Essential Qualities Of Good And Bad Leadership

Identifying the Essential Qualities of Leaders

When considering leadership, we often think about the aspects that make someone an effective leader.  It is the skills and qualities leaders possess that make up these aspects.   This article discusses the essential qualities of leadership from several perspectives.  It also discusses what we mean by poor leadership.

Definition of Leadership Qualities

The dictionary defines qualities as

“A particular characteristic (of a person or thing). Quality is a characteristic, innate or acquired, that, in some particular, determines the nature and behaviour of a person or thing: naturalness as a quality”

So, quality is about the nature of the person.  In contrast, the definition of skill is

An ability and capacity acquired through a deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carry out complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills).”

Put simply, a quality is about the nature of a person, and a skill is about the ability or capability of someone.

Good and bad leadership

In this article, I am exploring the essential qualities of leaders, both good and bad.  As we all know, some leaders act for the greater good of others, the team or society as a whole.  Conversely, some leaders acquire a following with objectives that promote division, fear, or competition, and at the extreme, can be downright evil.

Whenever I run seminars and ask people about memorable or great leaders, someone invariably mentions Adolf Hitler.  Typically, this provokes an argument with attendees about whether the ability to lead people to great evil is still a sign of effective leadership.  World leaders have led their people to despicable outcomes, and Hitler is just one of many. In my opinion, effective leadership does not result in harm, destruction, or entropy.  Therefore, there may be people who have acquired a position of leadership. Still, their evil intent or the byproduct of their success is that others suffer, negating their genuine claim to leadership. Instead, they manipulate to achieve their warped results.  Manipulation of the masses is not a skill of effective leadership.

In business, while bad leaders may not commit evil acts or imprison entire nations, when the ego is fully operational, the workforce suffers. There are many organisations where employees are stifled, underpaid, and lack a true sense of purpose.

Essential qualities of good leaders

No matter what kind of leader, there are some universal characteristics which leaders who are for the good possess.  Leaders at all levels possess these essential qualities.

Growth mindset

One of the essential qualities for leaders is the ability to overcome a fixed mindset. Carol Dweck is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

Students who believed their intelligence could be developed (a growth mindset) outperformed those who believed their intelligence was fixed (a fixed mindset)

Dweck illustrates a different approach to encouraging students, as seen in a piece from STEM. These approaches apply not only to encourage leaders but also to how leaders encourage their followers. The illustration to the side is an adaptation of Dweck’s student illustration, which examines the different ways a growth and fixed mindset would approach difficult problem-solving.

Self-awareness

There are many aspects of themselves that leaders can become aware of. Self-awareness is crucial for cultivating a growth mindset.  Understanding themselves gives leaders a clear bottom line, allowing them to identify and overcome any limiting factors and opt to grow.  Wright State University states that these five aspects are essential for humanity to become aware of within ourselves. The commentary is mine.

• Personality – Introverted/Extroverted, Thinking or Feeling, for example, are dichotomies of the MBTI, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  Knowing these preferences can help to understand the self.  There are many other personality tools which can promote understanding.
• Values – Understanding what is important in our lives is essential to raising awareness of self.  There are many methods for unpicking these values.
• Habits- We develop helpful and unhelpful habits, some of which we are unaware of.  Insights into our habits can help us promote the positives and eliminate the negatives.
• Needs – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs demonstrates the levels of need for humans.  Our growth will be determined by where we are on the hierarchy.
• Emotions – Emotional intelligence is key to becoming self-aware. Contrary to popular beliefs about emotional intelligence, I believe emotions are a guidance system that tells us vital information that will help build the essential qualities we need to become good leaders.
• Thinking patterns are one I have added. We can change long-held thinking patterns.   Changing the way we feel can promote self-awareness and change our perceptions for good.

Positive attitude and Wellbeing

The benefits of positive psychology and well-being have become mainstream in leadership development.  Martin Seligman developed a model with five core elements of psychological well-being, known as PERMA. It was one of the most comprehensive wellbeing tools.  The elements of PERMA are:

• Positive emotions – Feeling good, connecting to happiness within.  Adopting an optimistic outlook
• Engagement – Finding a flow, a connection with some activity, past time or task that immerses us in something we enjoy and lose ourselves in.
• Relationships – Developing authentic connections.  Having levels of relationships with others that include connection, love, intimacy, and strong social, emotional, and physical connections.
• Meaning – Having a purposeful existence.  Being involved in something that captures our hearts and minds, feeling connected and that we are making a meaningful difference.
• Accomplishments – Getting results, achieving a state of being, or manifesting something important to you or those you love.  Having a sense of pride and feeling fulfilled.

