary for the president of the company or the director of the plant to have a thorough understanding of the production technology as well as the chief technologist. But a top manager needs to understand whether their production processes meet world standards, they need to know the economic and technological ties of the industry's enterprises, the most promising product options.

Managers and senior executives need competencies that create the basis for:

  1. Identification of the problem, taking into account the relationship with other management tasks.
  2. Making optimal decisions, taking into account the opinion of different experts.
  3. Operational management and control of the work of subordinates.

With the growth of the level of management, the necessary requirements for the psychological qualities of leaders will also increase - including ability to think ahead, sense of responsibility, purposefulness and persistence. The ability to socially activate other people, charging them with the proper energy, self-confidence, and will, is also of great importance.

For lower levels of management, attention is paid to propensity for systematic daily work, the ability to quickly reorient to changes in the current situation.

Hard and soft leadership

In the modern world, the concept of "management leadership" has firmly entered the theory and practice of management, and the leadership qualities of managers have become an indispensable element of management. Depending on the hard or soft approach to personnel management, management leaders, primarily CEOs, are required to lead hard or soft.

soft leadership

A soft approach to human resource management is based on the principle of matching the interests of the company and the employee. This principle is supported by the personnel management system: the company seeks and recruits its employees. Such employees possess not only the knowledge, skills and experience that are necessary for success in performing their duties, but also personal characteristics that determine the efficiency of business processes and a positive atmosphere in the company (in one case - innovative, in another - team, in the third - aimed at development and self-improvement, etc.). Such a personnel management system creates and maintains quite effective feedback and actively applies the method of delegation of authority.

With a soft approach to personnel management, emphasis is placed on the qualitative aspects of management, such as the commitment of the company's employees and their satisfaction. The goal is to create optimal conditions for unlocking the potential and strengthening the motivation of employees to achieve.

Companies that have chosen this approach need managers who have the traits of a soft leader who can provide support, training and coaching to their colleagues, encourage their active participation in solving problems, inspire action, inspire creativity. Features of soft leadership are a short distance between the leader and followers, wide participation of followers in the development and decision-making, constant dialogue. The conditions for the leader to maintain his leadership are his authority as an expert in the subject area, inspiring respect for personal qualities (consistency, honesty, openness, decency) and the unconditional strength of the personality, but most importantly, the coincidence of the values ​​of the leader and followers.

Tough leadership

A strict approach to human resources management is based on the principle of non-coincidence of the interests of the company and the employee. In this case, the personnel management system does not provide for the waste of time, effort and resources to search for their employees: work is carried out with those who are accepted into the company. Therefore, a strict HR management system focuses not so much on the commitment and satisfaction of the staff, but on performance indicators that are easy to measure. The purpose of personnel management in this system is to obtain maximum benefit at minimum cost.

Companies that adhere to this approach need leaders who have the traits of a tough leader who can influence, persuade, take and be solely responsible for their own decisions. With this approach, “sentiment” fades into the background. The features of tough leadership are a large distance between the leader and followers, the concentration of power and responsibility in the hands of the leader, the undeniable obedience of followers, the replacement of dialogues with monologues (the principle of interaction between the leader and the subordinate - “if you want to talk to me, then be silent!”). Hard leadership for success requires charismatic leaders - able to inspire others with an irrational belief in themselves. The conditions for the leader's leadership are not so much his charisma (few people have it), but the control of resources and the preponderance of power ("administrative resource").

What role to play

The ranking of leadership competencies that are in demand in modern management conditions is dominated by competencies associated with tough leadership, which is necessary to solve not so much strategic as tactical management tasks. It is significant that the leaders themselves value leadership competencies, which for the time being are not in demand by their companies and are associated with strategic management and soft leadership.

Of course, it is easier to be a tough leader than a soft leader. But the practice of personnel management used in leading companies convincingly shows that companies whose leaders have built a management system based on trust, support and development, and not on fear, high responsibility of managers with resignation of personnel, have sustainable competitive advantages.

How to develop leadership skills as a leader

Keep your hands clean. The main problem facing the leader is to maintain a balance between the desire to be in the know and the scale of the tasks to be solved. A leader who is not afraid to get his hands dirty may end up trying unsuccessfully to control everything and everyone. If your hands are too dirty, then you are doing the work for subordinates. Some employees will happily go out for coffee while the boss does their job, but others will feel cheated and robbed.

Draw. To make the idea more accessible, try sketching it. If this is difficult for you, study children's drawings: children are excellent at transferring a mental model of the world to paper.

