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Leadership qualities and styles
As the saying goes, ‘you don’t work for a company, you work for your manager’ — and there are few hires as important for any company as a team leader. Here are the vital leadership qualities any would-be team lead needs to show, so you can be confident that you’re hiring, developing, or maintaining great team members.
What is the meaning of authentic leadership?
Key leadership styles
Various leadership styles have been coined in recent years, but they all share the same essential values: an ability to be genuine, empathetic and empowering. That means no robotic corporate lines, strict rules, or work expectations that treat team members like machines and not individual, unique people. This includes valuing and championing things like diversity and inclusion, especially in workplaces where equality is lacking. Some leadership styles include:
• Authentic leadership: Leads with sincerity and empathy, trust and self-awareness.
• Democratic leadership: Encourages open discussion and joint decision-making, which helps boost collaboration and creativity.
• Delegative leadership: A more hands-off approach that allows for greater autonomy and organic growth that may suit highly motivated and skilled teams.
• Transformational leadership: Encourages their team to grow, and to ultimately become leaders themselves. (This may be key for your business in a time when ambition is starting to take a back seat to job satisfaction.)
What are the 5 qualities of a great leader?
The top five qualities of a great team leader include:
Integrity
A leader always sticks to their values and principles, no matter how hard it may be. This includes always being accountable, giving credit when credit is due, and not taking the easiest way out when things go wrong.
Self-awareness
A great manager doesn’t think of themselves as a boss first and a team member second, they’re aware of their own weaknesses and how they’re as dependent on the skills and talents of their team as their team is on them.
Empathy
Authentic leadership is done with heart, that means a team leader always remembers that their team is made of real people, with a range of personalities, interests, and skills. A manager with great leadership qualities should be able to build a team where differences are celebrated.
Communication
A key skill for anyone who needs to collaborate with others, development as a leader often comes down to how well someone communicates. Managers should make sure to always be approachable, trustworthy, and professional in their communication while ensuring that their team always knows they can come to them for advice.
Leading by example
‘Do what I say, not what I do’ has no place in managerial leadership. A manager should lead by example, embodying the company values and demonstrating the leadership qualities that earnt them their title.
What is the role of a team leader?
A team leader does more than simply ‘be in charge’. Leading teams is no small task, and requires both hard and soft skills to support, encourage, and develop direct reports, as well as manage stakeholders across the business. Some of the everyday expectations for a team leader include:
Organising their own and their team’s workload
Managerial leadership comes in various different styles, but whatever way you work, an essential skill for any manager is to manage workloads well. This means not only managing your own work and deadlines, but making sure that your wider team is also on-track to complete their work on-time and to standard, all while keeping motivation high and navigating the pitfall of burn-out.
Reacting to shifting timelines
This one may sound easier than it really is. Situational leadership needs to be reactive, able to balance incoming projects and expectations with the availability and abilities of the team. A key part of any development as a leader is the ability to ensure teams are given work that is suitable to their skillset, while also maintaining a fair balance of overall workload. For example, while assigning one member of the team to a project each makes sense, if one project is significantly larger than another, then it’s not a fair distribution of work. Similarly, if it works out that a junior member of the team is doing similar work to a senior, demotivation will likely be inevitable.
Leading teams and stepping up in times of trouble
Transformational leadership, i.e. the ability to inspire others to grow, often hinges on how well a team leader can guide and, in times of friction, protect their team from friction. When D-day arrives or something goes wrong, transformational leadership skills will be vital. A manager who acts in this way will take ownership on behalf of their team, work towards a solution, and ensure that toxic traits like blame and finger-pointing are banished. The freedom and safety to make mistakes, but more importantly, own and learn from them, is key to authentic leadership.
Supporting the team
Being great at your job is one thing, but an important part of development as a leader is to learn how to be just as great a person for your team to turn to. Team leads need to be approachable, professional, and compassionate, no matter what — as part of situational leadership, a manager should know how to adapt to every situation as needed. It also means knowing how to help guide underperforming employees, understanding that a person is more than their role, and that every approach to coaching and guidance needs to be tailored to each person’s work style.
Find your next leader with LinkedIn
LinkedIn helps you identify and attract the right leaders who match your business needs and leadership values. With various recruitment features like AI-Assisted Search, advanced filters, and team collaboration tools to evaluate leadership experience, communication style, and culture fit, you can build a leadership team that inspires and drives business results.
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