Leaders are at the upper echelons of power and authority in an organisation. A leader is a person with a vision, he is inspiring, and he can work relentlessly to make that vision a reality. Leadership is an art of making a collective effort with people toward a common goal and realising their dream.
Five qualities that differentiate leaders from non-leaders are:
Empathy
One must have heard of that saying which goes like ‘leaders have a strong stomach but a soft heart’ a heart that feels for other people. Leaders need to be connected with people so that people work and make the organisational goals a part of their personal goals. In this way, organisations can prosper, and the development of people can take place. Empathy makes other people feel more important in the eyes of a leader. Employees in an organization feel more motivated and charged when they see that the figurehead is looking toward their problems and is into providing valuable solution.
Communication
Let’s go back to your high school. Do you remember the dean/director at your high school? He was constantly socialising with one group after another. Leaders have strong interpersonal skills; they have to deal with people on a day to day basis. A leader needs to have strong communication skills. He is a liaison and has to communicate upward and downward in an organisational hierarchy with the junior and senior staff. The key ingredient in leadership is communication. If a leader isn’t careful in his communication, It can affect the company in a negative way.
Adaptability
In response to the ever changing business environment, it is of vital importance that a leader must possess adaptability. To grow in a role, it is necessary to be adaptable to face different challenges which are included in a job description. Leader, who is the figurehead of an organisation, must imbibe this characteristic in his personality to grow. The business environment is volatile, so it is imperative to learn new skills and behaviours in response to changing circumstances.
Stress Management
Being in leadership positions entails that a person can be in high stressful situations at times. If a person who is in the leadership position is not good in stress management, the organisation can suffer a lot. He has to cope up with that stress and if he is not able to successfully cope up with the situation, he can make the organisation and employees suffer. To improve everyday functioning, it is imperative for the person who is in a leadership position to make people around him aware about stress and its management. A leader can play a positive role as his organisational role is reverential; he can make people understand that stress hinders employee performance.
Emotional Intelligence
Contemporary research has highlighted the importance of emotional quotient. In earlier days, much stress was upon on intelligence quotient. The current study entails the importance of emotional quotient and stresses upon its reputation.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage one’s emotions positively to diffuse the stressful situation and for effective communication. Leaders don’t allow their personal whim and caprice to overcome their emotions. An emotionally intelligent leader let the thoughts sink in the head. Once the emotional rush is over, he let himself recognise the emotions and the impact of emotions on himself and others. He analyses his current mood and also the impact of his mood on his decision making. In this way, a leader can make a valuable contribution to the organisation.
These are some qualities which differentiate leaders from non-leaders. You can identify leaders at your workplace by looking for these qualities. Moreover, you can also build the leadership skills of your employees by training and employee development programs.
Both executives and C-suite employees play an essential role in developing the leadership skills of employees because they manage almost all the employees in your company. So, you must hire the right fit for these positions. You can hire a company like Ecap, which specialises in providing in executive search services.
