What qualities should a leader have: personal, professional, business qualities of a successful leader

When selecting personnel for a leadership position, you need to know what qualities a manager should have. Progress does not stand still, and every decade various innovations appear and priorities change. Many people are interested in the question of whether the set of professional and personal qualities that a leader should have has changed.

Who is a leader?

A manager (chief, director) is a person who makes decisions and is responsible for the consequences of these decisions. The number of subordinates does not matter: there can be 1000 of them, or maybe just 1.

A manager must have the makings of a leader. Not everyone has leadership qualities, but they can be developed.

The main task of any manager is to organize the work of his subordinates, who must perform their assigned duties efficiently and on time. Work in a team should be organized in such a way that after the leader gives an order, he no longer returns to this issue. Its goal is to ensure the productive work of the organization's employees.

If the head of an enterprise independently performs the work or for some reason cannot organize the productive activities of his subordinates, this indicates that there is no leader in the organization.

Main characteristics of a leader:

Competence. A manager should have a good understanding and be able to perform any work of his company better than his subordinates doing this work.
Communication skills. The director must be able to properly build relationships with his colleagues, encourage them to work, and help, if necessary, understand difficult situations. His unspoken responsibilities include the ability to find a common language with different people and under different circumstances.
The interests of the company must come first for him. Own ambitions, career growth, and the desire to get rich are inherent in most management representatives. But for a leader, what is more important is the prosperity of the company and what he leaves behind.
The ability to discern a potential leader in a person. A wise leader knows how to bet on others. He transfers his knowledge and skills to his subordinates, shares his experience, promotes career growth, professional development and promotion of talented employees.
Ability to plan. One of the main characteristics of a competent leader is the ability to plan his own activities and the activities of other people. Proper planning helps achieve high results.
Determination and willpower. Only the leader who is focused on great achievements and victories will be able to lead his company to prosperity.
Responsibility is the quality of a leader who heads a company and makes important decisions. He influences everything that happens in the company and does not allow outside interference in the course of events. He is aware that everything that happens in his company is the result of his activities and the decisions he makes. He does not shift his blame onto his subordinates and is ready to stand up for them if necessary.
Commitment to development. Rapid progress and the emergence of new technologies require constant learning and self-improvement. A leader must be able to easily adapt to changing work conditions. Completing various trainings and advanced training courses is a prerequisite for productive work in a leadership position.

Understanding the need to motivate staff

Motivating subordinates to work requires the ability to set clear, clear and achievable goals for them. They must imagine how they will complete the task.

At the same time, the work of staff should be appropriately encouraged, for example, with various bonuses and bonuses. Before demanding full dedication from subordinates, the manager must ask himself: “Would I work several times harder to increase my income by 2-3%?”

Publicist Mike Delany rightly noted: “In any kind of business or industry where both slackers and hard workers are equally rewarded, sooner or later you will find more of the former than the latter.”

Of course, subordinates must have a sufficient level of qualifications. Otherwise, it will turn out as American entrepreneur Jim Rohn predicted: “Motivation alone is not enough: if you have an idiot and you motivate him, then you will end up with a motivated idiot.”

Successful leader. His qualities

To become a successful leader, it is not enough to have the necessary character traits. It is necessary to develop a behavior strategy and management style.

Characteristics for a manager is a document that contains a list of the personal qualities and professional merits of the manager. This list most often includes the following qualities:

enthusiasm;
The will to win;
energy;
ability to take risks;
constancy;
ability to organize and rally a team;
individual approach to employees;
ability to delegate responsibilities and powers;
high level of intelligence;
ability to prioritize;
awareness of professional issues;
developed intuition;
ability for strategic thinking;
insight;
creative thinking;
a tendency to soberly assess the environment and one’s own strengths.

Business and professional qualities of a leader

A good leader must have a set of professional qualities. These qualities indicate that a person is competent in his field. Without them, he cannot occupy a leadership position:

Relevant education.
Experience.
Awareness of professional issues.
Knowledge of your field of activity and related fields.
Additional skills required for work (knowledge of computer programs and foreign languages, ability to drive, etc.).

