“Good leaders are not born they are made.” — Jago, 1982 post updated 4-28-23
Good leaders are not born they are made. Their desires are not totally placed upon how much intelligence they possess. However, they work daily to improve their skills and their abilities with self-improvement strategies. They are aware that to be considered a leader of value, the company’s interest must be their interest. This kind of leader knows without a qualified, educated, and dedicated team – they will fail.
Anyone can become a leader with the right mindset, values, and dedication to promoting those within their reach. It is a matter of self-study and developing their skills as well as the teams. They must keep educating themselves, train their group of employees to be passionate about their work, and have the ability to gain respect.
Leaders Who Flourish Must-Have Interpersonal Skills
No Bosses Allowed!!! Leadership is working with the team and using their interpersonal skills to be the leader of choice.
“Interpersonal skills is where respect from a group of people begins. “
Anyone who wants to be a leader and an example to others must first have the desire to know what conscious leadership is, and never get tired of developing better skills.
An individual can develop better leadership abilities by watching other leaders perform and choose to act or perform likewise or contrariwise.
Leaders who flourish are those who know their reputation is dependent upon how well they create success with their team.
What Are Interpersonal Skills?
- Dependability
- Leadership skills
- Awareness-perception skills
- Listening skills
- Responsibility
- Empathy
- Suppleness
- Enthusiasm
- Patience
- Kindness and most of all
- Teamwork
How Most Companies Hire Quality Leaders
In today’s world, most companies look for someone who demonstrates they possess communication skills and emotional intelligence. They have at least most of the interpersonal skills above and are eager to perform with integrity.
Companies want a leader who is a problem solver and knows how to take the reigns without running back and forth to get approval or disapproval for implementation. They want someone who is more interested in the company’s plan of growth, than those who might be wanting to move up the ladder.
They may have less-than-perfect technical skills, yet their interpersonal skills must make up for what might be missing in the technical area.
That does not mean that a leader needs no tech skills—they do, as most work is accomplished technically. It is important for companies to balance leadership abilities and tech skills, as we are a tech world.
But attitude is everything in leadership. Managing people is not always a cut-and-dried process or an easy task. For a team to function well, the leader must also function well.
Different people have different needs
A good leader is one who can look beneath the surface of a team member to see an underlying need. Awareness of interpersonal needs is a key factor when leading others. This means a discernment of other people’s needs.
A good leader knows that even though they may possess a high volume of experience, they cannot get the job done by themselves and they must allow others to contribute to the process, or the job will go unfinished or issues unresolved.
Within any team, not everyone has the same set of skills. However, a greater volume of work can be done by utilizing all capabilities and putting the right people to work on the right thing, while teaching additional skills where needed. A good leader does this.
Qualities That Make a Great Leader
What qualities make a good leader? What are the outstanding qualities and perceptions of an outstanding leader?
- A great leader stands behind the team—not in front of them.
- Conscious leadership comes from someone who has a distinct ability to bring out the best in others.
- They do not emphasize they are the “boss.”
- Is understanding and receptive to the team’s abilities, contributions, strengths, and knowledge.
- They know without the team, their work is incomplete.
- Great leaders know themselves well, and their abilities, however, they do not allow themselves to appear to be the only authority. They do not mind getting the team’s opinion.
- A leader with great abilities is always open to the ideas of others, knowing they do not possess all of the answers.
- Excellent leaders can acknowledge that everyone can learn something new or different that might be beneficial to accomplish a goal, including themselves.
Good Leaders Can Take Criticism, Give Encouragement, and A Positive Attitude
- A leader who can take a little criticism themselves and not be offended is placed within the group of excellency. They use the criticism to re-analyze their position and grow from it.
- These leaders give credit to others and do not take responsibility just because things went well.
- They will train those who may seem to need it, without making them feel inadequate.
- Any good leader loves to see others grow in skills and abilities, not just themselves.
- They listen to the team and encourage the team to have mutual respect.
- Their ability also includes encouraging others yet giving explicit details and answers.
- Has a positive attitude, which is mandatory.
- They can handle a crisis and not blame another person regardless of who is to blame. They remain calm and try to learn from the situation as well as teach.
- With excellent leadership; they refuse to take all the credit for a project gone well but are willing to take responsibility for it going wrong also.
- They are in touch with their team member’s needs and feelings — have empathy.
- This supportive leader has a cool, collected, and calm response even on a bad day.
- They are fully competent, their knowledge is above average, yet use it with wisdom, wisdom yet kindness, kindness yet strength, and integrity in all their daily actions.
What Good Leaders Should Not Make A Practice of …
Just seeking to rise in the ranks, to be just a manager or someone who calls themselves the boss and sits around watching or giving direct orders is not a part of effective leadership.
A true leader will gain the respect of their team. Consciously wanting to influence others to grow into leaders themselves is part of an effective leader.
“If a person is out for themselves to exploit their experience, giving no credit to others, that person is going to fail in their desire to be the leader that stands out in a crowd.” *author
“If your actions inspire others, to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams
Summing up
A good leader recognizes each person on the team with their specific contributing abilities. If a person needs more training, they find a way to help that person get the training they need.
They support and give feedback, without making that person feel inferior or less experienced. People learn in different ways, people progress in jobs in different periods. Some people need more time to take it all in, more one-on-one, which is often hard to give. Some people catch on with little effort.
This is how you will soar to being the leader of choice within the company:
“Have a team who is energized, feels respected, included, loves coming to work each day, and is focused on making customers happy, while making the company profitable.”
