Essential Traits of Effective Business Leaders

This assignment delves into the essential qualities of effective business leaders. It examines the importance of exemplary character, clear communication, well-defined goals, optimism, and the leader's role as a guide and representative for their team. The text uses examples to illustrate these concepts and highlights the impact of leadership on both individual performance and organizational success.

8/17/2017
Student Name
Leadership in business

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Exemplary Character.......................................................................................................................1
Clear Communication......................................................................................................................1
Clear Directions and Goals..............................................................................................................1
Remains Optimistic.........................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................2

Introduction
The number of businesses globally has increased considerably in recent years and every business
must have staff, skilled professionals, and labour to operate function. The increasing number of
businesses also means businesses need to adopt better leadership approaches so as to attend to
their staff needs. Skilled professionals are today looking out for leaders as opposed to managers
making it important for the senior management to adopt alternative staff management skills.
Seniors management must, therefore, ensure they adopt certain traits so as to win team
confidence and trust (Adair, 2013).
Exemplary Character
For a leader to gain team recognition and respect it is vital for the individual to demonstrate good
character, this includes behaviour at the workplace as well as during extra-curricular activities
and their personal time. A good leader should have good habits so as to set an example to the
team, smoking, drinking alcohol, behavioural misconduct and vulgar language should be avoided
always. During parties I have seen my team leaders indulge in having beers with the team
members but in very controlled manner while making sure he does not misbehave as this could
damage his reputation among the team.
Clear Communication
Communication is the backbone of managing any organization and a leader must be able to
master the art of communicating with his team and colleagues. The leader must demonstrate
clear communication with clear objectives and goals. There must be no space of “maybe” or “I
think” and decisions must be very clear even when wrong. I expect to build clear communication
with my team lead as this opens up my ability to communicate freely relating improvement and
problems as well as propose solutions which can improve the process. Developing fear or limited
communication only encouraged negative energy resulting in lack of communication and process
failure.
Clear Directions and Goals
Business objectives, Directions, and goals must also be clear while communicating with the
team. While the manager is expected to build a positive friendly relationship with the staff, the

organisation's goals must always remain superior and the first priority (Day, 2014). Direction and
goals need to be decisive so as to allow me to make a decision and I also expect a clear stand on
the process. Changing goals and objectives leads to unsureness which affects my concentration
and focus on achieving goals thus is always prefer leaders who provide clear directions.
Remains Optimistic
Being optimistic can be a handicap but leaders must be able to remain optimistic while dealing
with the team. This is especially important while dealing with underperformance and
misconducts whereby the leader needs to reaffirm his dominant position and authority among the
team or an individual but also be able to set the issue aside and interact with the team to resolve
other issues. I would not mind being scolded for doing something wrong as I would take it as a
learning experience but at the same time I don’t expect this to be kept at heart as this would
affect my performance and confidence while on the job
Conclusion
Leadership is a skill which must be mastered but at the same time, it is important for the leader to
prioritize the team’s needs and remembers he is their representative and role model. A leader
must be able to set targets, align and guide towards the targets and defend the team when
required so as to gain respect from the team.

References
Adair, J. (2013). Develop Your Leadership Skills. Philadelhia : Kogan Page Publishers,.
Day, D. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Leadership and Organizations. New York: Oxford
University Press.