Invite employees to criticize you. Without provocation it is impossible to learn anything new. The author of the book came to the conclusion that the fastest way to understand how to become better is to listen to the critical statements of others. But how to get people to share their opinion, especially the negative one? Start your next meeting by asking, “How do I get things done?” When John Maeda did this, his interlocutors often asked in surprise if he was joking. However, the author warns, do not immediately act in accordance with the comments. We must learn to highlight the most valuable of what has been said. After all, everyone has different opinions, and the advice of one employee may contradict the recommendations of another.

Communicate with employees personally. If you do not have the opportunity to meet with each employee, ask the heads of departments to distribute the necessary information. This method is less efficient, but the information will still be reported in the right context.

  • Strategic Leadership: 6 Qualities That Make Good Leaders

How to develop managerial qualities as a leader

The ex-president of Coca-Cola and Revlon, Jack Stahl, wrote the book Seven Basic Management Skills for Leaders at All Levels in 2008, in which he shared the secrets of management. The success of any leader, he is sure, depends on the ability to influence people. This is what you need to learn first. The methods proposed in the book are not always humane, but always effective. We read the book and wrote down the main recommendations for effective management.

Set yourself high goals. It is better to achieve 80% of the maximum goal than to overfulfill a not-too-ambitious plan. For example, the North American division of The Coca-Cola Company has set itself the goal of growing by 8% every year. Real growth was only 6%, but it was still more than would have been expected with less stringent planning. Find an approach to people. When I joined Revlon in 2002, I understood why the brand hadn't been able to extract a proper financial result from the brand before. Six thousand employees of the company had no idea what their corporation was striving for and what their role in this process was. Discussions between divisions helped, during which line employees offered good ideas regarding product packaging and merchandising.

Help employees improve their skills. The owner of a small restaurant allowed students to study during working hours. At first they served visitors, and then they prepared for study in the back rooms. This was cheaper than urgent replacements for “sick” employees who were actually catching up with the curriculum.

Formulate the main advantage of the brand. State in one paragraph what is special about your product or service. These phrases are the basis of the marketing strategy. Marketing resources are always limited, so try to determine exactly who your target audience is and target those consumers.

Talk to clients. Ask them about work and business development plans, try to understand how you can be useful to them in achieving their goals. One day we learned that one of our major clients (Coca-Cola) was preparing to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. We offered our consultations, because we had similar experience and were well versed in the issue. Our interest in the successful development of the client company has strengthened partnerships.

When talking about achievements, use numbers. Employees are not always able to understand how their actions affect the change in the value of the business. Help them see the connection between their day-to-day activities and the growth of the company's capitalization. Do not limit your communication with investors either. In the 1980s, Coca-Cola gave the investment community details of its US and international operations. I believe that it was this openness that contributed to the growth of the company's capitalization over the next ten years.

So, the manager must first of all realize his place among the employees, and in no case should he be on the same level with them. The leader's task is to solve current problems and achieve high results in the company's work. His work will be effective if he manages to create a healthy, team and productive team aimed at winning.

What a leader should be able to do: anticipate the likelihood of the development of certain events, find weaknesses in competitors or opponents, and purposefully organize his subordinates.
What motivates a leader: the desire for a goal, the desire to improve the performance of the organization, the desire to gain more respect and wealth, realization of the need for self-expression, ambition and healthy competition.

In addition, a real leader cannot do without science. To do this, you need to learn the basics of the art of management. After all, armed with your own mind and science, you can achieve results much faster and more efficiently. Why rediscover something that has long been known. It is enough to study the historical experience of management.
If these factors are harmoniously combined in a person, then it will be quite easy to lead.

So, supervisor- this is a person who is perfectly oriented in reality, has professional training, has a sense of responsibility and is aimed at hard and productive work.

Hello! In this article, we will talk about how to become a good leader who is loved, appreciated and respected by his subordinates. You will learn what qualities a person holding a leadership position should have. What is the difference between female leaders and male directors. What mistakes should be avoided.

Why be a good leader

Supervisor is an effective manager. It is from his ability to establish manufacturing process and finding an approach to the team depends on the qualitative and quantitative indicators of the company, department, etc.

The concept of a "good" or "bad" boss is very subjective. After all, you can not find the perfect person who will please everyone. Nevertheless, the leader must be respected, valued and a little feared by subordinates.

A lot of directors or bosses who have just taken a leadership position behave “wrongly” and this affects the atmosphere of the team, which entails a decrease in the efficiency of each employee.