Business qualities include those that help organize the work process. These qualities are called managerial:

Skills in planning your activities (planning).
Understanding time management.
Willingness to improve yourself and your skills.
Critical thinking.
The ability to rethink what is happening and draw the necessary conclusions.
Erudition.
Ability to teach others.
The ability to easily assimilate new information and find new methods of work.
Teamwork skills.
The ability to inspire and lead people.
Ability to create a positive work environment.
Management skills.
Ability to achieve goals and work for results.
The ability to distribute attention and keep facts of a different nature in mind.
Logical thinking.
Initiative.
Quick resolution of pressing issues.
Ability to identify priority tasks and goals.
The desire to win.

Determining the primary personal qualities of a leader and their development

The primary personal qualities of a leader are qualities that allow him to act effectively and implement his plans. These qualities include:

Honesty.
Conscientiousness.
Responsibility.
Mental health.
Balance, self-control.
Responsiveness.
Goodwill.

We can highlight character traits that are not inherent to everyone, but which a person holding a leadership position must have:

positive attitude towards the surrounding world;
self-confidence;
sociability and ability to win people over;
stress resistance;
natural charm;
philanthropy;
organization;
ambition;
determination;
sense of justice.

If any of the listed qualities are not inherent in the director of the enterprise, then it is necessary to work on their development, making great efforts.

How can a manager develop leadership skills?

When occupying a leadership position, you need to be able to create a team of like-minded people around you who would try for the benefit of the company. But not everyone has the skills to manage effectively. Various trainings and the study of specialized literature can come to the rescue.

If it is difficult for a manager to find a common language with subordinates, it is necessary to seek a compromise: give up conflict-free behavior, hold short meetings more often, at which employees will have to report on the work done and the results achieved. Thus, the manager will make it clear that he controls the work process.

You must learn not to give in to the pressure of your subordinates. Manipulation is a behavior style of many people. In some situations, employees can purposefully provoke a manager into conflict in order to play on his feelings of guilt and achieve their goals.

When a conflict situation arises, you need to be able to abstract yourself and switch your attention. Psychologists recommend imagining your opponent in some funny way.

To reflect the negative emotions of others, you need to block them:

stand up straight, straighten up, pull your shoulders back;
do not listen or respond to the words of the interlocutor;
maintain calm and self-esteem.

Using these simple techniques, you can develop leadership qualities and increase your authority in the team.

How can a manager develop managerial qualities?

To overcome communication difficulties and develop the strengths of your personality, you need to use the following management tools:

Understand the importance and order of application of management methods.
Understand the principles of combining motivation and coercion.
Identify the main tasks of operational management regarding penalties and prevention of incorrect actions.
Be prepared for the fact that at first it will be difficult to apply these methods, and the results may not live up to expectations. But in the future this will have a positive impact on professional activities.
Understand the principles of influencing employees and apply them in practice.
Move away from stereotypical thinking and perception of the surrounding reality.

A manager must be able to objectively evaluate himself and his employees. This will help improve management efficiency.

Before using different techniques, you need to analyze your character, strengths and weaknesses of your personality. After this, it is recommended to make a list of difficulties and obstacles that arise in the process of management activities. They must be subjected to in-depth analysis and it is necessary to identify which of the above favors the re-emergence of a particular negative situation.

Having identified the cause of the negative trend, you should begin to work through your shortcomings and look for the correct algorithm of behavior.

The most important mechanism for increasing labor productivity is such a concept as reflection. This is a process aimed at knowing oneself and coordinating one’s actions, as well as a method of analyzing a subject from various angles, summarizing the accumulated experience and creating a holistic picture of the events taking place. Reflection promotes the work of consciousness in different modes, allows you to consider your actions as separate elements and as a whole.

By using the reflection method, a person can more clearly assess his line of behavior and make the right decisions.

The concept of position occupies an important place. This is the relationship of the subject who performs the action to the object on which this action is performed. This relationship is determined by the reasons, functional position and competence of the subject.

