One of the ways to become an effective leader is to learn from great leaders AND learn from bad leaders what NOT to do.

In this new series, I will highlight a variety of leaders and what we can learn from them.

Have you ever looked at your role model and thought ‘if I could only be a little bit like them…’?

Let me tell you, you can!

Most of the characteristics of great leaders can be put into three categories: traits, skills, and styles.

Firstly, leadership traits are inborn or developed qualities that distinguish a good leader from a bad leader, such as integrity, confidence, determination, charisma, intelligence, and sociability. Research defines these six as key traits of effective leaders. (Northouse, 2020)

Secondly, leadership skills are competencies that leaders have learned over time. They are broadly defined as administrative or technical skills, conceptual skills, and interpersonal skills. Each category involves several skill-sets that make up effective leaders.

And finally, leadership styles define how a leader goes about conducting themselves and leading people. There are many different concepts about leadership styles. You might have heard about the broad categories, authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. I personally prefer Goleman’s six different leadership styles: coercive, authoritative (different to authoritarian), democratic, affiliative, pacesetting, and coaching. Another concept I use with my clients is Situational Leadership which is a great tool for developing people.

Over the next few weeks, I will be highlighting different traits, skills and styles and I will give you examples of leaders that we can learn from.

This week, we are focusing on the leadership trait integrity in the BEYOND Leadership Group on Facebook. Join the conversation here.

Watch out for my next blog post about an inspiring leader we can learn from.

Happy Tuesday!

Desiree