Understanding
Leadership Traits: Traits
to Develop and Traits to Avoid
Also see our transformational philosophy and transformational leadership programs
In psychology, a trait is a stable characteristic--potentially
lasting throughout one's entire life. Coming up with an exact
list set of leadership
traits is difficult due to:
Culture. What works in the West
does not work in the East, a trait that works in France will
be less successful
in America.
Context. What trait is appropriate depends on
the context one finds oneself.
Paradox. Leadership is paradoxical.
It defies logic due to unconscious factors and emotions.
Means and Ends. Leadership
is both a means when it focuses on process and behaviors
and an
end when
leaders
focuses on goals and outcomes.
Having said that an exact list in impossible
to come up with, does not mean that leadership traits are
not important in leadership development. It simply means that different experts will come
up
with
different lists, so a certain amount of confusion will need to
be tolerated.
It's reasonable to assume that certain personality
traits are associated with leadership, while others are not.
Below are articles which talk about traits associated with
leadership success and failure.
Many times we focus
on leadership traits associated with success, but it is interesting
to understand failures of leadership as well. This article
mentions 6 "warning signs." or traits associated
with leadership failures. This includes:
A Shift in Focus. It discusses when leaders
forget the big picture and shift focus on the little
things. Like making money or fixating on fame as the reason
why
they are doing what they are doing.
Poor Communication. Great leaders understand
that followers don't read minds. Great leadership
is about communicate ideas.
Risk Aversion. This trait talks about the
fear of failure and how past successes can be a treasure.
Ethics Slip. There has to be a close relationship
between what a leader does and what he/she is.
Poor Self-Management.. It's very important
that the leader takes care of him/herself to be able
to achieve goals. (Physical, psychological, emotional and
spiritual needs)
Lost Love. Leaders have to remember the
vision that brought them there. Stay on track—stay
the course.
This short article
that lists leadership traits associated with success.
This article can be used as a quick checklist to develop
your
own effectiveness scorecard.
The
article talks about how employees don't want to be
managed, but need to be lead. It covers five "enemies" to
successful leadership that include:
Selfishness. here we focus on what we want
and don't consider what other people want and need.
Power Struggles. as leaders, we have to
learn to serve, not demand.
Poor Communication. If we don't communicate
well, our message will be misunderstood, misinterpreted
and misplaced. We often use wrong words, tone of voice,
or our body sends a different message than our mouth.
Behavior: we need to know ourselves
and what are the things that get us out of control,
we need to learn when we have to delegate.
Jealousy. we need to learn that more does
not always lead to happiness.
This
article emphasizes the importance of refining your leadership
traits along seven dimensions. It assumes that
traits of leadership must be neither too hot or too cold,
neither too strong or too weak. For example, one should learn
to
be strong
and
not rude; kind but not weak; bold but not a bully, humble
but not timid; proud but not arrogant; humorous but not silly.
Finally, one must deal with the reality of the present but
keep on eye on the future.
The Civil Air Patrol is a organization brach of the U.S. Air Force.
The organization lists 6 traits important to success in a military
context. They are:
Leadership traits are a subset of personality
traits. According to Raymond Cattell, a pioneer in the field
of personality
assessments,
good leaders have these personality characteristics.
If
there is any organization where effective leadership must be
cultivated and developed, it is the military. While the
Air Force, Navy, Army and Marines do not agree on a common list
of
traits,
one
can assume that one is doing something right if one has followers
who exhibit respect, confidence, and
loyal
cooperation.
Unfortunately for us all, bad leaders
occupy positions of power in business and government. The article
is a summary of a book on the same subject.
In
this case,
the seven
deadly
leadership traits
include being: Incompetent, Rigid, Intemperate, Callous,
Corrupt, Insular, and
Evil.