Forward-thinking

Effective leaders rarely focus on the past.  They are usually fully present in the moment, but take time out to think ahead.  Because of this, leaders have an innate ability to be fully engaged and committed to what is happening right in front of them. Those leaders are also mindful of how they might need to prepare for what’s coming over the horizon. One of the essential qualities of leadership is forward thinking. There are three main elements in the way leaders are forward-thinking.

• Strategic – They plan and employ tactics to achieve the desired outcomes and impacts.  So they are thinking of what might come in the future.
• Horizon Scanning – They look at what is coming in various directions, commonly using the PESTLE model or some other framework to gather information.
• Mitigating Risk – They anticipate potential problems and develop mitigations to counter them.

Essential qualities of inspirational leaders

What defines inspirational leaders is the extent to which they are influenced and act from their higher self, or spirit. They not only are in touch with their higher self but also help others to be in touch with their higher self, making them inspiring.

Inspirational leaders possess essential qualities which are specific to their way of leading.  Not everyone relates to inspirational leadership.  Some people much prefer more practical, logical and factual leadership.

I recall a conversation I had with a close colleague who was a sensor/thinker, which means she gathered information through her senses and the world around her. I asked her if she would prefer to be remembered as a respected leader or an inspirational leader.  Her response was to be respected.

For some people, the imagination and beliefs of inspired people are not something they relate to.  In my experience, while inspirational leadership resonates with most, not everyone has the personality or operational mindset to be an inspiring leader.  That’s not, of course, to say they won’t be respected, and indeed, in some vocations and situations, a pragmatic, sensory leader works best.  However, anyone can grow and learn to become anything they want.  Sometimes, inspirational leaders must learn to be practical, and vice versa. Here are some of the most common essential qualities of inspirational leaders

Visionary

Inspirational leaders are visionary.  In this context, being visionary means the ability to create a new future in one’s imagination.  Some of the most life-changing inventions have resulted from visionary people persevering beyond the possible to achieve the impossible.  Think of Edison, Stephenson, and, latterly, Steve Jobs.

Creativity

Leaders who inspire understand they can manifest their vision.  Theirs is not some pipe dream that they really believe can’t be achieved.  Walt Disney knew he could make his dream come true, and he went about creating it with trust and faith.  There is a skill to making the unseen manifest, and these leaders understand that.

Collective consciousness – Universal wisdom

Inspiring leaders are in touch with and guided by their higher selves.  They draw on their inner guidance to help them make decisions.  That inner guidance always comes from a place of love and a win-win approach.  People who have committed an atrocious act might say, “God told me to do it”. This is the ego talking, not the higher self.  Inspirational leaders know the difference.

Unity consciousness

Leaders who inspire know that at the core of their being, we are all connected.  They don’t peddle division or inequality because they know we are all created equal.  Whatever our life circumstances or choices, at the core, we are made of the same stuff.   We may look different, have different experiences, and have acquired different beliefs and personalities.

In the workplace, the understanding that we are all equally valuable transcends status and hierarchies. Inspirational leaders recognise this and, as such, treat everyone with respect and consideration.

Greater good

For inspirational leaders, the self is not a consideration.  What they set out to achieve will contribute to or affect the world at large for the greater good.  Their world is not one of profit or fame, but of love and the expansion of humanity.  This sounds very lofty, but these principles are equally valid in a small business as on the world stage.

Essential qualities that effective leaders possess

Effective leaders get things done, and as a result, they achieve results and fulfil their commitments.  They leave no stone unturned in meeting deadlines and working at pace.  To maintain momentum, they will overcome obstacles and problems swiftly and turn to solutions when issues arise.  Effective leaders are more concerned with the present moment. They are pragmatic and baseless in the sensory world.   Unlike inspirational leaders, they are not usually visionary or about trying to change the world.  They are more concerned with accomplishing tasks and achieving results.

Here are some of the essential qualities effective leaders possess.

Data and facts

These leaders like to base their rational decision-making on historical and current data.  They concentrate on the facts and evidence to inform their views.  These are very pragmatic type leaders who resonate heavily with people who are sensors and feel comfortable with facts and data.   They will always want to provide data to leverage or influence outcomes.

Focus on results

Results are vital for these leaders, as they determine the success or failure of “getting the job done”.  They may appear driven to reach the end game and to complete what they started.  Before they set out on their journey, they will anticipate the possible outcomes. This allows them to ensure they are taking the right actions to achieve their desired outcomes.

Measure and evaluate progress.

One of the essential qualities of these practical and effective leaders is their need to constantly measure progress and evaluate their current position. They are more than happy to work in an agile way, so that while they may have some key outcomes, they will change course where the current evidence suggests they ought to.

Solution orientated

Time is of the essence for these leaders, and they do not waste any time wallowing in blame or investigations into what went wrong.  These leaders will get over the issue and, very quickly, almost seamlessly get into solution mode.   They will review the information that caused the problem, but only to the extent that it will help them to find a solution.

