IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURS AND ATTITUDES!

Without particular categorisation, here are a number of notable important leadership behaviours and attitudes:

• Integrity

• Honesty

• Humility

• Courage

• Commitment

• Sincerity

• Passion

• Sureness

• Positivity

• Wisdom

• Determination

• Compassion

• Sensitivity

• Empathy

People with these sort of behaviours and attitudes tend to attract followers. Followers are naturally drawn to people who exhibit strength and can inspire belief in others. These qualities tend to produce a charismatic effect. Charisma tends to result from effective leadership and the qualities which enable that. Charisma is by itself no guarantee of effective leadership.

Some people are born more naturally to leadership than others. Most people don't seek to be a leader, but many more people are able to do it, in one way or another and in one situation or another, than they realise. People who want to be a leader can develop the ability. Leadership is not the exclusive preserve of the wealthy and educated.

Leadership is a matter of personal conviction and believing strongly in a cause or aim, whatever it is.

However, sometimes it comes to people later in life, and this is no bad thing. Humanity tends to be a generational characteristic. There is no real obstacle to people who seek to become leaders if it is approached with proper integrity. Anyone can be a leader if he/she is suitably driven to a particular cause. And many qualities of effective leadership, like confidence and charisma, continue to grow from experience in the leadership role. Even initially surprised modest leaders can become great ones, and sometimes the greatest ones.

Leadership can be performed with different styles. Some people only have one style, which is right for certain situations and wrong for others. Sometimes they can adapt and use different styles for given situations.

Adaptability of style is an increasingly significant aspect of leadership, because the world is increasingly complex and dynamic. Adaptability stems from objectivity, which in turn stems from emotional security and emotional maturity. Again these strengths are not dependent on wealth or education, or skills or processes.

Good leaders typically have a keen understanding of relationships within quite large and complex systems and networks. This may be from an intuitive angle, or a technical/learned angle, or both. A very useful way to explore this crucial aspect of leadership with respect to wider relationships and systems is offered by the Psychological Contract and how that theory relates to organisations and leadership.

It is very helpful in understanding how and why groups of people think the way they do, and how and why they behave and make decisions, which can be mysterious to leaders. Some very clever ways to alter group behaviour/behaviour, which are generally not taught or understood in the conventional leadership field.

People new to leadership (supervision and management) often feel under pressure to work in a particularly dominant way. Sometimes this pressure to impose their authority on the team comes from above. Dominant leadership is rarely appropriate however, especially for mature teams. Misreading this situation, and attempting to be overly dominant, can then cause problems. Resistance from the team becomes a problem, and a cycle of negative behaviours and reducing performance begins.

Much of leadership is counter intuitive, and is often more about serving. Besides which, individuals and teams tend not to resist or push against something in which they have a strong involvement/ownership/sense of control. People tend to respond well to thanks, encouragement, recognition, inclusiveness, etc. Tough, overly dominant leadership gives teams a lot to push against and resist.

It also prevents a sense of ownership and self-control among the people being led. And it also inhibits the positive rewards and incentives (recognition, thanks, encouragement, etc) vital for teams and individuals to cope with change, and to enjoy themselves. Leaders, of course, need to be able to make tough decisions when required, but most importantly they should concentrate on enabling the team to thrive, which is actually a 'serving' role, not the dominant 'leading' role commonly associated with leadership.

Today ethical leadership is more important than ever before. The world is more transparent and connected than it has ever been. The actions and philosophies of organisations are scrutinised by the media and the general public as never before. This coincides with massively increased awareness and interest among people everywhere in corporate responsibility and the many related concepts, such as social and community responsibility. The modern leader needs to understand and aspire to leading people and achieving greatness in all these areas.