Leader Series: What A Great Leader Does

Great leaders can look a million different ways. They can have different focuses, strengths, styles, skills, goals and agendas. It is important for leaders to have the flexibility and confidence to manifest their unique styles. Although we celebrate the individuality of leaders, we have noted ten characteristics or habits that consistently make someone a great leader of people.

A Great Leader of People:

1. Knows she knows a lot, but doesn’t know it all. A leader needs to have the confidence in her knowledge to lead, but an understanding that there are things she may not know. Listening for gems of advice and ideas from those around her , no matter the position they hold, makes her better.

2. Does not need to wear the “crown”. A friend of mine regularly advises those around her to let someone else wear the “crown”. That means to let someone else have the glory, the moment, the accolades. A great leader doesn’t need to take credit for all the good things that happen in her organization. She leaves room for others to shine too.

3. Is available. The trend in the 90’s was for leaders to have an “Open Door Policy”, but many talked the talked and never walked the walk. To lead people to be their best, a leader must not only have an open door policy, but actually be inside the door. An overbooked, overly traveled leader is not a great leader because she is either at something or preparing to go to something so she can’t be available to those around her. A great leader tries to not schedule more than 40% of her day.

4. Listens. A good leader prioritizes the person talking to her and discards distractions such as her blackberry, computer or telephone. She keeps consistent eye contact with the person speaking with her and is authentically in the moment so she can “hear” the spoken and unspoken messages of the interaction.

5. Gives the benefit of the doubt. A good leader does not look for people to disappoint or double-cross her. She gives the benefit of the doubt to those who work with her. If something goes wrong, she addresses the issue with the person or people involved by asking them to explain the situation to her. Then she judges the facts with the explanation before resolving the problem and planning for a better future result. If someone is not meeting expectations, she explains her expectations , where they are not being met and gives the person a chance to remedy the situation. Finally, if someone is doing something wrong or has a personality or work flaw, the great leader isolates that concern so she avoids dooming the person over one aspect of their work product or personality.

6. Is not selfish. Great leaders hire great people and then grooms them to grow in their career. Although this may ultimately lead to that person leaving the organization, a great leader knows that encouraged and supported individuals make better employees and the right thing to do is to always give individuals opportunities to maximize their potential.

7. Does not act too quickly on new ideas. Great leaders are often visionary, but great leaders are always careful with their vision. Making sudden changes or reacting to new ideas without thoughtful consideration and planning throws the whole group out of alignment.

8. Doesn’t seek to be friends, but seeks to be worthy of friendship. As a leader, crossing the line and becoming friends with those she leads is a mistake that rarely goes smoothly. A great leader knows it is important to be authentic and friendly with her staff to ensure open lines of communication and happier employees, but knows to keep boundaries. She also knows that although she will limit the friendliness, she still wants to exhibit the behaviors that would make her worthy of friendship: honesty, trust, kindness, and compassion.

9. Can communicate. A good leader takes the time to communicate with her team so they know what they need to know when they need to know and in a way that they understand. Communicating after the fact, abruptly or in cryptic ways leaves people resisting the information and creates resentment.

10. Keeps things in perspective. What we do is very important, no matter what that is. Our world works because of the people in all facets of life that do their job well. That does not mean, however, that the world ends when something goes wrong at work, someone makes a mistake or someone needs to be absent from work for a while. A good leader knows that and helps her staff to avoid getting off track with exaggerated concern and blaming behavior when things aren’t ideal.