The reflection technique is a set of methods and means designed to move from one position to another. To develop a tendency to reflect, it is necessary to carry out the following stages of reflex transformation:

formation of reflexive behavior;
development of intelligence;
frequent use of the reflection method in one’s professional activities;
improvement of professional skills.

The influence of leader qualities on leadership style

An important aspect is how the director puts his managerial qualities into practice. The ideal manager has his own unique management style, which leaves an imprint on the company's activities.

The formation of individual style is influenced by factors such as:

intelligence;
level of culture;
degree of professional training;
character and temperament;
moral values;
attention to the needs of the team;
leadership qualities (the ability to lead people and at the same time adopt positive qualities from them);
the ability to captivate with your enthusiasm;
intolerance towards negative character traits and inactivity of people.

The personal qualities of a manager are directly reflected in the work of subordinates, their degree of satisfaction with the work process and working conditions, as well as on the level of motivation and interpersonal relationships in the team.

The main factors that determine leadership style are:

requirements described in the manager’s qualification characteristics;
goals and objectives of the company, technology and management structure, functionality of the manager;
forms of organization of the labor process, availability of material and human resources;
features of professional training of employees, their competence, the nature of formal and informal relationships established in the team, its values and traditions.

To effectively manage a team, a director must have the following skills:

professional;
organizational;
communication skills.

Leadership style is closely intertwined with management method. A method is a method that is used to achieve set goals.

A management method is a set of techniques for the manager’s conscious influence on employees and teams, which ensures coordination of their activities.

Management methods and means include:

order;
order;
request;
advice;
offer;
personal experience;
assistance in solving difficulties that have arisen;
creating social consciousness in the team;
punishment;
financial incentives;
call to duty;
anger;
OK.

In management, there are 4 classifications of management methods:

Administrative.
Organizational and pedagogical.
Socio-psychological.
Economic.

Administrative ones include:

creation of a management structure;
formation of administrative norms;
issuance of orders and regulations;
development of job descriptions.

Such methods are effective if the following conditions are met:

the feasibility of using each management decision;
consistency and logic of requirements;
adequate persistence and willpower in implementing decisions;
maintaining priority in achieving goals.

Organizational and pedagogical techniques are aimed at training company personnel through the use of all forms of methodological activities:

consultations;
workshops;
open classes.

These methods help create conditions for further professional growth of subordinates and improve the quality of their work.

Socio-psychological techniques are aimed at nurturing the spirit and creating a favorable moral climate in the team. To unite the team, it is necessary to show endurance and patience. To effectively influence the audience, diction, facial expressions, voice timbre, and gestures are used. Through these techniques, a director can gain influence and gain respect.

Economic methods include the use of material incentives, drawing up estimates, creating economic norms and standards, etc.

One of the main professional qualities of a manager is the ability to rationally manage the financial assets of an enterprise.

Scenarios

The next level of simplification for the brain is scripts. As children, we monitor what is happening around us and copy scripts from authorities. The donor of the script can be a housewife mother, a father who spends all his time at work, films, books, cartoons. We try to pull off these scenarios in life.

Scenarios are also created in conscious adult life during strong emotional experiences.

The brain is lazy. He is not interested in coming up with new scenarios or thinking every time. It saves energy and scripts are templates with minimal resource consumption. The brain once remembered that if you act according to a certain algorithm, it will get a certain result. Then he will stick to the scenario, the result of which he knows: this is easier and safer for the brain.

The scenario involves all the people who participate in it.

During the first meeting with the client, I usually ask the question: “How do you like working with contractors?
What do you like and what don’t?” One day, one customer said that all his previous contractors were downright eccentrics: “There were six before you, and all of them were bad! We did everything wrong!” Can all contractors be bad? Most likely, the person’s scenario is to find the contractor’s problems and then abandon him. When I listened to the complaints, I felt that I was already included in this scenario. In a couple of months he will kick me out of his office. Unpleasant feeling. There are two solutions:

refuse such a customer because the scripts are difficult to change;
break the script with non-standard behavior.

During the conversation, I decided to act differently than the contractors in his scenario. The new scenario is feedback: we constantly discussed strategic goals, let the customer into our system so that he could see the process. So we broke the script. But this does not always work out, so often it is better to refuse cooperation.

