The traits and skills that make up an effective leader are numerous. As such, individuals and organizations looking to encourage them should strive to view leadership qualities with a similarly diverse lens that’s as distinct as the employees themselves.

Across organization types in the private and public sector, learning how to be a positive leader is paramount to unleashing the people, processes and power of that organization. Successful leaders and their behaviors don’t merely make stronger decisions, set up streamlined Business Processes, define company values and foster employee talent and innovation — they set the tone for the entirety of the workplace.

But how can this robust leadership recipe flourish? Consider the top qualities of a team leader you’ve known in your life, then read on to see how you can foster them in your office today.

What Is Effective Leadership?

It’s important to note right away that there is no single answer on how to be a good leader.

People utilize dozens of management and leadership theories in offices today. For professionals across industries, it’s even standard practice upon joining a team to take leadership development profiles. These typically include tests or assessments that qualify the various traits influencing how you organize and execute managerial activity.

It’s also important to note that an innate leadership style is not synonymous with being a static leader. Often, someone’s leadership style displays the innate personality, attitudes and leanings of its actor rather than trap them in behaviors they cannot grow or develop.

The most effective leadership skills and styles court both benefits and blind spots. We describe some of today’s most common managerial styles below, not to prove which is superior, but rather to narrate the effects each has on prioritizing people and processes.

1. Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders are those where pattern, structure and set systems come second-nature. They see themselves as orchestrators of workplace order, establishing responsibilities and eliminating barriers or uncertainty that prevent team members from performing well-defined roles.

The primary strengths of transactional leadership include:

• Process-Oriented: Linear thinking is a hallmark of transactional leaders, who can deftly identify the small steps that build the bigger picture.

• Organized: Structure and planning are innate to the transactional leader, and they thrive when clearing gray areas or unnecessary red tape.

• Prioritized: Transactional leaders can prioritize tasks and projects and rope in only necessary team members or subject matter experts.

People with transactional leadership styles can grow by addressing the following tendencies:

• Might focus too much on daily structures and workflows and not enough on the interpersonal or the long-term

• Can get caught in role delegation at the expense of most else

2. Transformative Leadership

A transformative leader is someone who innately sees possibilities and potential in daily and abstract tasks. Their primary perspective as a manager is to have others grow into that potential, even when executing routine duties.

A few strengths of someone with transformative leadership tendencies include:

• Visionary: Transformative leaders are ideation-fluent and have no problem abstracting problems and solutions.

• People-Centric: Their team members’ time and talents are paramount to the organization’s overall direction.

• Adaptive: New technology, Business Process Improvements, training tactics or performance metrics are always open for implementation rather than remaining statically “business as usual.”

Transactional leaders can focus on addressing these growth areas:

• Can concentrate too much on tomorrow’s “what ifs” and negate today’s to-dos

• Can burn out or misallocate tasks to employees who are ill-equipped or under-prepared for them

3. Democratic Leadership

Democratic leaders are those who get the final say in decision-making but rely heavily on the thoughts, expertise and opinions of their team. While they recognize their own authoritative status, they don’t allow that status to dictate how the team feels or functions.

A few strengths of democratic leaders include:

• Diplomatic: Democratic leaders see people and interests as united and can curate connections.

• Communicative: Democratic-style managers are much more likely to support regular meetings and build open channels of dialogue to gain input from others.

• Insights-Oriented: Fresh ideas are paramount to success. This leadership style thrives in bringing new perspectives to the table, then funneling them into a plan.

Still, democratic leaders can focus on these areas where they can improve:

• They may stall tangible progress while balancing input from all team members

• They sometimes need to make “hard” decisions that disrupt diplomatic harmony

4. Laissez-Faire Leadership

As the name suggests, laissez-faire leadership styles put autonomy and independence at the forefront. This doesn’t mean laissez-faire leaders are absent, though. They merely prefer situational interactions and to touch-base on an as-needed basis, allowing team members to prioritize their own day and create their own Business Processes.

Those who follow the laissez-faire leadership style have the following strengths:

• Ownership: Laissez-faire leaders prize their employee’s ability to self-define and self-execute tasks.

• Flexibility: Laissez-faire leaders are poised to do well with tomorrow’s forecasted work trends, which stress project-based, remote or virtual employees.

• Not micro-managers: This style innately trusts its team and doesn’t feel the need to oversee every single step or system personally.

