5 attitudes a leader should have

Have you ever thought of how you can positively affect your work environment with your leadership persona?

There are many scenarios and occasions where your leadership skills can make a difference, but it can't stop at top-down management - let's make sure the difference is in the positive!

Surely the job of a leader sums up everything about supervising and managing a company and its employees - but what skills specifically should this figure have? What can he or she do in a practical way to improve the day-to-day work processes of their team members?

First, let's make clear one thing - it is not a skill of only the managers of a team. Every team member and every professional figure can acquire it - and I find it is an attitude that everyone should pursue and develop. 

Many questions and concerns can arise: What makes a good leader? Do you have the right skills to be a good leader? The question everyone wants to know is: How can I succeed as a leader? We will point out what a good leader should lead to. 

Put simply, what is leadership?

Leadership does not pertain to a technical competency that is innate and inherent to a specific professional figure - it's a soft skill! Leadership can be briefly described as a set of practices or actions by which an individual influences a group to achieve a common goal.

According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist, and writer, there are various styles of leadership - the visionary leadership style, the leader-coach style, the democratic style, etc. I invite you to read the article to find out more about the differences between different types of leadership. In this regard, Forbes has pointed out in one of its articles how it is considered good leadership in 2021.

Now let's move on to the 5 attitudes or abilities a leader should have. 

Raising morale

An active and effective presence of a leader helps in improving the morale of co-workers. This figure has to be able to enhance the skills already present in their workers to bring out the best in them during work hours. A leader who appreciates and considers the work done, even when it is not what is expected in terms of time (perhaps one figure may be faster than another - one must always consider the timing of each), positively influences the morale of his or her subordinate by triggering and incentivizing better work the next time, or at least does not immediately destabilize the person being evaluated.

It is necessary to say "good job" or "well done" and be appreciative of the work of each of the team members, valuing it and making everyone feel part of the company's success. Otherwise, how could they recognize it themselves or know whether or not they are doing a good job?

Of course, this is meant in a broad sense - a worker must be self-critical and self-evaluating because there are not always others to evaluate us – in a work environment, the leader must be that figure who helps and supports their employees in their successes as well as their failures.

Appreciate and support  

Most of the time, appreciation and support are the boost we need to do better and better. Workers must always be able to count on their leader for support and consideration.

If there are not these two ingredients, then it will be difficult to have this among team members. A work environment in which one does not feel appreciated or supported could be detrimental to the overall atmosphere of the team.

This is not to expect that every piece of work or idea that is proposed will be approved or applauded by someone, this is not the school you say. On the other hand, a good word about a job well done or the innovation of an idea never hurts anyone.

Build connection

How important is communication? Be clear, the answer is the same concerning any relationship whether it be business, friendship, or whatever. Good communication, it is well known, improves any relationship (when there is to improve, the opposite case is equally contemplated). Good communication builds strong relationships between leaders and between team members - strong relationships lead to what? you know, teamwork makes the dream work, and to have good teamwork the basis is just it: communicating with each other!

High degrees of trust can be achieved with good leadership work and trusting relationships in a work environment are more important than you might think.

Inspire confidence

A good leader must be able to make people feel as comfortable as possible in their work environment and about their work.

A work environment in which discomfort is not avoided can make the work environment itself infertile, which does not help in the completion of assigned work. And that sends us straight to the element that I think is critical: making room for innovation.

Space for innovation

Creating an environment where innovation dictated by the individual is taken into account, will create and incite originality and innovation itself.

It is important to have briefings and brainstorms to listen to each of the members of a team, evaluate their ideas, and appreciate their authenticity. Of course, this is not to reduce to saying that there are always excellent and/or appropriate ideas - it happens that sometimes a project or idea is not the right one, and especially in those cases the appreciation from the leader of the endeavor must be just as present.

While effective leadership can have a significant effect on an organization, inadequate leadership can be very detrimental. And that's what you need to keep in mind!