Leadership Search: Traits of an Effective Leader

A leader and their role

A leader, according to Malakyan (2015), is a someone who holds a controlling role in an area of practice and has influence over other people. Being a leader allows you to be efficient and effective in establishing the company’s direction and developing a team focused on accomplishing that destination. A leader should define and demonstrate ethical and moral bravery, setting a good example for everyone in the organization. Being a leader requires one to focus on the value of the customers of the company, how they receive treatment and the significance of them getting back for the company’s services. The traits, leadership styles and skills of an effective leader, the importance of attending to tasks and relationships, and the importance of a leader following and communicating a vision and setting the tone will be discussed in this paper. Additionally, the necessity for a leader to have out-group member skills, ability to handle conflict and overcome obstacles, and the ethical leadership traits for the company president will be outlined in the paper.

Traits of an Effective Leader

An effective leader should be focused. Leaders should have a great focus to lead a team to success. Despite the challenges they are faced with as they perform their duties, they should at all times remained focused on the important issues. For the team to do their very best to a company, they require an environment that offers support by making it safe to take risks and to air their grievances without any punishment being imposed. A leader should create the proper environment that would facilitate the progress of the team in achieving the goals of the company.

A leader should uphold integrity. One should be honest, fair, truthful and ensure they treat every member of the team fairly and with due respect. A leader must endure stress and any frustration that arises and be ready to face and deal with any challenge with a stable mind and emotional maturity (Yukl, 2012). Being decisive is important for a leader since they are involved in making significant decisions pertaining to the company. A decisive leader should be able to weigh carefully the possible impacts of the options taken in solving problems and choose the opportunities that work best in a proper manner.

A leader who is effective should be passionate about what they are about to do. Enthusiasm and a high level of commitment are a great inspiration to the team, and it gives the motivation to achieve the desired results. Empowering and supporting the team is a way of inspiring the members to work harder so as to attain the goals set. An effective leader should be confident in their capabilities and in the decisions they make. Believing in oneself is a gateway to let others believe in one’s abilities as a leader. An effective leader should possess strong communication skills, ensuring all the members are informed on the progress of the company, and the right information is passed on at the right time and in the right manner. A leader should also be assertive in that one ensures that the goals and the needs of the team are fulfilled. An assertive leader is bold and firm and should not have any fear in going after their set goals. Being assertive ensures that the team can hold greater challenges and attain new goals (Malakyan, 2015).

Leadership Styles and Skills for the Company President

The leadership styles required for the company president include; authoritative, affiliative, pacesetting, democratic, coercive and instructive. An authoritative leader mobilizes the team to a mutual vision and emphasizes the ultimate goal and allowing each person to use the right means. The affiliative leader works with an aim to form emotional bonds that create a feeling of belonging to the company. A pacesetting leader ensures the team is motivated and skilled, and the expected excellence is modeled through self-direction. Being democratic enables the leader to build harmony through involvement and enables the leader to allow the team to own a decision or a goal (Özbağ, 2016). A coercive leader stresses immediate obedience by the team members. An instructive leader helps the members to improve permanent personal strengths that would end in being successful. A company president should possess strong communication skills, should be delegating, positive, responsible, creative, trustworthy, committed, and flexible.

Importance of Attending to Tasks and Relationships

A leader concentrates on completing the important tasks required with an aim to attain the set goal. To ensure the tasks are attended to, the leader will regularly outline the work and the needed roles, plan, organize and supervise the development in the team. Attending to tasks is important for it makes sure that the tasks are completed on time, and the deadline is met. Also, it demonstrates a strong understanding of how tasks need to be done, emphasizing on the procedures and assigning tasks consequently to ensure all is completed in a creative and timely style. A leader emphasizes on motivating, developing and supporting the team and the relationships within them. The importance of attending to relationships encourages good teamwork and cooperation, reduces problems within the members, and the team is assured of support in any area of their work (Yukl, 2012).

Importance of a Leader Following and Communicating a Vision and Setting the Tone

It is essential for the leader to follow the vision so as to achieve the goals and ultimately the success of the company. Communicating a vision is crucial for the people want to know the direction in which they are headed for (McCleskey, 2014). It is a vital role for the leader to communicate the vision for it creates inspiration to the team and helps them to raise their hopes and expectations; thus they work towards the attainment of the goals. The human relationships in the workplace can have influence and power while managing morale and productivity; hence a leader needs to have excellent tone-setting skills. Setting the tone will enable the leader to work through struggles at ease, attain much greater results, improve the reliability of the teammates, provide greater levels of services to the customers, and create a stress-free environment.

Necessity for a Leader to Have Out-Group Member Skills, Ability to Handle Conflict and Overcome Obstacles

Out-group members include the followers who experience the low-quality relationship with the leaders for they are classified as incompetent and unmotivated. A leader needs to have out-group member skills for they need to avoid the creation of out-groups and focus on improving the in-group members so as to achieve the goals of the company (Boyatzis, Rochford & Taylor, 2015). Handling conflicts as they arise and overcoming obstacles in leadership is essential in maintaining a healthy and creative team environment. A healthy environment in the company encourages effective working of the members hence productivity is increased. The team members can open up new ways of thinking. Thus new and innovative solutions and team performance are improved.

Ethical Leadership Traits for the Company President

The company president elected should possess ethical leadership traits. The most significant ethical trait is respect for others. An ethical leader should show respect to all members by valuing their opinions, listening attentively to them, being generous and empathetic. One should be honest and loyal; followers trust and respect true leaders (Özbağ, 2016). An ethical leader should always be fair and just to all, treating everyone equally despite their nationality, ethnicity or gender. An ethical leader should always lead by example. The expectations needed of the employees should be realized at the individual level. A leader should be humane, enlisting the significance in being kind and acting in a way that profits the team members. Having a focus on team building with an aim to attain the goals of the company is a trait a leader should possess. Finally, an ethical leader should not condone any ethical violations by the members. A leader should ensure that the employees do the right thing at all times, even when it is not appropriate for them.

Conclusion

For the company president, the leadership traits should be demonstrated with an aim to achieve the company goals. An effective leader should be focused, honest, passionate, emotionally stable, uphold integrity, empowering, enthusiastic, decisive, assertive, and possess strong communication skills. Leadership styles and skills should be embraced, which include authoritative, coercive, democratic, affiliative, pacesetting, and instructive. Attending to tasks and relationships is essential for it enables the creation of an effective environment for the achievement of goals put in place. It is also important for a leader to follow and communicate a vision, and set a tone to be followed by the team. The company president should have out-group skills and be able to handle conflict and overcome obstacles, hence enabling the team to work towards the success of the company. The president should also possess ethical leadership styles which include respect for others, being honest and loyal, fair and just, leading by example, focused and no acceptance of ethical violations.

References

Boyatzis, R. E., Rochford, K., & Taylor, S. N. (2015). The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement. The Impact of Shared Vision on Leadership, Engagement, and Organizational Citizenship, 6.

Malakyan, P. G. (2015). Depersonalizing Leadership and Followership: The Process of Leadship and Followship. World Journal of Social Science Research, 2(2), 227.

McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.

Özbağ, G. K. (2016). The Role of Personality in Leadership: Five Factor Personality Traits and Ethical Leadership. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 235(12th International Strategic Management Conference, ISMC 2016, 28-30 October 2016, Antalya, Turkey), 235-242. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.11.019

Yukl, G. (2012). Effective Leadership Behavior: What We Know and What Questions Need More Attention. Academy Of Management Perspectives, 26(4), 66-85. doi:10.5465/amp.2012.0088