Written by: Gavin Sequeira, Guest Writer Brainz Magazine
Are you a leader or aspiring to become one? These 5 virtues are a MUST if you want to stand out from the pack and take your leadership to the next level.
“Leadership is influence.” — John C. Maxwell
Some people are born into leadership roles, most earn it through hard work and sacrifice, whilst some are simply thrust into leadership when they least expect it.
Regardless of how end up in leadership, the first question on your mind ought to be… “how do I become a dynamic and effective leader’ and make the most of my opportunity?
As you go through your professional life, your leadership skills will get tested and you’ll have to stay sharp and focused on developing and fine-tuning your leadership skills over time, if you want to become a great leader.
In this article, we will break down 5 powerful virtues you need to get under your belt, if you want to become a truly dynamic and effective leader. We will examine precisely why it is important to leadership, what it means for you and how you can develop this virtue to help you accelerate your leadership development.
Virtue 1: EMPATHY
Why this is important in leadership:
According to Forbes, Empathy is the most important leadership skill and is often overlooked. Lack of empathy can result in not having the ability to fully understand the needs of others or being aware of their feelings and thoughts. Over time, this causes alienation leading to discontent within teams.
What this means for you:
Empathy will give you greater awareness, insight and understanding of what other people are feeling and thinking and this in turn will allow people to feel safe and confident talking to you.
Here are 3 ways you can become a more empathic leader:
Be more present and practice active listening without interruption. This will allow you to better engage with individuals in your team.
Pay close attention to body language and look for hidden queues. Often, its what’s not said that needs to be heard the most.
Be encouraging and supportive, especially to less confident individuals. You will find that it rally’s your team together and inspires better comradery.
Virtue 2: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Why this is important:
Emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90% of what sets high performers apart from their peers according to Harvard Business School Business Insights. Lack of emotional intelligence inhibits a leader's ability to effectively collaborate and communicate with others. It also stifles a leaders ability to adapt to changing situations, make tough decisions or resolve conflicts.
What this means for you:
As a leader, emotional intelligence will help you balance your thoughts around both logical and emotional sides of an argument. Good emotional intelligence will allow your team the foundation to collaborate productively by creating a shared sense of understanding of each other and their problems.
Here are 3 ways you can become a more emotionally intelligent leader:
Understand your values and those around you. This will help you better understand and incentivise individuals in the team based on what really drives them.
Look to challenge your own assumptions based on others input. Don’t be afraid to hear new thoughts or ideas. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Be less defensiveness or dismissive when being challenged. When leaders are receptive to change, this will inspire change in others.
Virtue 3: EMPOWERMENT
Why this is important:
Empowering leadership is a powerful strategy for leaders that can positively shape employee attitudes and behaviours. A lack of empowerment in leadership can lead to a build-up of cynicism within the team, resulting in time misappropriation.
What this means for you:
According to McKinsey & Company, empowerment as a leadership technique, will provide team members several personal benefits such as increased motivation and confidence to perform at a higher level, leading to overall improvements for your team and the business overall.
Here are 3 ways you can become a more empowering leader:
Energising your team can and will lead to exciting new solutions to problems. Look to breathe new life and mix things up every now and again.
Include the team in decision making, which increases their sense of both individual worth and commitment to the organization.
Praise and recognise individual team members as well as your team more. This will increase loyalty, as well as raise confidence and overall team morale.
Virtue 4: MORAL COURAGE
Why this is important:
Moral courage is a leader's strength of character and willingness to take on risk in order to boldly act on a decision that they value and believe in. Without moral courage, a leader’s conviction is weak and likely to cave under the slightest opposition or pressure.
What this means for you:
Leadership will test your resolve and ability to do the right thing when it is not easy. Strengthening your moral courage according to Cambridge.org will help you address ethical and politically charged issues head on and speak out in the face of opposition. It will involve being brave, taking on risks every now and again and not being afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
Here are 3 ways you can become a morally courageous leader:
Being clear about your vision and values and drawing a hard line when it comes to engaging in activities that compromise your beliefs and ethics.
Prepare in advance and anticipate those who will disagree with you. This proactive stance will increase your leadership confidence and strengthen your resolve.
Having the honesty to admit when you have made a mistake or taken a wrong path, will further strengthen your moral compass and leadership strength.
Virtue 5: CREATIVE THINKING
Why this is important:
Creative leadership allows for innovative solutions to flourish in the face of complex or changing situations. Without creative thinking, leaders are destined to repeat past mistakes, miss windows of opportunity, all of which lead to business decline.
What this means for you:
As a creative thinking leader, you have the ability to lead change by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset. Thinking outside the box allows for innovation and inspires individuals to try new approaches, challenge old doctrines and evolve together to reach new heights.
Here are 3 ways you can become a creative thinking leader:
Be constantly innovating and looking to improve. Set the bar high for breakthrough ideas and strategies and never get complacent by settling into a comfort zone.
Diversify your team by hiring more creatively. Having a rich and diverse team can challenge old thinking, which leads to innovation, creativity and change.
As a leader, make it a priority to advance the business by being on the cutting edge of automation. This will lead to higher efficiency and productivity for your team.
Whether you are already in a leadership position, or are aspiring to reach one, the 5 virtues we have examined above will give you a significant edge in how you work with your team and organisation.
Embracing these virtues also signify that you are ready to stand out from the pack and take your leadership to the next level.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it helps you in your quest to become a better leader.
P.S. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any thoughts on this topic or would like to have me speak about this to your group. Alternatively, if you would like me to address a particular topic in future articles, I’d love to hear what you have in mind.
To your leadership success,
Gavin Sequeira
CEO – Break Free From Corporate
Connect with me here: https://linktr.ee/breakfreefromcorporate
Gavin Sequeira, Guest Writer Brainz Magazine
Gavin is an advocate for resilience and change, having lived in a war-torn country, and escaping religious persecution growing up. Post migration to Australia and with 10+ years in the corporate world working for tech giants IBM and Oracle, Gavin was made redundant overnight, catapulting his spiritual and entrepreneurial journey. Today, Gavin lives his mission empowering entrepreneurs to work 'smarter' not harder using a combination of intuition coupled with the right systems and skills. Gavin is a regular guest speaker, author, and hosts his very own podcast show. He has been featured on Sky News Business, Huffington Post, Success Magazine, including leading newspapers and radio stations.
