The Essence of Effective Leadership: Key Traits and Characteristics - Essay Sample

Good leadership is described as the ability to empower people or an organization, enhancing development and growth. Various theories attribute outstanding leadership to either inborn or acquired training. According to Ciulla (2020), a person can become a good leader through experience and training. The behavioral theory of leadership emphasizes this fact. Scholars supporting the traits theory argue that a good leader is born with principles, values, and qualities (Newstead, 2020). Despite these arguments, anybody has the potential to turn into an instrumental and legitimate leader. Good leadership can be associated with an individual's ability to understand every team member in the group. Fundamental elements of a great pioneer include self-discipline, passionate traits that involve honesty and trustworthiness, the ability to communicate the institutions' visions, and the aptitude for handling leadership challenges.

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Firstly, good leadership is characterized by self-discipline. Every leader, whether global, corporate, or team, has a basic feature of restraint. Character is significant among the many other aspects as scholars argue that the ability to govern oneself develops the capability to influence, guide, and lead other people towards achievements (Ciulla, 2020). Through discipline, a leader can easily motivate their followers to reach individual or team objectives and goals. Excellent vision is also linked to good leadership. Knowing the objective and path through which one wants to go, and the achievement one aims at is a significant characteristic of a good pioneer. The leaders can then influence their followers to believe in the same vision they have for their organization, community, or country. Hence, they are capable of viewing what the future holds rather than the present-day livelihood. Apart from being visionary, a good leader is characterized by their ability is make critical decisions in the organization or concerned community. Successful execution of duties in such institutions requires the making of the right decisions. Therefore, wise, perceptive, and strategic leadership is needed, as characteristics of good governance.

Secondly, a good leader is associated with the feature of being passionate. While executing their duties, good leaders become strongly obsessed with their mission. It could be a business, hobby, or sport. Whatever the case, they operate with much energy and excitement until the addiction point. Good leadership also refers to the compassionate act among the employees or followers, which is associated with their coaching and development skills. Although the leaders may be oriented toward accomplishing their goals, a good one is considerate of his support system hence guaranteeing them regular care and appreciation with a selfless heart. Trustworthiness and honesty are also good leadership qualities essential for effective governance. A genuine leader has a good interrelationship with his working team, which consequently results in the objectives' success. According to Ciulla (2020), honest leaders influence the trust-building process among their employees, enhancing the execution of duties. The aspect is also reinforced by integrity, which is necessary, especially among the top-level executives who plan the organization's course. Being passionate, trustworthy, honest, and practicing integrity are building blocks of a successive project associated with good leadership characteristics.

Thirdly, a good leader has communication and persuasion skills. The way an individual conveys information and expresses his concerns to other people determines whether they are great leader or not. It is necessary to communicate one's vision in mind to the team members in a more precise and definite manner. Milo (2016) states that a minor gap in correspondence can result in severe chaos. Such a challenge causes variations in the group's visions and objectives and the destruction of adequate following capacity. Effective communication and leadership are intertwined so that the quality in which a leader passes information across an organization directly impacts the business strategy's success. Good communication has been established as a critical aspect of enhancing the structure of an organization. The approach in which people interact in meetings, informal chats, or hallways clearly indicates the leader's capability to execute a good company culture (Milo, 2016). Furthermore, innovation, growth, and customer service effectiveness are enhanced by the quality of conversations. The ability to challenge failure is also a characteristic of good leadership associated with organizational success. Disappointments are often occurrences in a group of people, and the effectiveness with which the leader handles such scenarios determines his greatness. Managing failure is a crucial aspect that every pioneer should possess for a long-running company. A credible leader maintains positivity in every situation while resisting the urge to panic. They can attain a possible solution through communication with team members or the use of other accessible resources. Skills of communicating effectively, persuading, and dealing with frustration are vital characteristics of good leadership.

Conclusively, a good leader should execute unique features that show his efficiency. These attributes can either be inborn or studied from external sources. Although anybody can lead, specific characteristics make an individual a better pioneer than others. Self-discipline is a leader's ability to influence, lead, and guide others towards one's vision. Through this, a goal-oriented leader can display more successful objectives. Also, the passionate character in a leader is a necessity. Obsession with accomplishing a particular mission improves efficiency and effectiveness. The character is coupled with traits of honesty and trustworthiness. A good leader should also possess good communication and persuasive skills as well as practice integrity. Although one may not attain all the traits, building up these good leadership characteristics is essential in achieving and succeeding in whatever mission or objectives are set.

References

Newstead, T., Dawkins, S., Macklin, R., & Martin, A. (2020). The virtues project: An approach to developing good leaders. Journal of Business Ethics, 167(4), 605-622. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04163-2

Milo, J. P. (2016). Communication competence of college administrators: Characteristic of good leadership and management. International Journal of Scientific and Technologic Research, 5(7), 19-2. http://www.ijstr.org/final-print/july2016/

Communication-Competence-Of-College-Administrators-Characteristic-Of-Good-Leadership-And-Management.pdf

Ciulla, J. B. (2020). Ethics and effectiveness: The nature of good leadership. In The Search for Ethics in Leadership, Business, and Beyond (pp. 3-32). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38463-0_1