Sometimes it's about ourselves.

Sometimes it’s worth analyzing whether you’re in the script?
When you find yourself in a negative situation, ask yourself: “Has something like this happened in the past? Maybe this is a script? Sometimes I find myself in a stupid scenario. Once, I had a conflict with an employee, let's call him “Boris”. Before this, I had similar conflictual relationships with another employee, let’s call him “Alexey”. I analyzed the situation and realized that I was transferring the scenario with Alexey to “Boris”. My attitude creates a situation in which “Boris” behaves the same way as “Alexey” - creates a conflict. Why I needed this, I realized later, I changed my behavior and the situation improved.

Note. I recommend the book by the same Eric Berne

"People who play games". This is a different book, not “Games People Play.”

Leader effectiveness

A person holding a leadership position must develop in all areas: improve his qualifications, level of education, improve his knowledge and skills.

To analyze the effectiveness of a manager, it is necessary to take into account many factors, including:

increasing labor productivity;
growth of fixed assets;
speed of fund turnover;
increase in profits.

If the result on these indicators is positive, the director’s activities can be considered effective.

Knowledge

To be appointed to the position of head of a company, you must have at least a higher specialized education. In addition to this, you need to have a good understanding of economics, management and psychology. Professional knowledge implies an understanding of the relationships between various processes and the search for optimal options for solving assigned problems.

The strengths of a manager include the ability to competently manage a team, achieve high financial performance, comply with civil and labor laws, understand taxes, budgeting, and conduct personnel policies.

Stiff competition and time constraints must be taken into account. A modern manager must speak at least 1 foreign language, be able to drive a car, and have knowledge in related professions.

The director of an enterprise must understand the activities of all departments of his company:

production workshops;
branches;
legal service;
accounting;
HR department;
supply department;
marketing department;
logistics;
archive, etc.

Responsibility for the work of all these departments lies with the director (regardless of the field of activity of the enterprise). Thus, he must have a wide range of knowledge to effectively organize work and control the implementation of assigned tasks.

Skills

A manager's professional skills characterize his ability to quickly respond to various changes, interact with people, and achieve high results. Here it is necessary to emphasize the following qualities:

Balance is the ability to take control of your emotions. This is the main quality of a leader: to remain calm in various situations and set an example for your colleagues.
Self-confidence is the main personality quality necessary for interacting with others. A confident person always remains calm. Subordinates will follow the example of such a leader. Such relationships between the director and the team will create a favorable atmosphere in the enterprise.
Resilience to stress helps you maintain clarity of thought. Such a person will not get lost whenever a problem arises; he will be able to maintain calm in the team. Making important decisions in any situation is the key to career success.
The desire to win. This character trait is characteristic of confident individuals. The desire to achieve a positive result provides an incentive for career advancement. Enthusiasm is contagious, and the company's employees will also strive for achievements.
The presence of organizational skills implies the skills of quickly assessing the situation, identifying primary goals and clearly calculating the time to solve them. Such inclinations are not only innate, they can be developed in the process of working on oneself. A competent manager evenly distributes the amount of work between subordinates and controls its implementation.

Skills

Skills are an important component of any type of activity. They reflect accumulated knowledge and experience gained. Professional skills represent knowledge that is constantly being improved.

The main business qualities of a manager are:

Logical and critical type of thinking (practical intelligence). It is easier for a person with such a mindset to work with large amounts of information, discarding everything unnecessary and not being distracted by trifles.
Carrying out a large number of tasks at the same time requires endurance and composure, and quick response skills. You must be able to use all your abilities and hidden potential to make the right decisions.
A manager must be able to feel other people and understand the hidden motives of their actions. This skill is called social intelligence. A person with such abilities has a good understanding of people and knows what to expect from an employee. He understands well that for effective work it is necessary to create a healthy microclimate in the team and motivate his employees.
Adequate self-esteem, a tendency to analyze one’s actions, self-criticism, choosing the right line of behavior - such abilities are the privilege of a manager. Low self-esteem and self-doubt hinder the full perception of information, and overestimated self-esteem often leads to the fact that planned plans turn out to be impossible.
Knowledge of economics and marketing. For an enterprise manager, it is not paramount to master all the nuances of the technological process and the work of each employee. His responsibilities include understanding the process and product quality, its compliance with standards and market requirements.

