What are the Different Types of Leadership Traits?

There are many different types of leadership traits that are considered crucial to be a good leader. While some of these traits may be a natural part of one's personality, leadership tools can also be learned. True leadership is the ability to motivate and inspire others to achieve common goals. A genuine interest in helping other people improve their skills, good listening ability, a sense of fairness and excellent communication techniques are some of the different types of important leadership traits.

Good leaders know how to communicate with others in a respectful way that also motivates them. The Golden Rule of treating others how you expect to be treated is one of the most crucial leadership traits because it allows leaders to have empathy for those who work for them. Leaders must be able to get things done through other people, so empathizing with employees when giving out assignments and tasks is usually much more effective than barking out orders.

Having empathy for those who report to them also tends to create fair leaders. Leaders with a strong sense of fairness in the way they treat employees tend to be more influential in getting workers to take the initiative. If workers feel that what they do really matters and they'll be appreciated for it and compensated fairly in return, they're likely to take the initiative and become more productive in their work. Good leaders know how to guide others in correcting bad workplace behavior.

Good listening skills are important leadership traits for several reasons. If leaders don't listen well to those who report to them, the line of communication between them will weaken. Confusion as to what the company expects from the worker may result. Poor work performance may also occur. In order to feel valued, most employees expect supervisors and managers to listen to their concerns and questions with respect.

While being in a workplace leadership position attracts many people to certain careers, true leaders actually thrive and appreciate helping others achieve successes on the job. They don't allow petty jealousies to keep them from motivating and inspiring others to do well in the workplace. True leaders have leadership traits that permit them to model the behaviors they expect in others. They understand their own strengths as well as how to achieve their own workplace success without keeping others down. True leaders appreciate others' strengths as much as their own.