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Vietnamese It's easy to lead when things are going well. It's only when adversity strikes that great leaders shine. In this turbulent time, how can you step up your leadership game? Master these 7 leadership traits to better navigate the white water of the business-as-unusual post-COVID world.
Read more: Maintaining Successful Leadership with IQ
1. The leader’s ways of thinking
In a group of leaders, when facing the same specific situation, the way in which each of them thinks may have come to the various response choices. Therefore, people with good thinking habits will be able to solve the problem more reasonably.
Some good habits that leaders should consider are:
- Seeing thinking as a discipline: Many people usually think only when there is a problem to solve. To great leaders, thinking is a steel discipline to comply. If you want to have good thinking, you have to spend time practising, no one possesses outstanding wisdom from birth.
- Accessing many new ideas and different types of people: Great leaders are very selective in their use of time and spend most of their time meeting people who can bring them challenges.
- Avoiding the old-fashion ways of thinking: Common thinking means that you do not think at all. Most people find it uncomfortable to give up the old, ineffective but familiar way of thinking. Meanwhile, high-performance leaders have very different thinking styles, and they really do not care what others think as common sense.
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2. The leader’s action and choices of behaviour
More and more businesspeople believe that they must develop leadership traits - and this means that the leader does not put their true nature into business. In fact, understanding, flexibility, and sensitivity are more important than a set of norms.
Leaders must deal with situations that require specific behavioural responses; most tend to respond in the reflexive thinking style. This means that they often do not consider the impact of such a reaction on others. However, if they take a moment to assess the situation and how their behaviour can affect others, then their leadership will work!
Great leaders have a clear vision that can inspire the whole group to make that vision a reality. Most team members will accept challenges and complete them if their leader understands the rules of decentralisation, not putting all the burden on the leader’s shoulders. The way to do it is by giving the members the right tools, and level of authority so that they can work and achieve goals. When combined with boldness in vision and strong faith of the leader, the ability to achieve success is high.
Read more: Why is Collaborative Leadership Important?
3. The leader’s choices of words
Whenever a leader communicates, they will point out what is important to them and show their culture. In the process of developing leadership skills, it is important for leaders to spend time rethinking what they have told people and whether they are suitable for their positions or not. Showing respect and civility in conversations is also an effective tool for high-performance leadership.
In addition to self-reflection, encouragement is also a low-cost, high-return tool that leaders should pay attention to. It is clear that any team responds positively to praise, recognition and encouragement as this is a natural instinct of the human being. Great leaders will take the blames when the plan is broken but leave the team members all credits when everything goes well.
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4. The leader’s decision on the action time
The decided timing of the action is a sign showing the leader's level. Although it raises serious controversy, the words are not as important as the timing and method of action. The timing of the action has a much greater impact than verbal, which implies what is important to the leader and emphasises the determination to invest in their high-performance leadership.
In the tough time, great leaders will be ready to take part in the process of achieving goals and do whatever necessary. They know how to do it, and how to help their team accomplish it. They can lead, but if necessary, are ready to give the team’s members power and let them take the glory.
5. The leader’s beliefs
To truly engage with the job, the leader needs to know his or her values and live up to them every day. This is a matter of "beliefs" as a human being. Understanding themselves as well as their "beliefs" will make it easy for leaders to act with confidence and courage, generate positive results when investing in high-performance leadership.
In fact, great leaders believe that great results are the work of the whole team, not just solely from their leadership. From there, they know the necessity of empowering their people and then give their group the freedom to achieve goals in the best way they know. They do not criticise failure because they believe it is a part of the journey to success.
Read more: 3 leadership & management skills that will help you succeed anywhere in the world
6. The leader’s awareness of all aspects of leadership mastery
High-performance leaders require the ability to build confidence and courage. And there are four very important factors to identifying these abilities:
- Self Acknowledge: leaders are encouraged to express themselves, become bold and passionate about their work, therefore, receiving personal success.
- Technical Skills: It is intellectual stimulation, and is the solid foundation of professional knowledge.
- Relationship Appreciation: Success can be achieved when leaders recognise the role of trust and inspiration from all parties involved in the business.
- Business Mastery: It is essential to be financially successful and ethical. Leaders need to learn to be profound, practical, resourceful, and assertive in business.
Properly assessing these leadership mastery's factors will help leaders consciously invest time and energy to develop each factor and build confidence, beliefs, and courage for high-performance leadership.
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7. The leader’s understanding of the business change’s impact on leadership
The business world is always changing, never standing still. In order to face this constant change, there are five essential things to understand if leaders want to maintain their high-performance leadership:
- Leaders must continually move beyond stability and challenge themselves - even if they have to go against what they have done in the past and what they know when they reach the leader position of the organisation.
- Learning, changing and spiritual flexibility are considered to be important to leaders in this volatile business environment.
- Leaders must know how to put their egos aside to make the right decision, whether it is to change. They need to find new data and check their decisions continuously.
- Understanding the need to adjust budgets to fit the predictions in the business environment moving constantly. Change or die!
- Learning to slow down to speed up - take the time to consider carefully before making decisions, thinking at a higher level is better than thinking fast.
Read more: Which leadership's key factor is unintentionally forgotten?
Upgrading your leadership skills starts with changing your habits, which is a huge commitment and a long winding road. And remember, it is ok to ask for help.
Don't know where to start to up your leadership game to navigate the murky water ahead? Check out our latest whitepaper.
