The Skills, Character, and Development of Effective Leaders

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the essential skills and characteristics of effective leaders, exploring the critical role of leadership development and character in the workplace. It examines various methods for leadership training, including the 70/20/10 principle and the use of "quality circles" to foster growth. The essay delves into the distinction between character and personality, emphasizing how character builds trust and influences decision-making, highlighting the importance of ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR). It provides practical recommendations for organizations to cultivate leadership, including establishing clear leadership criteria, implementing assessment systems, and fostering emotional intelligence. The essay concludes by underscoring the importance of character development and a commitment to ethical practices within organizations to create and maintain an effective leadership system.

Executive Summary
This essay outlines the skills a leader may need to attain to succeed. The discussion includes
what makes a good leader and whether there are known characteristics or personality traits that
are common in the leaders of today.
Some traits exist to naturally form a person with a good character and morals who is more likely
to succeed in the business world.
Introduction
As practice shows, it is not so easy to take middle managers out of their comfort zone and
encourage them to make bold decisions. Many managers lack basic leadership skills. They are
under excessive control, which often prevents them from making innovative decisions. Even
though the requirements for a leader depend on the current situation, the main competencies of a
leader remain unchanged, both, high professionalism and the ability to adapt quickly.
The leader's personality sets the tone for the entire team. That is why leadership development is
one of the most important activities of the organization's HR services. In this area, it is useful to
refer to the experience of the world's largest companies, for which the development of leadership
qualities of managers has become a familiar practice. We can identify several proven
recommendations that will help managers improve their effectiveness and start acting more
decisively and proactively.
Discussion
Examples of Leadership Development in the Workplace.
A leadership development system should include assessments and training that the best ways to
encourage an employee to develop are to identify their strengths and indicate what they need to
work on. Using modern methods for evaluating employee productivity will help you get an
objective idea of their professional level and leadership skills. You can use the popular 360-
degree method for evaluation, which can help you determine the degree of compliance of an
employee with their position using an anonymous survey of their business environment.
Performance reviews based on objective data are also important for the organization's leadership
development system. Surveys that identify the degree of client orientation can also be a useful
tool for evaluating your business. Regular assessment allows a Manager to form an objective
view of himself, his competencies, and professional success. The main purpose of this analysis is
to understand in which direction the Manager needs to develop, as well as what knowledge and
experience he needs.
Some companies regularly conduct leadership training for managers of key divisions. The task
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for a business coach is formed based on the indicators in the reports on the work of departments
for the year and on the results of employee surveys. The effectiveness of training is evaluated
based on how the employee applies the knowledge gained in practice.
Leadership development based on the 70/20/10 principle training aimed at developing leadership
skills should be as close as possible to real conditions. At least 70% of the training must take
place in the workplace so that the Manager can get new experience. Leadership development
through hands-on training involves participation in new projects, key meetings, and internships.
At the same time, 20% of the time should be devoted to the exchange of experience with other
successful managers, established leaders. This is possible if the novice leader will observe the
work of a more experienced Manager and adopt his methods of work, communication style, and
logic of finding solutions. Note that only 10% of the time is devoted to theoretical training:
visiting programs and courses, training, professional development, distance learning, reading
specialized literature.
An example of an effective training program is the Procter&Gamble leadership development
program, in which the three main blocks (professional competencies, managerial skills, and
personal qualities) are prioritized by their module. For a future leader, internal attitudes to
development are important, so training affects self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and even
the physical form of the Manager.
"Quality circles "as a tool for developing leadership in the organization in some companies, there
is an interesting practice of combining the best specialists of their different divisions into a kind
of “advanced team" to solve the most difficult tasks. This small team is fully or partially engaged
to work on the company's key projects. The "quality circle" can serve as an effective tool for
leadership development, as it brings variety to the daily work of the future leader. On the one
hand, the inclusion of a specialist in such a team means trust on the part of management. On the
other hand, it is a challenge for a specialist, forcing him to concentrate, show potential, inspire
colleagues, and make management decisions.
Leadership development requires a competitive spirit the Practice of creating a Bank of ideas is
widespread among the world's leading companies. Suggestions for improving and optimizing
business processes received from employees are combined into a single Bank. The opportunity
to offer your ideas serves as excellent motivation, creates competition, and supports the spirit of
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competition. As a rule, an employee defends his idea before the Commission and, if the idea is
approved, implements it at the company's expense.
A similar system operates in large Russian companies. An example is the universal leadership
program that operates in the management company "Alfa-Capital". If an employee develops an
economically attractive project, the company invests in it. An example is the alpha Wealth
program, which increases the loyalty of wealthy clients through a package of benefits from the
company.