Celebrating success

These leaders ensure their people receive recognition for their achievements. Therefore, they celebrate success in various ways, such as receiving an industry award, an article highlighting the difference they are making, or simply a team or organisational recognition.

Traits Of Poor Leaders

Adolf Hitler is, of course, the epitome of bad leadership.  Not that he wasn’t able to secure followers, but because he manipulated them into a particular way of perceiving others, which fed followers’ greatest fears.  There are, of course, bad leaders both in business and on the world stage.  There is a saying that a small show of anger in the microcosm is equal to full-blown hateful rage in the macrocosm.

The following are some common qualities of poor and evil leaders; however, they are all intrinsically linked.  The level to which these qualities are on display creates an equally negative impact on the people involved. A negative impact is felt to the extent to which these qualities are on display.

Dictatorship

On the world stage, there have, of course, been many dictators.  These leaders abuse their power by using manipulation and propaganda to imprison their people physically and psychologically. In the business world, ineffective leaders often create mini dictatorships, operating under a strict command-and-control regime.  These leaders stifle innovation and employee engagement.  They do not allow employees to have a say in the decisions which affect them.

Ego-based

When the ego is in sole charge of a leader, the essential qualities these leaders display can be a slew of bad behaviours. When bullying, blame, and a lack of diversity are in evidence, then the leader is usually leading from ego. A leader who has a superiority complex, driven by a fierce fear of the ego, is in charge; then dehumanising people becomes the norm.

Evil intent

On a macro level, history has shown that some leaders have been punishing, revengeful, enraged, or even murderous.  These leaders are downright evil; they act in opposition to life and growth.  They create suffering and acute human misery.

Essential Qualities followers want from a leader

Millions of leadership books describe the essential qualities of leadership that followers or employees want from their leaders.

This research from Harvard Business School contends that employees have four basic needs:

• renewal (physical);
• value (emotional),
• focus (mental) and
• purpose (spiritual)

When these four basic needs are met, then productivity and engagement improve to varying degrees.

Some years ago, I was teaching some MBA students about global leadership, exploring the challenges they faced. These included climate change, automation, global talent and demographics, for example. When I asked the students about the essential qualities leaders would need to overcome these challenges, they did not talk about pragmatic results, although these would have factored in. What they described fell into three categories.

Value-based

This included value-based characteristics like integrity, honesty, openness and emotional intelligence.  The students were concerned about the essential qualities of values they wanted to see in a leader. The leader had to be open, transparent, and worthy of leadership to win hearts and minds.

People-centred

These students wanted leaders to be inclusive, engage with people and involve people in decision-making.  They were not interested in results or profits to the extent that the total of results.  They realised the wicked problems leaders have to grapple with needed more than the leader, but a concerted effort of everyone being a leader, and a true leader facilitating that.

Meaningful/greater good

The intent of the leader was of paramount importance.  They wanted these leaders to have purpose and meaning and a mission which was for the greater good. Self-interest, division, competition and “them and us” attitude were not the space they wanted our leaders to be in.

Ways to identify essential leadership qualities

As a leader, it’s really good to understand those essential qualities you are bringing to the table.  There is always the old argument about whether leaders are born or nurtured.  The truth is that when it comes to essential qualities, there are natural leaders who seem to have mastered what it takes to lead others, and there are leaders who willingly learn what it takes to lead others.

To help you understand those qualities you are good at and those which need more attention, there are many methods or tools you can use to develop that self-awareness.  Here is a small sample which will get you started.

Getting feedback

A great tool is, of course, 360 feedback.  This enables you to receive feedback from several sources.  I undertook a 360-degree feedback exercise at a time when I was managing a team with many stakeholders.  I had to score myself again on indicators.  A coach then analysed my responses against the stakeholder responses.  I was way off the mark because I was far more modest in my assessment than that of the respondents.  There were many areas to address and grow, but it was a really valuable exercise because I decided, based on the feedback, to undertake a career change.

Developing self-awareness

There are many tools on the market to help you develop self-awareness.  One of my most valued is the MBTI, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Currently, it is being discredited by many, even though it is statistically valid.  The MBTI is a really good tool to separate our operating model so we can understand it.  So, how we take in information, how we process that information and how we like to live our lives.  I have to say that when I used the tool to develop self-awareness, it highlighted the essential qualities I possessed and, more importantly, it helped me understand why I had those qualities.

The VAK NLP model helps to understand your preferred way of communicating.  Based on three modalities, visionary, auditory and kinesthetic.  Able to communicate in all three modes, you can build rapport and connection with others easily.  It also explains why you connect with some people more easily than others.