The leader is the boss. On principle, a boss makes a poor workmate. Even so, the leader is the one responsible for making the area, department or work group run well, both personally and professionally. There are no secrets to being a responsible leader, but there are tricks to having a good boss: someone who knows how to lead alongside us and take charge of our work group.
It comes down to the human qualities that enrich the way they behave and make you feel different in your professional dealings with them, so that every instruction, even when it means more work, is taken on with enthusiasm, out of a wish to support and work within a good group of people. These are the qualities, the values, the secrets of a good leader:
Fair. A leader must be honourable in what they do. They share out the workload evenly and spread the day-to-day problems and easy tasks equally. They also need to recognise each team member’s successes and failures, give praise when the credit belongs to others, and take their own mistakes on themselves.
Decisive. A leader shouldn’t second-guess their decisions. They need clear ideas about how to act and mustn’t show weakness or insecurity. Those are mistakes that undermine their leadership within the group and demotivate the people working with them.
Plans and anticipates the work. A leader doesn’t wait for problems; they get ahead of them, preparing solutions to the inevitable setbacks. A leader who has no plan and improvises is a ship without a course. Leadership done well means anticipating and having every short- and medium-term contingency covered.
Sets an example at work. It can be summed up in one very clear sentence: don’t demand what you don’t do yourself. It’s like war: the head of an army can’t be the last one into battle. If you want your team to work, lead by example, and don’t do yourself what you don’t want them to do.
Self-control. Answer this: if you can’t control yourself, can you control everyone else? Losing your temper when the unexpected happens is bad, both for solving the problem and for showing leadership. Whatever the circumstances, calm, composure and control of the situation should be the example to follow and to show the rest of the team.
The principle of practising what you preach applies here too. It’s no good getting worked up, saying all sorts of things and changing goals and criteria; there has to be command of the situation, however tough it is.
Tolerant, friendly and understanding. This may sound like the definition of the ideal leader, but we have to remember that their followers need to be heard, understood and tolerated. Let’s not forget that being a leader means working with people, and people, besides having feelings, have their own circumstances, which must be understood and tolerated to a reasonable degree. The closer you are to your colleagues, the better they work with you and the more satisfaction you’ll both get.
Responsibility. Above all when it comes to mistakes. A leader who hides from their team’s mistakes will sooner or later be removed from the job. A leader must back their team, and fix and resolve its mistakes.
Attentive to detail with the team, concerned with the smallest things. They’re not careless with the work, nor with people, and they look after every aspect of the working relationship.
Cooperative. A good leader works alongside their team in its daily tasks. They don’t just stick to their own job of planning and delegating: when the workload is too heavy, they become one more member of the team and pitch in with their colleagues to get the work done faster.
Approachable. They make the phrase “let them come to me” their own: always ready to listen to their team, someone who accepts other people’s comments, who is close to people and develops their social skills with the team. Someone who lets themselves be liked and accepts their team as they are.
A leader, by definition, is someone who knows how to make things work, get messages across to others and build good synergy across the whole team.
See also: What you need to know about excellence, according to a Navy SEAL
Further reading
Featured image: E. Dronkert, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
