Qualities of a Good Leader - Traits of a Successful Leader

Leadership is an influential art that affects human behaviour. The art of leadership is an activity performed by a person called Leader. Every leader has some followers or subordinates. The leader and his followers work together for achieving the objectives of the organisation. The leader solves the difficulties / problems of his followers and takes the responsibility for all their actions. Leadership is an ever changing and never ending process.

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Qualities of a Good Leader

12 Essential Qualities / Traits of a Successful / Ideal / Good Leader are :-

1. Patience and Tolerance

1. Patience : Patience is the capacity to face difficult situations, hardships or inconvenience without making a single complaint. It is the ability to wait calmly for something to happen without complaining or giving up or getting angry. Patience requires Calmness, Self-Control, Willingness or Ability to tolerate delay. A good leader must show patience while waiting for expected results, facing difficult situations and taking important decisions. He must avoid taking hasty decisions and actions.
2. Tolerance : Tolerance means to have a fair, objective and permissive attitude towards those, whose thinking, opinions, and practices differ from one's own. A good leader must show tolerance while dealing with various types of followers who have different opinions and practices. If not, his followers will stop respecting him.

2. Good Personality

A good personality is a combination of physical, mental and social qualities. Good personality helps a leader to influence his followers. Attractive physique and good manners add an advantage to the leader's personality.

3. Coaching and Guidance

1. Coaching : A good leader must be a coach for his followers. As a coach, he must teach his followers, what to do, how to do and when to do it.
2. Guidance : A good leader must also give guidance to his followers. As a guide, he must first fix the objectives. Then he must show his followers how to achieve the objectives. A good leader shows the way by leading, directing and advicing his followers. He acts as a Role Model for his followers. He continuously helps, instructs and advices his followers. He advices them about their work, their career and also about personal issues. He helps his followers to find satisfying, interesting and realistic roles in the organisation.

4. Self-confidence

A good leader must have self confidence. This quality is necessary for facing challenging situations and for solving problems easily and effectively.

5. Human Skills

A good leader must have essential social and human skills. That is, he must understand people. This quality is necessary for dealing with different types of persons and social groups.

6. Initiative

A good leader must always take an initiative. This means he should do the right thing at the right time without being told by others. He must be able to construct and implement his own plan.

7. Intelligence

A good leader must be smart and intelligent. That is, he should have a good educational background and sound technical knowledge. He should be more intelligent than his followers. If not, his followers will not respect him. This will have a bad effect on his performance.

8. Innovative

A good leader must have an art of innovation. That is, he must have a good imagination and visualization skills. He must develop new ideas and tactics to solve problems. He must combine the new ideas with the old ideas.

9. Communication Skills

A good leader must be an effective and excellent communicator. This means he must be a good speaker and writer. He must use simple language to give information, instructions and guidance to his followers. He must also be a good listener.

10. Proper Judgement

A good leader must make proper judgements. He must have a skill to judge different situations. He must be able to judge, the performance of his followers. If there is a dispute he must act as judge and solve the problem.

11. Administrative Skiils

A good leader must have an administrative ability. This means, he must be able to get the work done through his followers. He must know, how to plan, organise and control the work of his followers.

12. Discipline

A good leader must be a disciplined person. This means he must have respect for the rule and regulations of the organisation. This is because his followers will follow his example.