Two primary growth areas of laissez-faire leaders are that:

• Too little oversight can court role uncertainty and disorder

• Operational gray areas or Process Improvements can fall out of focus and make employee accountability difficult

Common Qualities a Leader Should Have

Once participants grow familiar with certain innate leadership styles and models currently operating at work — including in themselves — they can begin to nurture strengths and work on growth areas. This process can’t be done without first surveying leadership styles and discovering, in a sense, what you’re working with. It’s like the saying goes, management traits are developed out of necessity, leadership traits out of choice.

The following eight attributes are those consistently cited as top traits for effective leaders in the private and public sectors. Both self-determined through assessments and noted by others, they provide the building blocks for those wishing to hone their leadership persona and inspire growth.

1. Advocate

First and foremost, an inspiring leader is an advocate for their team and their team’s projects. They leverage their authority not to steamroll, but to support. Advocacy also means a leader is aware of department projects and happenings and can successfully speak for them, whether in cross-departmental meetings, at lunch or with their own superiors.

2. Curious

Curiosity is a linchpin of self-awareness. In a sort of leadership paradox, the most inspiring and proactive managers are those who don’t know everything but are ready and willing to learn — from books, courses, seminars and others. This earnestness for life-long learning translates into approachable and valuable leadership.

3. Sensible

As the name suggests, effective leaders are those who make sense of and put a professional perspective on work. They readily explain how concepts or projects provide value alignment for the organization. They interpret the deeper meaning of work and communicate that significance across channels to relevant stakeholders.

4. Cross-Cultural

Competency across cultures doesn’t just mean fostering diversity events in the workplace. Authentic cross-cultural leaders go beyond the surface to engage with how culture impacts everything we do — from our work styles and public speaking habits to the way we greet new colleagues and our non-verbal cues.

It also understands that the golden rule doesn’t blanket apply to your entire team. Different people do, indeed, want to be treated differently and will respond to varying incentives and interactions. A cross-cultural leader works toward noting and practicing this.

5. Disciplined

Don’t worry — we mean the internal kind, not the punishment kind. Leadership discipline centers on a grounded sense of self. Grounded leaders know their limits, what’s practical and realistic and what’s not within wise control. They bring a strong demeanor to work every day and display keen emotional intelligence. Such consistency and calm are contagious in the workplace.

6. Compositional

A compositional leader is one who can break bigger, abstract problems down into smaller, linear concrete process steps. On the flipside, they possess the complementary ability to connect smaller processes with a larger, harmonious goal. They then clearly communicate these steps to the team.

Think of compositional leaders as office alchemists — visualizing a big picture but without forging the logical sequences it takes to get there. Plus, they aren’t afraid to tweak, tailor and test various methods along the way.

7. Adaptive

Adaptive leaders are not pushovers — they still very much hold authority and sway. Yet, that authority isn’t the end-all-be-all in the office. Agile leaders want the best results and are willing to be flexible and open-minded to realize them. They purposefully remain approachable, so new ideas and fresh Process Improvements always have a seat at the table.

8. Respectable

Perhaps it’s so obvious it goes without saying, but respectability is a significant component of those viewed as leaders. How do you earn it? Over time, through competency, integrity and authentic relationship building — it’s not awarded from status. Those with a combination — or similar iterations — of the strong leadership qualities above will build their respectability organically and solidify their leadership presence.

Making Decisions as a Leader: Effective Processes and Practices

Leadership styles and characteristics like the ones above are essential, as are their study and practice. Yet how do they translate into behavior, creating more informed and confident decision-making processes that are so integral to the leader’s role? Here’s a seven-step approach that effective leaders implement across their own decision-making domains — plus how they exude those aforementioned common leadership traits.

1. Single Out the Problem or Opportunity

Traits on Display: Sensible, Disciplined, Compositional

Effective leaders first discern a clear problem statement. Perhaps Project Management software isn’t keeping pace with a growing team. Maybe customer service phone lines are always tied up and hold times are too long. Maybe the interns don’t have a clear way to ask for more work when they need it. Focus on naming the core, broad problem in clear terms.

2. Define Needed Information

Traits on Display: Curious, Sensible, Disciplined, Adaptive

Brainstorm the questions you need answering and research you need executing to tackle the problem or opportunity statement. Note, however, that at this stage, you’re already trying to contextualize. Too many questions or choices lead to decision paralysis. Continually funnel information through this “needed” lens, and decisions will be decisive down the road.

3. Gather Input

Traits on Display: Advocate, Curious, Cross-Cultural, Adaptive, Respectable

Reach out to relevant team members and subject matter experts who can help answer your informational parameters. Their expertise may even help you cut a few steps and jump toward implementing an action plan.

4. Make a Decision

Traits on Display: Sensible, Disciplined, Compositional, Respectable

Based on the insights from others, you can explore the tools, technology or process changes necessary to directly address the problem — then pick the most relevant, value-aligning one.

