Founder and Head of the international IT recruitment company Lucky Hunter.
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The topic of leadership has been vital over the past two years. It's become more commonplace for managers to be trained with coaches, and the proliferation of more and more courses for managers on leadership development today signals a desire for stronger leadership skills.
Why are leadership qualities important for managers in general? An effective manager needs to be able to unite their team around them, build effective communication with employees, be an authority and be able to lead others. To do this, it is important to know how to be a leader. Often “being a leader" seems like something very simple, because it doesn't sound very difficult. However, to be a good leader you need to constantly work on yourself, develop a wide range of competencies, dedicate yourself to the process of self-development and analyze your strengths and weaknesses.
In this piece, I'm going to take a closer look at a few core competencies that I think are especially important for a leader who manages a team.
Openness To Dialogue
I believe that a good leader should be able to listen to and really hear their employees. This makes the team understand that their opinions are important and valuable. At my IT recruiting agency, for instance, I regularly hold personal meetings with each employee. We discuss not only the current progress and the trajectory of further development but also any and all comments or suggestions that the member of the team would like to share. In addition, all employees are aware that such meetings can be initiated by them as well. Leaders need to ensure that anyone can ask for a meeting themselves if they want to offer something or discuss it.
There is an important point here: A leader must be able to show that they are always open to dialogue with their team and are ready to listen to their team's opinions. Not only this but leaders also need to sensibly evaluate all the proposals put forward — most likely, some initiatives or opinions will not be implemented for objective reasons. The point of a good leader in such a situation is to give correct and competent feedback.
Honesty
It is important to talk openly and honestly with your team. For example, I always try to keep employees informed of what is happening with the company, share news in a timely manner and build communication as transparently as possible, without hiding any important points. Transparency shows your employees that you trust them and are keeping them in the loop.
Objectivity — In Relation To Yourself And To Others
I am convinced that a leader should, first of all, be able to objectively evaluate their own actions, decisions, strengths and weaknesses. Only then can a leader evaluate others objectively. It is necessary to understand your growth zones and problem areas clearly in order to know which aspects should be given priority attention. You need to be able to analyze the decisions made and build correct conclusions based on the results of the analysis. Being a leader means constantly moving forward in terms of self-development and improvement of your professional competencies. To do this, you need to learn to look at yourself from the outside and give yourself an objective assessment — and only then, evaluate employees.
Relationship Building
Whenever there are relationships between people, there will be conflicts that arise from time to time. For this reason, it is important for the leader not only to create a friendly atmosphere inside the team but also to work with emerging conflicts in a timely manner. Finding a compromise, listening to both sides involved in the dispute and searching for the optimal way out of the situation are all skills without which it will be difficult for a leader-manager to excel.
Problem-Solving
During the work process, various situations associated with relationships within the team can take place. A leader should focus on finding solutions to the problem, analyze these issues to identify the optimal strategy and act not only quickly, but also competently.
These are just a few qualities that are important for a manager who wants to become a leader for their employees. Leadership is a long, difficult road that requires you to work on yourself, your competencies, personal growth and your ability to draw conclusions and apply them in practice. An effective leader-manager can significantly improve the microclimate in the team, make various internal processes better and lead the team to achieve new goals.
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