Leading people is not an easy task and requires every leader to possess a certain set of skills and characteristics to be effective and impactful. These People Leadership Characteristics change over time and have changed dramatically with the fast pace and interconnectedness of the modern world.
In this article, we want to share with you 15 of the top characteristics you should pursue if you aim to be a top-notch people leader that everyone looks up to.
Top 15 Characteristics Present In Good People Leaders
Let’s see what these 15 characteristics are and how to leverage them.
“Successful leadership is not about being tough or soft, sensitive or assertive, but about a set of attributes. First and foremost is character.”
1. Manage Expectations Both Ways.
You need to understand what’s expected from you and make sure others understand what you expect from them. This must become your new mindset. You always have to manage people’s expectations as well as yours. The better you do it, the better your results will always be.
2. Trust People And Manage According To Seniority Levels.
Each person in a team will have a seniority level and a certain amount of experience and knowledge. You won’t need to micro-manage a super experient senior employee, while a newbie might need some hand-holding. For that, you need to possess team awareness and always map your team’s needs, preferences, and styles, and then act accordingly.
3. Listen, Clarify, Understand.
Sometimes we have people who are good listeners. But they listen, make assumptions, and go on with that. Assumptions are a leader killer. Always make sure you clarify, even when it might seem obvious to you. Make sure you fully understand what the other person is trying to convey.
Assumptions are a leader killer.
4. Recognize, Develop, And Celebrate People’s Talents.
As a leader, you will be surrounded by talents and potential talents. Good global leaders will always know how to recognize talent, develop it, and celebrate it. Celebrations are more meaningful when they meet that talent’s expectations. For this, knowing how to use motivational drivers is imperative; it’s a key skill to have.
5. Continuously Learn.
Global leadership is about learning all the time. If you think going to college and getting a masters is enough, that’s B.S. Leaders are always learning because markets, people, and situations are always changing. Continuously learning will always be imperative to adapt to this changing world.
6. Take Responsibility With Action While Taking Action With Responsibility.
Taking responsibility is always important in global leadership, and it also builds trust. However, it is vital always to take this action with responsibility. How taking responsibility will impact people, projects, stakeholders, etc., is essential to be mapped out. That’s why managing expectations is an important skill and is coupled very well with taking responsibility.
7. Understand Each Team Member's Preferences, Styles, and Motivators.
Everyone is unique. By understanding the characteristics of every single individual and adapting to them, leaders will see greater and faster results. Plus, it helps develop and strengthen bonds of trust. This does not apply only to your team members. Consider mapping all your stakeholders’ preferences, motivators, communication styles and decision-making styles.
8. Are Transparent & Genuine.
Leaders already have the stigma of always being mischievous or even devious to get what they want. So it’s super easy to lose the team’s trust in the first misunderstandings. The more transparent and genuine you are, the safer people will feel around you. You don’t have to share confidential information. That’s not what I am saying. I am saying that you can say, “this is confidential, and I cannot share,” and not make up excuses when you feel cornered. Being transparent and genuine is definitely an art: it’s not about saying whatever comes to your mind. It’s about being mindful about what you say and how you say it, but always in a sincere way.
9. Avoid Acting On Unvalidated Assumptions.
As we mentioned in the “listen, clarify and understand” topic, assumptions happen all the time. It may be while you are listening to someone, but it may also be while critically thinking about things and situations. When I say “avoid assumptions,” I am actually saying that if you want to make assumptions, don’t act on them before you test and validate them as truthful. Unvalidated assumptions – be it in the scientific world or in the social world – can bring many misunderstandings, profit losses, and disasters. Not only to you, mind you.
Unvalidated assumptions — be it in the scientific world or in the social world — can bring many misunderstandings, profit losses, and disasters.
10. Know When To Lead Through Bonds Or Authority.
Many thought-leaders out there advocate that we should always lead through bonds. But from my own experience, it is not always possible to rely on bonds solely. Sometimes, you will have to use authority. When to use soft tactics and hard tactics to influence is definitely an art as well. The key thing is to know when to influence using each approach. That’s why influencing skills are so crucial for global leaders.
11. Learn From Mistakes And Commit To Improving.
We all mess up. I mess up, and you will eventually mess up. It’s life, and we should not regard it as a failure. Failure does not exist. What exists is we ‘giving up on trying again.’ What happens is that every time we try again, we learn new things, and it builds up on top of what we already learned. Next try, it will be even better until you succeed. That’s why there are no failures. We think leadership is only about leading people, but it’s not. There are 4 success pillars, and one of them is personal leadership, which is responsible for keeping our minds sharp and fit to learn and try again when needed.
12. Seek And Give Feedback In Real-Time.
People committed to excellence and growth will always seek feedback. Because through feedback, we can learn and grow. Feedback can help you develop a talent bit by bit. With no feedback, you lack direction to know where to adjust. Smart leaders seek feedback to learn and grow and provide feedback to help others do the same.
13. Address Difficult Conversations At The Right Timing.
Piggy-backing on feedback, sometimes we do have to address difficult situations and conversations. This one is really tough, but it has to be done. And it has to be done at the right timing. Waiting a month to talk about an issue or waiting until the next performance review is out of the question. Remember the skill “managing expectations?” That’s right. This topic is very aligned with that. We can’t manage expectations if we don’t share what’s on our minds and what needs to be done or corrected immediately.
14. Work On Unconscious Biases
Everyone has biases. Biases can favor people or discriminate against people, and both of them are bad because they make exclusions. When you favor people, you are excluding them from the norm, which will create an environment of unfairness. If you discriminate against them, you will single them out in a negative way and create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. Learning what your biases are and working to avoid them is key for leaders who want to create a positive and inclusive work environment.
15. Build Trust And Rapport With Every Interaction
Most leaders think that once they build the initial bond and rapport with someone, it’s over; it’s done. Who’s next? I wish things were simple like this, but it’s not how it works. Trust is built or destroyed with every single interaction we have. We have to be mindful of every interaction and focus on developing further trust and rapport. And this is aligned with the critical skill of impressions management. It’s like a game where you win and lose points with every interaction. In this game, if you don’t work to win points, you will end up losing them. That’s how it works. Yep, I hear you. A lot of hard work. But it is what it is. We have to focus on building trust and rapport in every interaction.
Now that you have a better understanding of the characteristics of people leadership, I would propose to you the following:
- Get this list and check the ones you think you already have.
- Then, list all the ones you don’t have and order them in terms of which ones you want to work on developing first.
- Choose your top 3 ones, and find an accountability partner or an executive coach that can help you track your progress on them and keep you honest.
Building these characteristics does not happen overnight. But now you know what’s important, and if you’ve worked on the suggestion above, you also know which ones you need to develop further. So now it’s a matter of execution. Roll up your sleeves and commit to becoming a better people leader. Don’t forget to also work on the other 3 pillars as well. As you know, global leadership takes up all 4 success pillars to succeed.
If you are interested in improving your people leadership skills and want to learn step-by-step how to enhance them, check out our Global Executive Leadership Program. We go over all 4 success pillars of global leadership during 9 online modules, including 2 in people leadership.
In case you have a specific people leadership skill in mind to develop or a situation in which you feel stuck, you can purchase one of our executive leadership coaching packages. We can help you sort the issue or topic out during your program and find the best course of action to make things better for you and your team. Executive coaching can be a powerful tool in people leadership.
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