Whether you’re a part of the C-suite in your organization or run a smaller part of the company, the way you act and treat the people who work for you and with you is extremely important. Not only does it impact their work ethic but it affects the company culture at large.
While being in charge of a group of people puts you in a place of power and authority, it comes with a lot of responsibility — and this can be stressful. In fact, 37% of managers strongly agree that they feel a lot of pressure daily, according to Gallup. Becoming a strong leader shouldn’t feel like another item to work on or an additional responsibility to master. It’s crucial to note everyone in an influential position in a business is constantly learning and growing, and no one is a perfect leader.
There are ways to refine your administrative skills, which can sequentially make handling executive tasks less taxing. Want to discover the key components of a strong and impactful kingpin within an organization? Let’s first take a look at the benefits of great leaders within the workplace and then discuss the necessary characteristics of a constructive boss.
What Is Leadership in the Workplace?
This may seem like a straightforward answer, but leadership is much more than simply holding a powerful title. By definition, leadership in the workplace is the ability of a person to manage and supervise a company and its workers.
This word also encompasses the ability to positively influence and impact the people around you to perform their jobs as well as they can. This doesn’t just mean people managing others, but an entire team must understand how actions impact the company as a whole. Regardless of your position, knowing what the role of a leader is and what makes an effective leader can help you be a productive part of your business and hold those in charge of you accountable.
The Importance of Strong Leadership in Your Organization
No matter what type of leader you are within your company, you have a critical role to play outside of your everyday tasks. Daily, people look to you for inspiration and feedback, using the way you treat people as an example of how to act and look at the work in front of them. This is great if you exhibit wonderful communication skills and a motivated work ethic, but can be unfortunate if you struggle to maintain strong leadership skills. If that’s the case, don’t worry! It doesn’t make you a bad employee — it just means you need to brush up on what it takes to lead people in the right direction.
Most good habits start from the top and trickle down to every part of the business, no matter if you work in a remote, hybrid, or in-person job. That means when you follow leadership best practices, everyone else benefits and follows your lead. Effective leaders motivate employees to achieve their best work, provide clear direction on every task, and guide an organization to realize its mission and vision. When a manager can help every person to realize they’re an essential piece of the company’s puzzle, people are more likely to contribute meaningfully to the accomplishment of an organization’s objectives.
Healthy and effective guidance in any business is advantageous because it:
- Improves communication.
- Creates a better work environment.
- Refines productivity.
- Enhances efficiency.
- Decreases mistakes.
- Motivates team members.
- Sets a good example for others.
- Inspires hard work.
- Creates a set vision and direction for the company’s future.
- Helps employees stay on course.
10 Characteristics of Good Leadership in the Workplace
Whether you’re a natural-born leader or have to acquire skills in guiding a group of people, there’s always room for improvement. By nature, people have requirements that must be met to feel loved, accepted, and valued in life and the workplace. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states all people have physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Applying this model to business management can help people in power ensure their leadership style exceeds people’s necessities and provide a positive work environment.
Here are some markers of positive leadership for those in influential workplace positions:
1. Good Communication
While this is vital for almost any position, someone in charge of being the voice of the company should be able to communicate with each and every team member in a way that’s effective, constructive, and encouraging. One of the most important duties of a manager is to make certain each employee knows what’s expected of them and has the tools necessary to accomplish their objectives. This requires strong and clear communication both in person and over digital platforms to be done effectively and consistently.
Vital forms of communication that leaders must be aware of include:
- Written communication, such as memos and emails.
- Oral communication, like speaking on the phone and face-to-face.
- Nonverbal communication, including body language and facial expressions.
- Listening skills, such as active listening.
2. Positivity
A debby downer doesn’t make people feel motivated to do a great job on a daily basis. Boost morale and promote a healthy work environment by having a good attitude and staying positive throughout your everyday workload. When your employees see you smiling and looking at things in a positive light, they’re more likely to have the same attitude themselves. This type of posture toward work can create a better office environment and cultivate healthier conditions for team members.
