Leadership Qualities: An Analysis of an Effective Leader

This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of effective leadership, emphasizing that it is not a singular variable but a complex combination of traits, contingency, and behavior. It identifies key characteristics of effective leaders, including integrity, respect for diversity, and a clear vision of organizational goals. The essay highlights the importance of creativity, the ability to think innovatively, and the need for leaders to lead with confidence and humility. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of effective communication, systematic planning, and strong negotiation skills. By examining these traits and behavioral capabilities, the essay provides a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes an effective leader in today's dynamic business environment, drawing upon relevant academic sources to support its arguments.

LEADERSHIP

The businesses are increasingly exposed to the challenges of the global business
organisations, thereby making the role of the leaders of the enterprise even more significant
in the present times. The term leadership is comprised of a range of activities namely
observing, listening, and encouragement of the followers to aid the performance in an
enhanced manner (Antonakis and Day, 2017). The following work is aimed at discussing the
various characteristics that constitute an effective leader.
The first effective characteristic of an effective leader is that he or she must comprise values
namely integrity, understanding of diversity, respect for differences and others. It is essential
for the leaders to have an attitude of respect for different perspectives and personalities
(Ghani Yunus and Bahry, 2016). The next vital quality that is essential for the leaders to
possess is to have a clear picture of the vision of the organisational goals, task, an issue or a
subject. The vision can be gained by studying comprehensively about an issue. Only when a
leader has a clarity about a subject, he or she can formulate the strategies and guide the
followers. The clarity of the subject is followed by attitude of creativity. It is vital for the
leaders to possess the ability to think out of the box, for the advancement of the vision and
getting past the competition in the organisational settings (Schafer, 2010). Thus, above listed
are few necessary traits to be possessed by leaders to guide the team members.
The traits are needed to be further advanced by the behavioural capabilities as listed follows.
In terms of the behavioural capabilities, a leader must lead confidently and humility
combined. If a leaders has a good set of ideas to exchange, but he or she does not lead a team
confidently, the ideas would not turn into desired actions by the followers. In addition, the
leaders must lead a team with humility and must not consider themselves as conduit of the
strategies. When a leader acts as a dictator, there are likely chances of followers turning
demotivated. In addition to above, it is essential for the leaders to communicate effectively.
The communication must not only be limited to the instructions about the goals, but also must
be able to motivate team members by addressing their concerns, and seek feedbacks to
implement the same into the strategies, whenever necessary (Yukl, 2012). Apart from the
sound interpersonal skills, the leaders must be able to plan and organise the task
systematically to be able to achieve the organisational objectives in timely manner. Lastly,
the negotiation skills are also imperative for the resolution of the conflicts among the team
members and designing important contracts with the outside stakeholders.

Hence, from the above discussions it is evident that the leadership is a complex and
comprehensive conjunction of numerous traits and behavioural capabilities. The said
conjunction of various qualities is essential in present competitive and dynamic business
environment.

References
Antonakis, J., and Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017) The nature of leadership. United States: Sage
publications.
Ghani, N. M. A., Yunus, N. S. N. M., and Bahry, N. S. (2016) Leader's Personality Traits and
Employees Job Performance in Public Sector, Putrajaya. Procedia Economics and
Finance, 37, pp. 46-51.
Schafer, J. A. (2010) Effective leaders and leadership in policing: traits, assessment,
development, and expansion. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies &
Management, 33(4), pp. 644-663.
Yukl, G. (2012) Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions need more
attention. Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(4), pp. 66-85.