50 things I look for in a great leader

I aspire to become a great leader. After finishing two years of management training and working for another year and a half after this, this is what I personally look for in a good leader.

1. Get your team on board. Share why you want to do something and how to best reach that goal together.
2. Delegate. If someone else can do it too, let them take on the task. Even if you think it may take them a little bit longer or not be just as good as when you do it. With responsibility this will get there.
3. Give and accept feedback. This way you can help your colleagues be their best self and get better yourself.
4. Give praise when it is deserved. One of the best leaders I know believes in the 7–1 rule, for each time you give negative feedback, you should have told the employee at least 7 times all the good things they have done.
5. Make your own decisions and stick to them, but don’t be afraid to turn around if you were wrong. You will be faster and more trusted if you make up your mind and others can rely on it.
6. Be genuine. Do something because this is something you believe in and it works for you, and not because it worked for someone else.
7. Know how to prioritize. You have to know when to say no and to set expectations.
8. Be a bit predictive. If your collegues have an idea about how you will react and how you tick, they feel more comfortable around you.
9. Share knowledge. You might be sitting on a goldmine, but if no one knows anything about it, it is not worth anything to anyone except from you.
10. Take care of yourself. Get some sleep, do something physical and eat healthy (at least sometimes).
11. Take vacations. The brain works best when you have some time to recover and the world does not go under if you are gone for 2 weeks.
12. Trust the people you hire. After all, if you decide to hire someone for a job, you should believe in their capability to do it. That will also help you relax when you take care of point 11.
13. Greenhouse. Don’t kill off ideas before you listen to what a person has to say and what the motivation behind it is. There might be some takeaways even though it is not a solution your would go for.
14. Explain why you say no. Sometime you will have to shut down an idea or a project, but let it be clear why you do so.
15. Be personal. Care about your collegues and show them that you do so.
16. Be present. Try not to multitask to much and give others your full attention when you are talking to them. Great leaders make others feel seen.
17. Share the credit. Show that something has been a team effort and don’t sell it off as it would be your own idea.
18. Make others shine. Your team is surely full of people that deserve some recognition, make their great effort visible.
19. Know yourself. You know those weaknesses and strenghts that people still keep asking for in interviews? You don’t have to share them, but know how to best lead with these yourself.
20. Learn to see signs early. Is someone stressed out, need a bit more challenge or has some problems at home? Try to see what you can do to help someone prevent a burnout, learn something new or just give them some space.
21. Be a good listener. You will learn so much from others if you take the time to fully focus on what they are telling you. Your horizon is only expanded if you listen to what other’s have to say.
22. Give responsibility. Let your team members know that you need them to be on board and trust them to give a valuable output.
23. Set realistic, but ambitious deadlines. Deadlines should be a bit though and motivate to reach a goal, but make sure they are somewhat attainable, otherwise they are demotivating.
24. Have a strategy for your company or unit, and share it with your team. This goes back to getting people on board — and working is much more inspiring if you can see your own part in this puzzle.
25. Keep yourself informed. Know about what happens in the company, in the world and in your business area.
26. Set up smaller, reachable goals. You cannot reach it all in a day, so have some smaller milestones on the way.
27. Celebrate. Did you achieve something good? Make sure to show you appreciate it and give something back to your team. It also gives you something to bond over.
28. Protect your team. If there is something that is hard to go through, find the best solutions for your team to tackle this together.
29. Have expectations and be clear upfront. When you expect something to be done, make sure it is understood what your expectations is from this so that you are on the same page.
30. Be fair and kind. This does not mean that everyone needs to be treated the same, but that in a way that makes sense for their position.
31. Understand how you can contribute. Be there for your team in the way that is most useful at the moment.
32. See opportunities. There is always a lot going on, so identify and grab those that are important for you and your team.
33. Deal with change. With opportunities comes change, maybe there is an external factor that plays into what you do — so find a way to make this change into something positive and inform the right stakeholders.
34. Be transparent. This nurtures trust and will benefit you in the long run, it is much easier to get on board with something that is understood.
35. Do something you are afraid to do. Making decisions based on fear will make you fall back and hurts innovation.
36. Make time for experiments for yourself and your team. If feels good to try out new things, and it can bring huge benefits to your actual product.
37. Experiment and let it be allowed to miss. If you don’t practice and try stuff out you will never get good at it. It’s kind of like learning a new language, you will not get better if you don’t dare to speak.
38. Be a good example. If you want your subordinates to do something, then live up to this example yourself.
39. Have friends outside work as well. Expand your friendship circle and get some impulses that is from another field, otherwise you might catch yourself only talking about work..
40. Try out leadership by walk and talking. Set off some time where you just go around talking to all the people you work with, it’s amazing how much you learn from doing this.
41. Believe in yourself and in others. Don’t hold yourself back because this is new to you and always aim a little bit higher than what you think is possible.
42. Stick to appointments. Even though you are busy, try to respect the time of others and be reliable.
43. Do not scream at others. Even at your most pissed of moment, find a way to calm yourself down and communicate what you have to say in a comprehensive way. Your point will not get across if you put someone in a defence position.
44. Find a way to handle stress. As a leader you will have to tackle a lot of stressful situations, so find a way to disconnect and find your way to get back in control without stressing your team out.
45. Be passionate about what you do. To motivate others you also need to be able to motivate yourself. If you are not happy, this might not be the right thing for you.
46. Learn from your team. No one is an expert on everything, this is why you need to trust (although sometimes question) those in your team that know more about something than you do.
47. Be available. Find some time where you are just there for the team. If your schedule is full, find some blocks where you are sure to be at your desk or close to the team
48. Find time for planning. It’s very easy to just get sucked into operational tasks, and this will cost time in the long run for both your and your team.
49. Know that people are different. We all tick a bit differently and are motivated by different things, so get to know your team properly.
50. Breathe and realize you cannot do it all. This is not a magic recipe and no one can be an expert in everything.

If you made it this far, I would love to hear what you do’s or don’s are for a great leader!