In order to be clear about what is at stake, consider the following example.

3 days ago, a department of the company was headed by a new boss. He is quite young and came to this position from another company. As a specialist, he does not know much, but nevertheless does not want to study and learn something new. He is Boss. Therefore, he behaves arrogantly, shifts part of his work to others and is incompetent in many matters. He considers himself an excellent leader, because he thinks that he is afraid and respected.

In fact, the staff does not like him, does not appreciate, does not respect and considers him an arrogant upstart. Looking at the boss, employees lose their enthusiasm, and the performance of the department gradually falls. All due to the fact that everyone works on their own.

Team is an association of people who work towards the same goal. It can be compared to a watch mechanism, where each gear is important in its own way. And the boss is the cherished key that starts the mechanism and knows how to make it work.

If you want to improve the quality of the work of a department or company, earn the respect of colleagues and subordinates, and move further up the career ladder, then you definitely need to become a good leader. And now we will tell you how to do this.

Who can be the leader

In fact, good leaders are not born, they are made. At any age, a person can feel the strength of a leader. According to statistics, 4 bosses out of 10 become good leaders. This indicator is not affected by gender or age. An excellent director can be both a young, purposeful graduate of a university, and a man of advanced age with rich experience.

Who is better man or woman

Nowadays, both men and women can become leaders. Women directors are tacticians, while men are strategists. It is harder for the fair sex to win the authority of the team. You will have to prove your professionalism, especially if most of the employees are male.

Men are more stress resistant. They are not so quick to go to extremes. However, women are more attentive to their subordinates.

Answer unequivocally the question "Who is better?" it is impossible, because everything depends on the person and his character. Therefore, it is equally possible and necessary for women and men to fight for the title of “Good leader”.

Qualities of an ideal boss

In order to become a first-class leader, you need to realistically assess your positive and negative aspects of character. All people are not perfect, but people who take leadership positions should be able to suppress negative sides his temper and develop good traits.

So, consider what an ideal director should be:

  • quick-witted;
  • Master the basics;
  • Responsible;
  • Punctual;
  • Psychologically stable;
  • human;
  • Compulsory;
  • Punctual;
  • Know how to deal with your fears
  • Don't be afraid to take risks;
  • active;
  • learners;
  • not lazy;
  • Peaceful;
  • friendly;
  • not stupid;
  • Not melancholic, etc.

Mistakes Most Managers Make

Not every boss can be elevated to the rank of a good leader. All due to the fact that they make a number of mistakes that discredit them in the eyes of their subordinates.

Consider the most common mistakes:

  1. Lack of desire to stress. Some managers, as soon as they take office, think that they have climbed to the top of the mountain and now they can relax and do nothing, thereby shifting part of their work to subordinates. In fact, you need to clearly understand that the higher the position, the more you have to work. Subordinates can help you in the early days, but you must do your own work.
  2. Failure to value employees. Every employee who does a good job deserves minimal encouragement (at least verbal).
  3. Failure to organize work. The manager must thoroughly know the entire production process. Very often, due to the fact that the boss does not understand all stages of production and does not know who is responsible for what, he attributes any troubles to the unprofessionalism of the team.
  4. Lack of desire to improve, to learn something new. Very often, managers who have been in office for many, many years believe that they know everything and are not eager to learn and learn something new. But life and technology do not stand still. And a modern person must improve, especially the leader.
  5. Appropriation of other people's merits. Let's look at this error with an example. A talented employee who has made some discovery works in a scientific laboratory. Instead of talking about the achievement of his employee, the head of the laboratory tells everyone that “THEY” did it. Such a boss believes that this discovery is his personal merit, since he is a class worker if an employee has reached such heights under his leadership.
  6. Display of rudeness and disrespect for the team. Sometimes leaders do not think about the fact that their emotions need to be controlled and break down on their subordinates for any reason. Of course, there are different moments, and so you want to let off steam. But you need to learn to restrain yourself, because ordinary workers, most often, have nothing to do with your bad mood.
  7. The insecurity of their employees. If the director puts his own interests above others, then he never defends his team anywhere. He is not versed in controversial situations and does not look for the culprit. It is easier for him to punish people (impose a fine, give a reprimand, etc.) than to figure out who is right and who is wrong.

This is not the whole list of mistakes made by leaders. In any case, you need to remember that subordinates are people for whom you bear some responsibility, and their professional failures are the failures of the manager who could not establish the production process.

Basic Rules for a Good Leader

One of the founders of management, Peter Drucker, argues that in order to become a good leader, you must use the following 5 rules under any circumstances.