Habits

The director needs to understand that he is an example for his subordinates, so he must imagine what he wants his employees to be like:

collected;
delicate;
active;
scrupulous, etc.

If a boss wants to ensure that his team does not use obscene language during communication, then he needs to prove to his subordinates by his own example that it is possible to communicate without using obscene language. In the subconscious, subordinates will form a model of behavior in which a successful person communicates politely and culturally. Demanding that others follow any rules, you must directly adhere to them in life.

If the words and actions of the boss differ from each other, such a situation will not contribute to the formation of a respectful attitude towards him on the part of his subordinates. What a person brings into the world with his behavior, habits and appearance speaks for itself.

Habits are a reflection of a person’s personality, but in the process of daily activities a person ceases to notice them. Only those who have the makings of a leader can recognize their strengths and weaknesses, admit their shortcomings and work to correct them. The process of self-improvement should not stop.

A competent leader knows how to manage his subordinates, because he has mastered management skills, without which it is impossible to lead a team.

Characteristics of a good leader:

setting high goals;
finding the right approach to colleagues;
staff development;
promoting your products on the market;
establishing relationships with key clients and investors;
rewarding the company's employees for their contribution to its development.

The boss's leadership should be such as to stimulate employees to grow and develop.

Article information

This article was co-authored by. Maureen Taylor is the CEO and founder of SNP Communications, a corporate communications company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Helping leaders, business founders, and innovators in all industries improve communication and feedback for over 25 years.

Categories: Personal Development

In other languages:

English: Improve Leadership Quality, Español: mejorar la calidad del liderazgo, Italiano: Migliorare la Qualità della Leadership, Português: Melhorar a Qualidade da Liderança, العربية: تحسين مهاراتك القيادية , ไทย: พัฒนาคุณสมบัติความเป็นผู้นำ, Français: améliorer les qualités de leadeurship, Nederlands: Leiderschapskwaliteiten verbeteren, 日本語: 指導力を改善する, हिन्दी: अपनी लीडरशिप क्व ालिटी में सुधार लाएं, 中文: 提高领导力, Bahasa Indonesia: Meningkatkan Kualitas Kepemimpinan, Tiếng Việt: Cải thiện ph ẩm chất lãnh đạo

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Hard and soft leadership

The main feature of modern society is the choice of management style or type of managerial leadership. Leadership aptitudes and qualities form the basis of management skills. There are 2 types of managerial leadership, depending on the approach to management: soft and hard leadership.

Soft Leadership

Soft leadership involves the coincidence of interests of employees and the company's leader. The director of such a company is interested in attracting personnel with the appropriate skills and knowledge, and a high level of professionalism. With this management method, effective feedback and a system of delegation of authority are formed. An important aspect is the level of staff satisfaction with their work.

Tough Leadership

Strong leadership is based on unquestioning submission to management. The company does not waste resources and energy on attracting qualified employees, but works with those who are already working on staff. This model provides for obtaining high performance with minimal expenditure of effort, time and financial resources.

A leader who adheres to a strict management method must be persistent and charismatic, be able to persuade, influence and maintain distance between himself and his subordinates.

What role to play?

Hard leadership is more often used in companies than soft leadership. But world practice has shown that a soft approach to personnel management helps to achieve better results. Such companies have more competitive advantages. But building a management system based on trust and mutual support is not easy.

Images

Man constantly forms images because they simplify life. Why ask each tiger whether he is dangerous or not? The person simply accepted the general format that all tigers are dangerous by default.

One of my customers believed that all employees who smile a lot are bad because they are strange. He chose stern men without emotions as his employees. I don’t know what influenced this, perhaps I was beaten by a clown in childhood.

If you see such a bad image that concerns you, refuse to work with the person. But if that doesn't work, try two methods.

The image is formed from a lack of information.

