Whether you’re a part of student leadership at your college or looking to strengthen your influence in your current role, effective leadership is essential. An effective leader can bring the best out of the team, reach goals faster, and foster an environment that encourages feedback. So, what makes an effective leader? Having a growth mindset, ability to receive feedback, and earning the respect of others are some of the characteristics. Read on to learn more about the top qualities we identified and how you can integrate them into your leadership style.
Growth Mindset
A top quality you can possess as an effective leader is a growth mindset—which means having the ability to embrace change and see potential in others. This can be achieved through acknowledging the challenges ahead and embracing them. With this mindset, you can capitalize on the difficulties and work towards your short term and long term goals.
Johnathan Retchin, Sr. Director of Talent Acquisition & Learning at Barton Associates explains, “An effective leader is always evaluating the current state and identifying the future state. Along with that comes a focus on driving execution through mentoring, inspiring, motivating with a firm, yet empathetic and enthusiastic demeanor.”
In essence, successful leadership involves a balance of strategic thinking, planning, and people skills. This means embracing challenges and staying persistent in the event of a setback.
If a growth mindset resonates with your leadership style, consider joining the Barton team where having a growth mindset is essential to your success.
Strong Feedback Reception
Strong feedback reception is what can make or break a team. A top-down feedback loop, where only managers provide feedback, can make employees feel discouraged to perform their best. Put yourself in an employee’s shoes, they may question the purpose of their work if they don’t have the opportunity to voice their thoughts on how to improve or make processes more efficient. By sticking to this feedback loop, you are actively discouraging feedback, allowing many ideas and concerns to be ignored.
Instead, as an effective leader, you should create ways to provide feedback and encourage conversation. First, you should change your tone and commit to constructive criticism. This means respectful suggestions to make improvements without tying the area of weakness to their character. In essence, it’s essential to rethink your dialogue and find ways to express more positivity.
Earn the Respect of Others
In a position of power and authority, a leader has the “respect of position.” However, ultimately respect is earned, not given without thought. This means an employee or fellow student can respect someone’s ability to make decisions and the need to take leadership over a situation. However, they may be less willing to comply, fully engage, or share ideas because they believe their leader is not a person of integrity.
Ways this respect can be earned is by recognizing the achievements of others—not just yourself. Forget your title and position yourself as someone who can give credit to others where it is deserved. On the contrary, understand when mistakes are made, take responsibility and acknowledge your missteps. By projecting blame on others, you contribute to a toxic workplace.
Can Make Informed Decisions
In the world of many people counting on you—a team lead like yourself must make informed decisions efficiently. The ability to adjust is not only in the best interests of the team, but it can have a positive effect on the company, institution, or organization you work for.
This means that for each decision, you should understand the available options, stay realistic, and have the ability to identify the possible repercussions. In addition, understanding risk allows you to prepare for the worst possible scenarios and prepare a response plan.
Focus on What Is Manageable
It’s easy to get caught up in distractions—especially if you are a team leader. Keeping up with the latest trends, balancing the needs of the organization, and adhering to the demands of both your manager and your direct reports are just a few of the many responsibilities you have. On top of this, you could face a crisis at an unexpected time. That means pausing your current projects and tasks to correct the situation.
A major characteristic of an effective leader is the ability to delegate tasks effectively. As a team leader, you should be able to see the strengths of each individual and assign them to the appropriate workload. When making considerations, it’s important to find a balance between challenging work that allows someone to grow, but also tasks that are impossible for them to complete. When making considerations, it’s important to strike a balance between providing challenging work that fosters growth and assigning tasks that are too difficult.
As an effective leader, having the ability to focus on what is manageable comes from setting boundaries with new ideas and interruptions. This means communicating your boundaries and non-negotiables early on to your team. For example, you might establish an hour of personal time daily by blocking off that time in your schedule. Another boundary could be encouraging your team to come to meetings with solutions when discussing challenges or issues. Struggling with time management? Check out our blog for the top five tips to help you stay on track.
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