Why is Character Different to Leadership?
As explained, good leaders need particular characteristics to be successful. But how is the
character different from personality? The character can be defined as a persons’ set of moral and
mental qualities and beliefs that make a person different from others. Characters indicate traits of
a person that are not always obvious on the surface.
However, the character is a central and important element of leadership, especially for the kind
of cross-corporate leadership that is essential in a complex global business organizationы, it
should not and cannot be ignored. Character fundamentally determines how we interact with the
world around us, what we notice, what we zoom in on, who we talk to, what we value, what we
choose to act on, how we decide...And the list goes on.
Why might Character be relevant to Leadership skills?
Many theories suggest that character is important to leadership because it builds trust, and
without trust, people will not follow a leader. When good leaders are described they are often
referred to as good with people, with good communication skills, and creativity. However, none
of these would be useful without a good character. As already defined, having good character
makes a person more trustworthy, and so it is relevant to discuss what makes a trustworthy
person. Trust can be categorized as someone who; keeps promises, is reliable, is honest, shows
consistent behaviors, is open to both good and bad opinions on their choices, and can look for the
common good in people.
Leaders need to be open to listening to a variety of advice, both good and bad. In the same way,
they need to be able to access the opinions given and still make an informed decision that will be
respected and valued by their peers. Over time, as a leader makes good choices for the company
they will be more highly reputed and respected within the company. Essentially, the leader can
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then make decisions without any dispute from others that believe they can do a better job.
When it comes to leadership, ability determines what a person can do.
Commitment determines what they want to do, character determines what they will do.
Character is the basis for effective decision-making. The mistake is due to the shortcomings of
the leader in his or her abilities. Most often, the root cause is a lack of character. For example,
lack of recognition or unwillingness to admit that you do not have the necessary ability to
succeed as a leader is rooted in character. Reluctance to listen to those who can do well because
it will undermine your leadership perception is rooted in character issues. Others make tough
decisions that you think are wrong and need character. The fight against discrimination by others
requires personality. Build a culture of constructive disagreement so that others can challenge
your decisions without worrying about the consequences that need character.
The commitment of senior managers and organizations to character development.
Senior managers in an organization can do a lot to develop the leadership of others.
Simply talk about character, making it a legitimate and valuable topic, encouraging discussion,
and promoting personal reflection. When organizations develop leadership profiles and consider
the nature of leadership in these profiles, they emphasize the importance of leadership and
encourage discussion of it, especially in the context of development guidance. Conversely, when
leadership profiles are just about ability and commitment, they implicitly, though
unintentionally, show that character doesn't matter.
Even a clear statement of values in an organization is often nothing more than a poster or placard
on the wall. If they are not formulated in the context of the work that people do and do not make
sense, they are usually ignored. Everything that top management does is considered important;
everything that is ignored is marginalized. In most cases, people do not learn about values. These
values must be clearly reflected in the organization & apos; s training and mentoring process,
strengthened through training and professional development, and actively applied in recruitment,
selection and succession management.
What is Social Corporate Responsibility? (SCR)
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR, also known as corporate responsibility, responsible
business, and corporate social opportunities) is a concept in which an organization takes into
account the interests of society by assuming responsibility for the impact of its activities on
companies and other stakeholders in the public domain.
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The ethics of leaders have a significant impact on organizations and communities, as well as on
society at large. The leaders of a company can abide by all laws while remaining extremely
unethical in business conduct. The law is minimal and does not reflect the complexity of ethical
norms.
Therefore, ethical leaders are people who regulate or make decisions based on fair and ethical
principles, not personal, political, or financial considerations. One way to define moral
leadership is to understand its purpose, namely to create and implement effective opportunities
through noble means. Only when a leader uses manipulative and rational means from the
perspective of observing universal values will his influence last, and the actions of his followers
will be repeated.
Conclusion
Training and development of personnel are one of the key directions in the field of modern HR.
A current trend is that business owners pay much attention to developing the talents of their
employees. Developing leadership in the organization will not only train independent and
proactive specialists but also increase the level of the company's human resource, which is
important for the system of personnel rotation.
Recommendations
1) Formulate clear leadership criteria based on which new regional managers will be recruited.
2) Introduce a system of the annual assessment of working managers in terms of effective
leadership.
3) when analyzing leadership style, use tests formulated based on behavioral and situational
concepts, since they give a more complete picture of the effectiveness of leadership in these
specific conditions.
4) Organize the activities of managers so that they have opportunities to develop the most
important aspects of emotional intelligence.
All of the above recommendations are necessary to create and further maintain an effective
leadership system in the organization.
Reference List
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