Leadership skills are crucial to be effective, but many who lead lack them. Discover your personal leadership style and some simple skills every leader can learn to excel.
Think back over the years about all the leaders you have known. Which ones stood out to you as the best? Chances are they all shared certain traits. Now think about the worst leaders that you have known. They probably also shared some similar traits. Our leaders are just as human as those of us who they lead, but the roles they play can make or break a team. Join us at SpiritualBlossom to discover how to be a great leader. Find out some of the most common things that make a leader bad, what your personal leadership style is, and some simple skills that you can use to make you the best leader possible. Some people just know exactly what to do to lead, and other people could use a little help. Read on to learn skills to be a great leader.
What is a Leader?
A leader is someone who takes charge and has what it takes to get other people to follow them. Nearly everywhere you go, a leader will be in charge. Whether that's a very large corporate based company, or a small local volunteer group, someone will lead. Leaders are the ones in charge of planning, organizing, delegating, gathering supplies, and mobilizing members of the team to make sure things get done. They will be responsible for recruiting, training, and making sure everything runs smoothly. There is a difference between a boss and a leader. Bosses give orders, leaders inspire people to action and help motivate people to do their best.
Leaders hold a lot of power because they do these things. The most effective leaders create positive change, make people feel good about being a part of things, and have the ability to bring new people into the team and retain team members long-term. Leaders know that they can't do everything by themselves. Their job is to gather people together to pull off projects that go more smoothly with a group. Leaders are very necessary for groups. They are the ones whose ideas inspire members of the group, they help people to utilize their talents in ways they couldn't on their own, conflict resolution is a big part of their job, and they help everyone to excel. They also help manage time on projects. Learn time management skills here: Time and Management Skills- Plan Life Magically
What Makes a Leader Bad?
Not everyone is a good leader though. Some of the most common traits that bad leaders share are that they are disrespectful and have no appreciation for their people. They are arrogant, believing that their contributions are more important than the contributions of their team, and they demonstrate on a regular basis that they don't care about anyone. One of the biggest problems with bad leaders is that they exploit people, using other people for their own advantage instead of caring about the project.
Disrespect
Disrespect of your team members is a big mistake for a leader. Without the team, the leader would have nothing. Some leaders believe that they don't need anybody on their team, because they could get a new team at any time. Unfortunately, a lot of ineffective leaders discover that they eventually run out of people. If you don't respect people's time, their needs, and their desires for professional advancement, eventually you're going to get a reputation for that, and people aren't going to want to work with you. Speaking rudely, not compensating people fairly, or failing to provide positive feedback are a few ways that some leaders disrespect their team.
Lack of Appreciation
Some leaders feel their team members owe it to them to fulfill their professional obligations, especially if it is a paying job instead of a volunteer position. Some leaders believe that throwing money at an employee is all the appreciation the employee needs. That's not true. When a leader does not appreciate the positive contributions brought to the team, it shows. Some ways to show lack of appreciation is by not providing promotions, not giving people enough resources to do their job, or micromanaging them. One Zodiac sign that cannot stand to be micromanaged as Libra and you can read more about that sign here: Libra Traits and Love Compatibility
Arrogance
Everybody deserves to be proud of their achievements. Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance or your capabilities goes above and beyond that and makes you arrogant. As a leader, you can't accomplish as much without the hard work of your team. Some ways that leaders show arrogance is by taking credit for other people's work, and failing to give people positive feedback for the work they've done.
Not Caring
It's very important to care about the needs, problems, and feelings of the people on your team. If they are sick, and you don't care enough about them to give them time off, it shows. If they have a family emergency and you don't want to give them time to take care of it, that shows that you do not care about them. If a member of your team is struggling somehow, if you don't care about that, it's a problem. One Zodiac sign that cares deeply about other people is Cancer and you can read about them here: Cancer Zodiac Traits and Love Compatibility
Exploitation
Ineffective leaders will exploit people instead of working with them. They will use people and treat them like objects instead of living breathing human beings. They will try to get by with paying them very little, try to force them to work beyond the point of exhaustion, and refuse to give them credit for all they do. If you think of a human being as simply a resource that helps you to meet your goals, you are in danger of unfairly exploiting your people.
What’s Your Leadership Style?
There are countless leadership styles. Below are listed some of the most common ones. Included in this list are the positive points and the negative points of having each type of leadership style. Which type of leader are you?
Autocratic
Autocratic leaders hold complete power, do not consult the people who they lead, and they have zero tolerance for insubordination. On the positive side, someone who makes the best decisions and never makes mistakes can be an excellent autocratic leader, on the negative side, some people don't like being ordered around without having any input in what they do.
Servant
Servant leaders live to serve the people who are part of their team. They value empowerment of their team members over their own personal empowerment. They are ethical, caring, humble, selfless, and propel everybody forward. Unfortunately, sometimes they can burn themselves out if they don't tend to their own needs as well. Pisces people can excel at this leadership style and you can read more about them here: Pisces Zodiac Traits and Love Compatibility
Democratic
Democratic leaders involve their team members in decision making, and their focus is on collaboration. They are good at including people, sharing responsibility, fostering an environment of mutual respect, and they care what the consensus is. Unfortunately, unless the team is just as talented as the leader, allowing free reign to unqualified people can make the whole project fall apart.
