The Top 3 Characteristics That Every Leader Should Have

What characteristics comprise a great leader? How do they act? How do they treat their team?

These are just some of the questions that come to mind when evaluating ourselves, our employees or preparing for a new hire. You can easily find scholarly articles defining leadership, exploring leadership styles and encouraging various leadership paths. But what does the average employee think?

Top 3 Characteristics Employee Engagement participants believe the best leaders have:

1. Integrity  -  Compassion  -  Determination
   
   
2. Honest  -  Serves Others  -  Communicates Well
   
   
3. Communication  -  Ability to Delegate Tasks  -  Positive
   
   
4. Confidence  -  Recognizes Employees  -  Intuition
   
   
5. Good Listener  -  Trusts Their Associates  -  Extremely Patient
   
   
6. Empowering  -  Relatable  -  Inquisitive
   
   
7. Empathy  -  Decision Making Skills  -  Sense of Humor
   
   
8. Honesty  -  Engaged  -  Accepts Responsibility
   
   
9. Can Grow a Business  -  Training  -  Interpersonal Skills
   
   
10. Attentive  -  Proactive  -  Good Listening Skills
    
    

Themes of Good Leaders:

There are several similarities among the answers. Empowerment and communication.  

Empowerment:

The true definition of empowerment means to give power to, but in the workforce this word can be interpreted several different ways. Do you empower yourself to do well each and every day? Do you empower those around you - your peers? Do you empower your team? Do you give them the encouragement they need to be productive and innovative each day?

Communication:

Communication comes to down to you having a plan in place and ensuring that plan is understood by the entire team. Do you feel your team is getting the message you are trying to send? Do they have the proper forms of communication to be able to effectively work together and with their leader? Are the goals and company objectives being passed down the organizational hierarchy?

When looking at the similarities between these characteristics, you can craft a leadership style that works best for your employees and colleagues.

We urge you to think of your favorite leader, a boss or mentor who has made an impact on you. How did they act? What characteristics would you use to describe them? Implement those characteristics into your daily interactions at work.