These decisions don’t have to be overly complicated — sometimes just dropping a redundant step in the workflow or setting up a specific messaging thread can be your decision’s solution pathway, while other times it may mean introducing new equipment or software. Whatever the case, trust your intuition and know you’ve put in the work.

5. Draw Up an Action Plan

Traits on Display: Sensible, Disciplined, Compositional

Your action plan outlines the detailed steps to sourcing, implementing, training and using your solution. Depending on the nature of the problem, these action plans will be the blueprint for presenting a Process Improvement, update or change to stakeholders and team members alike. The more relevant you can tailor the information, as well as more linear and problem-solving the action plan, the better.

6. Present to Key Stakeholders

Traits on Display: Advocate, Sensible, Cross-Cultural, Disciplined, Compositional, Adaptive, Respectable

Remember to narrate value alignment and sense-making at every point. Those on your team want to know how this change will alleviate their pain points. Those directly above you will want to know how this brings value to the company as a whole, plus its costs and associated transitions or downtime.

7. Implement and Evaluate

Traits on Display: Curious, Sensible, Compositional, Adaptive

A well-devised action plan should include evaluative metrics, if pertinent to the problem. Ensure metric-tracking is in place and the new program or system is under scheduled review — otherwise, all this hard work grows in the dark.

Tips on Becoming a More Successful, Inspiring Leader

There are an abundance of mental attitudes and daily practices you can sharpen immediatly that makes you the leader people want to work with — all because you’re developing yourself. Here are five qualities a leader should have.

1. Accept Ambiguity

Uncertainty is a fact of life. It’s no different in the office, where ambiguity or indecision is a weekly — if not daily — inevitability. As an effective leader, it is in your control not to control everything. Accept that unexpected situations and uncertain tasks occur that you may not have an immediate answer for. Then, know you have the discipline and savvy to address them through the effective processes and practices above.

2. Improve Your Communication Comprehension

Good communication skills are about more than being a savvy public speaker. In fact, as a leader, almost every point of your day is filled with an opportunity to be judged on your communication. Consider the following behaviors you can tweak to improve yours today:

• Tailor face-to-face time: Hold in-person meetings with team members who respond well to them, cut back if they don’t. This isn’t you rolling over to your employees — it’s respecting their time and talents.

• Hold better meetings: When everyone does meet up, study facilitation tactics and stick to a set meeting structure that keeps topics moving. At the same time, do not get so rigid you lose sight of moments for creativity and idea conversation.

• Speak and write well: Balance personality with pithiness, and be able to code shift appropriately. Speaking and writing clearly yet engagingly is a skill no one can outsource.

• Pick up on nonverbal cues: Practicing social intelligence means you will be that leader who successfully “reads the room.” You’ll know how to best approach, interact and tailor ideas to every individual based on body language, facial expressions and other non-verbals.

• Listen: Listening reinforces that your team matters to you. The most inspiring leaders are often those who like to hear others’ voices more than their own.

3. Practice Positivity

We know, this may sound like it’s straight out of this month’s trendiest self-help book. But the psychological spillover from practicing positivity reframes just about every aspect of your day, from how productive you are to the impact you have on your office mates.

Positivity also allows space to have some fun. Show a little humor here and there, and don’t forget to leave your corner office or desk. Effective leaders can still spend a tad too long socializing in the break room from time to time.

4. Foster Flexibility

Fostering flexibility means letting your employees do what you hired them to do, plus eliminating hurdles or frustrations along the way. It meets them where they are and recognizes differences in habits, work styles and routines. It also means building an environment where they can speak up, offer opposing viewpoints, take their own risks and be celebrated for it — not penalized. As long as everyone’s getting their jobs done well, there is no need to impose textbook, rigid work structures.

5. Prioritize People

You don’t need to be a constant cheerleader or buy lunch for someone every single day. You do need to put your team first. Everything you do as a leader contains an element of interpersonal investment and advocacy. Above all else, effective leaders spend their time strategizing human capital and how to best scaffold, direct and nurture talent.

A Leadership Resource to Inspire Individual Growth, Drive Collective Results

Momentum, Inc. sees good leadership as a practice — not a destination. Whether in the private or public sector, government department heads or IT managers looking to bolster their leadership awareness, we offer a suite of services with one aim: to help you do business the way you were meant to. That includes unlocking effective leadership.

Explore our full set of Management, Process Improvement and Implementation Support services today to start learning how to be an effective leader and manager. You can also submit a contact form or give us a call at (717) 214-8000 for more information.

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