Rule 1 Learn to manage your time.

Rule 2 Pay special attention end result rather than the manufacturing process. Intervene less in the work of your employees. Explain to them that everyone is doing a very important process and is responsible for it. Let each employee feel that he is a small boss.

Rule 3 Use and develop strengths and positive traits himself and his employees.

Rule 4 Always set the right priorities, bypassing secondary tasks.

Rule 5 Make effective decisions.

Tips for those who want to become a first-class leader

Analyzing the activities of many successful leaders, we have made recommendations that will help each boss earn authority in the team.

  • Behave “right” from the first day on the job as a manager.
  • Study the team well. Immediately after taking office, familiarize yourself with all the personal files of your employees. Try to remember their names. So, your subordinates will see that for you they are not just a labor force, but first of all people.
  • Always be honest and keep your promises.
  • Discuss the production process more often in a team, let subordinates prove themselves, ask them to take the initiative.
  • Don't be arrogant, but keep yourself a little simpler. After all, the same people work in the team, only one rank below you.
  • Do not scold employees in public. It is better to chastise a negligent employee in your office.
  • Praise and encourage staff general meetings. You will inspire others.
  • Don't sit idle. A good leader always has a lot of work to do. Bad directors shift part of their work to subordinates, and then toil from idleness.
  • Do not be afraid to lose your position and let's develop talented employees.
  • Control your emotions.
  • Rate yourself by your worst employee. After all, part of the blame for his failures lies with you. Perhaps you did not motivate him or assigned him a task that was too difficult.
  • Do not spare money for financial incentives personnel. If people do not have an incentive (for example, in the form of bonuses for the highest performance), then they will work half-heartedly without enthusiasm. Remember that average employees work for an average salary.
  • Learn to resolve any domestic disputes. Do not stand aside if there is a conflict in the team. Try to understand the current situation and help to solve it peacefully.
  • Require discipline. Use redemption sometimes. The main thing is that your claims are on the case.
  • Do not indulge the whims of employees. Be kind but strict. Otherwise, you will be ignored.
  • Show your competence and do not shift all the problems to subordinates.
  • Congratulate the team on the holidays, be interested in the health, family, children of employees.
  • Never go to extremes, and evaluate any situation soberly.
  • Study psychology and visit psychological trainings. It is on this that the healthy climate of your team depends.
  • Determine the place of each employee in the team. For example, someone is a generator of ideas, and someone likes the monotonous work with papers, and someone is an inspirer.
  • Don't single out favorites. Try to treat all employees well.

Conclusion

A good leader is a kind of "lighter". He is able to set his subordinates in the right mood, kindle the fire of enthusiasm and provoke them to do their work better and faster. The boss may not be able to do what his employees can do, but he must organize the work correctly and give the right instructions to subordinates.

Almost anyone can be a good leader. The main thing is to want this, not be afraid of change and constantly improve.

In order to be successful and achieve what you want, you need to be able to take responsibility not only for your life, but also for the life of the team, the group of people in which you are currently and are trying to realize yourself. There is no way without this, so today I will tell you about how to cultivate leadership qualities in yourself so that each of your goals is achieved.

A little information

What is it like to be a leader, and what qualities distinguish a person who is able to take responsibility from someone who cannot cope with it? To begin with, let's determine exactly where a person can show his character in order to understand where to start and in which direction to move:

  • To myself. This is when a person is responsible for his actions, he is disciplined, knows how to manage his time effectively, understands himself and is able to make choices without fear of responsibility and freedom. They say that leaders are not born, they become during life, and so, this is the first step from which you need to start, otherwise, if you are not able to answer for yourself, how can you lead other people, motivate them?
  • In a situation. Are there cases when, for example, someone became ill on the train, and people cannot find a doctor? Then some person is called who does not have medical education but trying to do something to help. After all, often at such moments thoughts arise that “this does not concern me”, that “what if I do something wrong, and then it will be even worse”, etc. So, the next step is to learn how to act, and not stop yourself, and in difficult situations show your abilities. You may not know how to do artificial respiration, but you have excellent organizational skills and you can stop the panic of others who will help you find a specialist.
  • In a collective. This stage is more difficult, but also real. You need to be able to win the trust and respect of employees. To do this, there is no need to run around and shout to everyone so that only you are listening, since you know what to do. No, you just need to become efficient. Again, take responsibility for the workflow and consequences.
  • In a team. This is already a championship at the macro level, when a person is able not only to inspire confidence, but also, thanks to his ambitiousness, to lead.