We complete the image on the information that is available. So please provide more information. If you manage remote employees, tell us more about yourself and the company. Provide more information and perhaps a destructive image will not gather around you. Sometimes it doesn't help, but it's worth a try.

Behave outside the box when things are bad.

Now I recommend that all managers ask customers and employees one question: “How do you like working with me?
What can be improved? The question breaks the mold like a karateka breaks bricks: people are not used to hearing such a question. Any images are broken for everyone if the leader constantly asks such questions. Note. I recommend the book “Games People Play” by Eric Berne

— she goes deeper into the topic.

Necessary personal qualities of a leader

The manager's profile should reflect all the strengths of the manager's personality. It should be capacious and meaningful. To occupy a leadership position, you must have a large arsenal of personal qualities: moral, physical, psychological and mental.

Memory Features

A company manager must be able to process large amounts of information in a short period of time, without losing sight of important details. He should have well developed various types of memory:

visual;
auditory;
motor;
emotional;
logical;
short-term;
long-term.

Intelligence

An important component of intelligence is flexibility and efficiency of thinking. To increase the effectiveness of his work, a person must use such types of thinking as conceptual, figurative and effective. At the same time, it must have a clear practical orientation, since under severe time pressure it is unacceptable to put forward a large number of different hypotheses.

Optimal self-esteem

In order for activities to lead to the achievement of the desired result, the director must have adequate self-esteem, since it directly and indirectly affects all processes in which a person is involved. Self-esteem consists of individual knowledge about oneself as an individual. With a negative attitude towards oneself, a person subconsciously sets others up for a negative perception of one’s own personality, which does not have the best effect on the work process.

Professional experience

To become a professional in your field of activity, you need knowledge, skills and extensive experience. Without these 3 components, it is impossible to achieve professional and career growth, so the company manager needs to constantly improve his professional level.

High ambitions

A successful leader always has high ambitions, which stimulates him to develop and achieve his goals. A person without ambitions does not make plans and most often does not achieve great career heights, because he does not strive for this.

Theoretical and practical thinking

An important role is played by the manager’s having both theoretical and practical thinking. These 2 types are interconnected and form one whole. Theory without practice is dead, and practice without theory is blind, so the ability to apply your knowledge in your work is highly valued.

Determination and Perseverance

To effectively manage staff, you need to be persistent, determined and goal-oriented. The director must clearly articulate the assigned tasks and demand their strict execution.

Balance and patience

Stress tolerance is necessary when working with people, especially in a leadership position. Timely abstraction and cutting off the flow of unnecessary or negative information is a valuable skill that every manager needs to master.

Responsibility

A successful leader is always ready to take responsibility for his team, his own decisions and their consequences. A high degree of responsibility presupposes a person’s moral readiness for the occurrence of unforeseen circumstances and emergency situations.

Respect and tact

To achieve respect from others, you must show respect towards them. Tactfulness is an important behavioral trait that allows you to win people over.

Learn to delegate responsibilities

A leader is not the one who takes on all the work, but the one who knows how to competently distribute responsibilities among subordinates. That is, you need to understand who can do what, who can be trusted with what, and so on. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure high-quality and timely control.

You need to develop this ability in yourself starting from the everyday level. For example, when planning housework, don't do everything yourself. Divide tasks among family members. When organizing an event (as in the previous example with a alumni meeting), shift some of the responsibility to those who most enthusiastically welcomed your idea.

Professional qualities of an ideal leader

The manager’s characteristics must contain the following list of professional qualities:

punctuality;
ability to adhere to deadlines;
ability to plan competently;
communication skills, negotiation skills;
learning abilities;
ability to train others;
independence in decision making;
presence of leadership abilities and determination;
flexibility;
analytic skills.

Advanced knowledge

A person holding a leadership position should not have superficial knowledge. His task is to delve into the meaning of the problem, find rational solutions and a way out of the situation. To do this, you need to have deep knowledge in your field of activity.

Organizational skills

An ideal leader should be able to organize the work of a team in such a way as to extract the maximum result from their activities. To do this, you need to have organizational skills and develop your management skills.