3. Empathy
An empathetic leader understands people’s feelings and situations and considers them when making decisions for the company. This makes people feel seen and heard and ensures the workplace culture is positive. According to Annual Reviews, poor listening and employees not being seen, recognized, or understood can lead to decreased productivity, job dissatisfaction, low commitment, burnout, or even seeking out work with a different organization they believe will better value them. That’s why it’s critical for great leaders to have emotional intelligence empathize with their team and put themselves in their shoes to better acknowledge their needs and make informed decisions.
4. Responsibility
Leaders in any company generally have a lot on their plates. Effective leadership takes action on things they’re asked to do and uphold the same level of accountability and responsibility they expect their employees to exhibit. C-suite executives juggle a variety of tasks that must be completed for every person in the company to get their jobs done. They should be able to prioritize their duties and stay focused on what needs to be done for the organization.
5. Accountability
A quality that goes hand-in-hand with responsibility is accountability, a crucial characteristic for those in charge to have. It can be difficult to ask people who work for you to make sure you’re holding up your end of the deal, but the best managers can take responsibility for their actions and decisions. They should also hold their team members accountable for their work and outcomes, even if it means having uncomfortable conversations about productivity and expectations.
6. Confidence
Some people are extremely confident by nature and others learn how to hold themselves high and make decisions for large groups of people without blinking. As a leader, it’s important to have belief in your abilities, displaying a reasonable level of trust that you can accomplish what needs to be done. By showing others that you can be trusted, you can help motivate them and give them hope for the future of the organization. It also helps to be a confident decision-maker. While this doesn’t mean settling on conclusions with little thought or preparation, it does pay to make informed and timely decisions. This is part of having confidence in your ability to weigh available information, consider the consequences, and take action when necessary.
7. Conflict Resolution
As sad as it is to say, problems are a part of every work environment. Leaders who are adept at resolving conflicts within their team are more able to build a harmonious work environment where all voices are heard and taken seriously. This skill requires the use of many other characteristics, including listening and communication, empathy, accountability, and problem-solving. In-tune managers will be able to address issues proactively and diplomatically to truly hear each side out and come up with solutions to make the large majority of people happy.
8. Delegation
Many people are in leadership roles because they worked hard and went above and beyond the position they started in. While this is an extremely positive characteristic, it can also be challenging for some people to allow others to shoulder the burden of responsibility and work. However, without some help from other employees, managers will get overwhelmed by the list of responsibilities waiting for them every morning. To keep burnout and stress from ruining the role, a strong leader should delegate tasks that can be done by other people. This frees up time on their schedule to focus on more important tasks and keeps operations running smoothly.
9. Feedback and Recognition
One motivational step any leader can take is learning to give constructive feedback to employees. People want to know what things can be improved upon, but this must be done respectfully and helpfully to truly benefit workers. It’s also important to recognize anyone who is dedicated and doing a great job, promoting growth and motivation among your team members. Creating an open-door policy for employees to come to you when they need an opinion or feedback on a project is a great way to make giving and receiving feedback and recognition easier.
10. Continuous Learning
As one of the top people in your organization, people may assume you have nothing left to learn, but that’s not the case. Leadership is an ongoing journey. Effective heads of a company invest in their own personal and professional development and encourage their team to do the same. As new technology is implemented within the organization and people’s wants and needs adapt to the changing times, leaders must stay up to date with these shifts to continue providing a positive work experience. This requires education and training, even for the most skillful managers.
How To Become a Better Leader
Leadership development training is a huge part of becoming a skilled head of your organization. But, outdated manuals and DVDs aren’t as helpful and effective as they used to be. Video Training Power provides an easy and effective training subscription model that gives you access to hundreds of useful and dynamic resources for you to show in a classroom-style setting.
Train your leaders with these management-level courses designed to improve listening and communication skills, supervisor best practices, and more. Subscribe today to start leadership training.