Coaching
The coaching leadership style focuses on mentoring team members to help them live up to their potential. The focus is on teaching, positive feedback, and constant learning. On the positive side, this helps team members to grow, encourages better performance, and is highly sustainable. On the negative side, there can be such a focus on growth, projects may falter. Coaching leaders tend to be very humble. Read more about being humble here: Humbleness - The Art of Defeating Your Ego
Charismatic
Charismatic leaders draw followers because of their personalities and how much they appeal to other people. They can have a hypnotic vision that people get excited about, and they may seem like people who meet goals that other people can't. They are inspirational risk takers who persuade others to follow them. On the negative side, if people decide they no longer like their charismatic leader, it can make the whole project fall apart.
Laissez Faire
This leadership style is basically no leadership style. This is a hands off approach focused on fostering independence, with little or no guidance from the leaders. This can work if you have a group of highly talented self-starters who don't want people overly involved in how they do their work. However, it can also leave people feeling abandoned with no support from leadership.
Bureaucratic
Bureaucratic leadership is a leadership style that focuses on absolute obedience to rules and policies and the expectations of authority figures to subordinates. If done well, this is stable, fair, and provides clear expectations. On the other hand, this can crush creativity and collaboration and people will feel suffocated and want to leave. Virgos can be bureaucratic when they want to be . Read more about them here: Virgo Traits and Love Compatibility
Situational
Situational leadership as an adaptive leadership style where the approach from leaders will be decided by who they are leading. They lead everybody according to their individual needs. There are no negatives to this type of leadership style, however it's very difficult and very few people can pull it off.
Ways to be a Great Leader
Each leader needs to embrace their own personal leadership style, focusing on the positive aspects of it , and avoiding making mistakes their style can create. However, there are some simple things effective leaders do ranging from listening to the people they lead to being appreciative. Read our simple tips for being a great leader below.
Listen
If you are a leader, listening to the needs, concerns, and ideas of your people is imperative. It shows them that you care about them, want their input, and are a member of the team they are proud to belong to, not just someone ordering everybody around. It’s time consuming, and when you’re especially busy, stopping to listen or just pay attention to what is going on can seem impossible. Do it anyway. Your people will see you listening and want you to be their leader forever.
Care About Your People
The best reason to lead is because you care deeply about them. It’s not supposed to be to give a leader power or authority. Leadership is designed for the talented people who know how to give direction and support to everybody else. These people who look to you for guidance put a lot of faith in you. Caring about them is important because it means you will put the team and the project’s needs first.
Be Appreciative
You have a leadership position because of the people who you lead. They put their trust in you, and without them, you would not be able to accomplish so many amazing things. Leaders owe more to their people than can be expressed. It’s important to know that and appreciate it. Ways to show appreciation is to thank people, treat them well, and always be respectful. Appreciation is often shown at annual company dinners, but appreciation doesn’t have to cost money. It just needs to be evident from leadership on a daily basis.
Be Consistently Fair
Fairness is crucial. During difficulties, or when someone you lead has frustrated you, it is especially important to be fair. Fairness means treating everybody the same, not overdoing consequences, but also not letting things slide. Fairness means being understanding of any problems someone you are leading may have, and allowing them absences, helping them grow, and basically giving people the same treatment you would want from a leader.
Take No Favorites
Another part of being fair is not treating some people better than you do others. You will have star members of your team who outperform everybody, but the ones who aren’t your stars will feel demotivated if you go out of your way to reward people based on favoritism. A good leader may like some team members better than others, but never shows it. An ineffective leader will give more perks, benefits, and praise to favorites in front of other people. A great leader praises everyone for their individual strengths and treats everyone the same.
Set and Enforce Boundaries
Boundaries are for everybody’s benefit. Leaders have to set them and enforce them. It’s not fun, and sometimes people get upset if they are the ones pushing the boundaries. Boundaries are another part of fairness to everyone. They set up rules everybody can understand and help things run more smoothly. As a leader, you will have to pay attention to whether or not the boundaries are being pushed.
Follow Through
It doesn't matter how much you listen to people talking to you, if you don't follow through with your promises, they will lose all faith in you. People need you to lead them and support them, and there will be things that they cannot do for themselves. What are you doing to follow up on their concerns, solve problems that they identify, or help them in ways that they can't help themselves? Effective leaders follow through and make good on their promises.
Some people were born to lead and do it effortlessly. Other people need a little help and to learn some leadership skills. Bad leaders can be arrogant and show no appreciation. Some leaders are more rigid and fall into a bureaucratic style of leading, and others are completely hands off and do laissez faire style, letting people do whatever they want. To be a great leader, listen to your people, appreciate them, and follow through to help with their concerns. Some leaders are born, and some leaders are made through great skills training. Take our tips to become a better leader, and you might be the best leader your people have followed yet.
Would you like some more tips on how to become the best leader you can be? Reach out to one of our psychics for leadership coaching today.
About the Author: Lady Saoirse has studied magic and lore for most of her life but started walking her own Magical Path after being spiritually reborn in the desert. Today she is a High Priestess for The Temple of the Goddess, she is a psychic advisor and spiritual counselor, she shares her gifts as a Psychic and Content Writer for Mysticsense and SpiritualBlossom, and she writes for PaganPages.Org emag and Green Egg Magazine.