The ability to not delay making decisions

Management skills come to the rescue not only when organizing the work of staff, but also at the time of making important decisions. Every leader must be able to quickly make the right decisions, often in conditions of lack of time to think.

Business qualities characteristic of a good manager

For lower-level managers, organizational skills will be sufficient, but for senior managers, the ability to think strategically is necessary.

The main qualities of a good director include:

high moral principles;
attention and interest in people;
physical and psychological health;
self-confidence;
positive thinking.

Don't be afraid of change

A leader-manager is a person who does not stop there, which means he is always ready for change. And, as you know, changes are new opportunities. However, “Most people miss the opportunity. Because she’s sometimes dressed in overalls and looks like she’s working.” These words belong to the famous American inventor Thomas Edison. And he didn’t miss his opportunities!

The modern world is constantly changing, and to remain a leader, you need to keep up with the changes.

“The only way to deal with an unpredictable future is to create a very flexible organization. As soon as changes come to your category, you need to be ready for changes and change as quickly as possible in order to survive in the future" (famous American marketer Jack Trout.

Relationships with the team

The manager's characteristics must include a paragraph that describes his relationship with his subordinates. To build healthy relationships in a team, a manager should study the basics of psychology and interaction with people. How to encourage subordinates to perform productive activities, how to become an authority in the eyes of your employees and create a strong team - all this should be known to the manager.

Feedback

Feedback is a response, a response to current events. There are 3 principles of feedback: constructive, negative and positive. Each of these principles affects the work of employees differently and has its own positive and negative sides.

Using criticism is a negative method of influencing subordinates and rarely leads to the desired result.

To create effective feedback, you must:

Offer your colleague ways to get out of a difficult situation.
Convey to him your wishes regarding his work and behavior.
Analyze situations that occurred in the recent past.
Don't mention past defeats.
Encourage employees to develop and move up the career ladder.
Discuss employee behavior in private.

A good manager understands that the best incentive for an employee is praise.

Granting decision-making rights

Even managers can sometimes make mistakes, so it is necessary to give freedom of speech and thought to your subordinates, and be able to listen to their opinions. A wise boss is always ready to listen to the suggestions of his colleagues, compare them with his decision and draw the right conclusions.

Attitude to work

Only with a responsible attitude towards your work can you achieve good results. This section includes the ability to plan your working time, not put off important matters until the last minute, maintain order and cleanliness in your workplace, etc.

Opportunity for career growth

In order for employees to have an incentive to work and improve their skills, it is necessary to provide them with the opportunity to advance in their careers. Any achievements and services to the company should be encouraged both morally and financially. This stimulates the staff well, awakening in them the spirit of competition and the desire to achieve greater heights than their colleagues. Only in conditions of fierce competition do employees begin to show their best professional qualities.

It is recommended to introduce a system of bonuses and incentives when the required results are achieved. This practice has proven itself and is successfully used in many countries.

Personal behavior

Through his behavior, the manager must set the right atmosphere in the team, evoke respect and the desire to meet the high requirements of the company. A competent manager will not demand from his subordinates what he is not able to do himself.

Ability to create a team

A good leader is one who knows how to unite the team and create a favorable and comfortable working atmosphere. When selecting personnel for individual positions, he is guided not only by the professional skills and abilities of the applicant, but also by his intuition. The director must be able to project any situation in his imagination and predict the employee’s behavior under such circumstances. Based on his considerations and life experience, the company manager can conclude whether this person is suitable for such a position or not.

Knowledge of psychology

Managers of large enterprises with a large turnover of funds (and not only them) need to understand the psychological aspects when hiring employees. Many enterprises have the position of a recruiting manager, whose responsibilities include selecting qualified personnel. But the director must be able to independently assess the suitability of the applicant for the job for which he is applying.

Negotiation skills

Communication skills occupy one of the most important places in the hierarchy of professional qualities of a manager. How profitable the company’s business will become directly depends on the management’s ability to find a common language with clients, subordinates, investors, etc. You should be flexible in communication and be able to find a compromise solution for both parties in any situation.

Honesty and justice

High moral principles are not an obstacle to achieving your goals (as many believe). On the contrary, they inspire the trust and respect of others, and the desire to interact with such a person.