Top Ways to Develop Leadership Qualities

The qualities inherent in the leader and which should be emphasized in the development process.

1. Ability to set goals


Yes, it is the one who knows what he wants and how to achieve it that is able to lead the team. Have you ever met a leader of the pack who does not know what goal he is pursuing? When you don't know where you're going, you end up in the wrong place. Yes, and satisfaction arises when you get what you want, and not just like that. So take into service about the correct setting of goals.

2. Purposefulness

Do you think all people who know how to set goals become leaders? No, it is also important to be purposeful so as not to go astray to overcome the obstacles and difficulties that arise on the way to what you want. Absolutely everyone faces problems, it is only important to be able to rise after the blow of fate and move on, then you will be able to conquer the world.

3.Efficiency

You need to be not only reliable, but also efficient, so you must have the flexibility to adapt to new conditions. So learn to listen to other people and change your mind, plans, if this ensures the survival of not only you, but the whole system.

4.Sociability

Agree, it is unlikely that people will listen to you if you cannot connect two words together or if you are afraid to speak to them. Cultivate sociability, it will help to achieve success and create close relationships, both family and friends. See the recommendations in the article on.

5.Confidence

Confidence can be traced not only in a firm voice and a calm look, but also in gait, gestures, it is read on a subconscious level. And if you don’t have enough of it, check out the book How to Build Self-Confidence and Influence People by Speaking in Public by the famous psychologist Dale Carnegie.

6.Activity

Yes, a lazy leader will not last long in his post, he simply has to be half a step ahead of competitors, consumers, and so on.

7. Self-control


You must have endurance and control. Otherwise, if you periodically break down on colleagues, scream, sob, you will not be perceived as a reasonable person who is able to take care of the interests and future of others. If you understand that stress makes itself felt and knocks the ground out from under your feet, subscribe to updates. About how to put the nervous system in order, you can.

8. Authority

Why do you think they become leaders? But because such people have high ambitions, they are able to offer something new, they plan to change the world, and, of course, they want recognition and power.

9. Ability to refuse

You should not be afraid to lose someone's favor if you refuse a service. By sacrificing your time and energy, “leading” to manipulation, you won’t get far, so stop limiting yourself and do as you see fit, and not because you are being pressured.

10. Justice

You will lead the team if it is confident in your fairness, that you will not start to cover up and push forward relatives or “favorites”, that your decisions will be balanced and honest.

11. Ability to inspire

Even leaders are those people who can inspire accomplishments and actions. If you manage to motivate others to act, moreover, jointly and harmoniously, there will be no price for you. And for this, humanity and compassion, attentiveness and good intuition are important. Do you know what for? To understand how to encourage your employees and how to improve their working conditions. Feeling cared for and perspective, they will give all the best.

12. Be confident


It is important to overcome your fears, in extreme cases, not to succumb to them, hiding from experiences. How will others perceive you if you nervously huddle in a corner before every speech? You should charge with confidence and energy, not fear and anxiety. Learn more about fighting fears.

  1. Be sure to read the book "How Leaders Become" written by Warren Bennis with Robert Thomas. They studied leaders from different generations, such as those who grew up watching war firsthand and those who fought opponents in computer games. So, together they found out what exactly influences the formation of leadership qualities. A very interesting publication, it will be useful for both managers, leaders, and all those who only want to get the championship.
  2. To cope with enormous responsibility and stress, you must be in excellent health. So take care of yourself, get rid of bad habits, sleep for the number of hours your body needs, drink purified water, review your diet and go in for sports. You are a role model, so teach others to lead healthy lifestyle life.
  3. Another interesting book worthy of attention is The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, written by John Maxwell. On the simple examples, life stories other people, with a successful outcome and not so much, he tells in detail about each law, which will help to understand the very philosophy of primacy and take the first steps towards it.
  4. Write down a list of reasons why you still haven't won the championship. Think about what's bothering you? And is it possible to convert them into an advantage, your personal feature? Be honest with yourself, in extreme cases, you can burn this sheet.
  5. And make another list of 15 sentences beginning with "I am responsible for...". Write whatever comes to mind. This exercise will show you how you sometimes underestimate yourself, considering yourself incapable of being responsible for various processes.

Conclusion

And that’s all for today, dear readers! I hope the above methods will help you win the championship, recognition and success. Once you have already won the competition from millions, having been born, so you have the experience of winning, remember this.

The material was prepared by Alina Zhuravina.