Effective Leadership Qualities and Skills

Whenever group activities are required, the emergence of a leader becomes imminent. A group always works effectively when there is a leader to guide the members and keep them motivated on their way to success. Without a good leader, a group will not be able to perform to the best of its abilities. However, as much is it necessary to have a leader, it is also essential that he has all the right qualities and skills. Having a bad leader is even worse than having no leader at all. In case you want to be a leader, that too an effective one, you need to cultivate certain skills and qualities in you, some of which have been listed below.

Effective Leadership Qualities and Skills

In order to become a leader, a person should be aware of nitty-gritty of the work that his team has to handle. Unless and until he knows about the work, he will not be able to lead the team in the right direction.
An effective leader needs to set example for his team members and become a role model for them. If he is lazy, dishonest and shirks from responsibilities, how can he expect others to be meticulous and sincere!
A leader should be totally unbiased. He should not have personal favorites in his team, to whom he gives more authority or less work. All the members in a team should be treated equally.
Patience is one of the most essential qualities needed in a leader. Since he has to guide his team, he must have the patience to make them learn what they need to and get the work done from them.
Constructive feedback is one of the skills that a leader should possess. He should always praise his team members if they perform well. At the same time, if they do wrong, he should be there to tell them where they went wrong and how can they put things back in order! However, the criticism should always be constructive and not demeaning.
A leader needs to motivate his team, so that they happily contribute towards the team work. He should be aware of the stimuli of different members and make judicious use of them.
When a person becomes a leader, he needs to delegate his duties as well as responsibilities amongst his team members. For this, he should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and delegate accordingly.
Leader is the one who sets goal for the team and help them achieve it. He should possess the vision to aim right and at the same time, be able to mobilize people towards those goals.
A leader should always be receptive to new ideas. Just because he is the leader doesn’t mean that the suggestions made by others will be useless. He must accept the useful ideas of his team members.
An effective leader should have loads of understanding and always focus on the betterment of the group, as a whole, and not individual members. At the same time, he should be honest, trustworthy and easily approachable.

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