A leader must be a role model, so attention must be paid to developing qualities such as honesty, fairness and compassion.

Hormones

This is neurobiology, the topic is closer to psychology.
Since ancient times, we have a built-in motivation system - hormones. Hormones are secreted by endocrine glands, such as the thyroid, adrenal glands, pancreas or gonads. Hormones cause some reactions in the body: hunger, weight gain in the form of muscles or fat, aggression. Hormones do not act instantly: a stimulus appears, the brain orders the glands to work, the hormones are released, carried by the blood throughout the body, the cells in the body capture the hormone and a reaction begins.

Hormones are divided into different classes, but for simplicity we will divide them into two groups: motivating and demotivating.

Motivating hormones.

Dopamine
. We get it when we feel that we are developing, accomplishing tasks, and feel that the current experience is positive.
Oxytocin
. Stands out when we feel accepted and cared for. For example, when we are inside a group and we are accepted in it.
Serotonin
. Hormone of respect and recognition.
Endorphins
. This is sport, laughter, stress.

The demotivating hormone is cortisol
. It is produced when we do not feel psychological and/or physical safety.

Why know about hormones?

In everything you do, consider your hormones.

If you want to get something new from an employee, praise him and show that he is developing.
If you set people up for something opposite, they won't do it. Analyze what hormones, when and from what do you get them? If you understand that your current intake of hormones is not leading you to your goal, change your behavior. Each person has a certain need for hormones: an excess of some and a deficiency of others. Sociable people feel an excess of oxytocin: family, many friends, 30 relatives gather every Saturday, but there are not enough endorphins - there is no time to play sports. If you determine the deficiency of a hormone in a particular person and give it to the person, he will want to continue working with you.

Hormones and neurotransmitters are our engines. In everything you do, use all your engines.

One of my employees worked in fear for a long time, constantly afraid of everything.
This is bad: at this moment creative thinking is switched off, it is difficult to solve problems where you need to sit and think. He did something simple, but couldn’t do creative tasks. I tried for a long time to understand why he needs this condition, why does he always strive to be stressed? It turned out that during stress, cortisol is released, the body thinks that this is a danger, and releases additional endorphins. They act as a built-in pain reliever and give us a high. This man was not addicted to stress, but to the endorphins he received during stress.

When we came up with this, I suggested going to the gym. After this, the employee felt better and was no longer constantly dependent on stress. It's not just about sports, but sometimes simple solutions save the day.

By the way, preparing for reports at night and not sleeping is also a form of addiction. Endorphins are similar in structure to heroin.

Note. I recommend the book “Happiness Hormones” and my reports at the link at the end. From the point of view of hormones, I tell you how to work with customers and employees, primarily remote ones. These ideas are also suitable for achieving individual happiness.

Additional materials for this lesson

You can also read useful materials on leadership in the special “Leadership and Relationships” section of our blog. The topic of this lesson is complemented by the following articles:

How to Arouse Empathy in Others
SMART goals
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Time management or time management for leaders

Please also note that some test questions for this lesson, as well as for the leadership exam, are based on the material in the above articles. Now that we've covered some tips for improving your leadership skills, let's move on to the next lesson.

Now that we've covered some tips for improving your leadership skills, let's move on to the next lesson.

A leader must be organized to set a good example for others

If the leader is not organized, then no one on the team will carry out their duties in an organized manner. A leader is constantly busy, so spending time organizing his own day may seem like an unnecessary detail to him. However, this is absolutely not true. Being organized is important not only for your own productivity, but also for your employees. The leader is an example for the entire team.

In the USA, a survey was conducted among office workers on this topic. The survey results showed that 75% of office workers associate a disorganized office with deeper problems within the team. If there are a lot of papers on the manager’s desk and a complete mess, then employees can associate this with the general condition of the company. It also provides an excuse for disorganization in their own affairs, which leads to productivity problems.

How to become more organized

You need to start spending more time on how you organize yourself. Try to imagine the ideal image, the ideal desktop. This is what we should strive for. Monitor your own productivity and spend 15 minutes a day planning.