What Qualities make a Great Team Leader?

Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. Team management is not an easy task. Team leaders have to have a strong personality and the ability to influence others.

A team leader has to have several qualities in order to be successful in his or her job. What are the qualities that one needs to be a successful leader? Here’s a look:

Honesty

Whatever ethical plane you hold to yourself, when you are responsible for a team you must be able to raise the bar considerably. Your business and its employees are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a key value, your team will follow suit.

Confidence

An effective team leader is confident in all his abilities. He or she is also confident in the abilities of his team members. A confident team leader is someone who can make concrete decisions. A self-confident team leader also reassures team members of his authority within the organization.

Respect and Regard for Team

It is very important for the leader to have actual respect and regard for his or her team members. A leader who is respectful will always empower employees by encouraging them to offer ideas about decisions that affect them. This will let the team members know that they are regarded and the leader respects their inputs and opinions.

Fairness and Integrity

A leader essentially needs to be fair and show integrity in his work. A good leader always treats his members with all fairness and goodness. He also has to be honest with his or her team members. Leaders who possess integrity gain the trust of team members because he does what he says he will do and treats others the same way he wants to be treated.

Influential and Inspiring

A leader also must be influential and inspiring. They not only influence their team mates but also inspire them constantly to learn new things and achieve their goals. Influential leaders also help manage change in the workplace by gaining the confidence of workers through effective decision making and communication.

Delegate

Finessing your brand vision is essential for creating an organized and efficient business. As a leader, it is important to trust your team members with the work that you delegate them to. It is important to remember that trusting your team with your idea is a sign of strength, not weakness. Delegating tasks to the appropriate departments is one of the most important skills you can develop as your business begins to expand.

Facilitator

Effective team leaders are ideal facilitators. As a facilitator, team leaders need to understand their team members and motivate them to pursue their goals. They also help organize an action plan to ensure team members meet their goals and objectives more efficiently.

Negotiation and Communication

Last but not the least, negotiation and communication skills are extremely essential for a team builder. Knowing what you want to accomplish is actually a great idea, but if you are unable to explain these in proper terms to your team members, well then something’s really wrong. Understand that as a leader you have to have great communications skills that actually enables in motivating team members.

Not all human beings are the same. However, once you have dawned the cap of a leader, you have to have these traits in you to be successful.

Author Bio: A digital media professional, Sampurna Majumder has been lending her expertise by penning articles and blog posts on jobs, career, HR tips and the recruitment industry.