When you think about becoming a leader, you take a look at all the processes that are involved in the process. There are issues with teams, problems with execution and the final task of team management.

Fine tuning v/s changing things up

Becoming an effective leader takes years of practice and fine-tuning before you’re finally able to stand up and go. The main reason why it takes so long is, because becoming a leader means you have to balance multiple things in your life. You have to do the daily grind and pump out as much effort as you possibly can. Otherwise it’s a waste of time, and another leader can take your spot.

That’s the other thing about leadership, is that ,there are few avenues of truly admitting that you can’t lead. You have to be overthrown or replaced in the organization. This happens after months of deliberation in which time your strategy could have changed.

Being a leader in your DNA

Most of the time it’s the junior employee who’s replaced because they can’t work with the style of leadership you’ve adopted, but there’s got to be a core-DNA of a real leader. Leaders don’t come out of the dark and emerge victorious, they need to hustle and struggle just like everyone else. The myth around leadership is that it’s a simple task that anyone can do.

However, it’s incredibly hard and requires a lot of input from all sides of the picture. You can’t have a leader without a team to lead, and you can’t have a team without a great leader to take them there. Otherwise, everyone’s just doing guesswork and there is no clear leader in the pack of employees. Teams lose motivation and because they don’t have a task to focus on, they lose patience.

Here are some of the core traits of real leadership, that everyone can adopt in their own mindset –

#1 Being aware of your own self

One of the most important characteristics of a business leader is self-awareness, and the ability to understand your own strengths and weaknesses. You can have long meetings, be a part of boardroom discussions or relay information back 'n' forth within teams.

But what you need to have, and this can’t be stressed enough, is a feeling of being self-aware. When you are aware and honest about your setbacks and you can rely on team members to pick you up when you’re down you can have a real shot at success. You shouldn’t address them publicly, but you should have a few close confidants in front of whom you can be honest and aware.

#2 Making a good decision

There has been a lot of research trying to get to the bottom of what makes a good leader. However, the results are still inconclusive. Some say that it is all about the gut-feeling, while others wonder if it's more so to do with goal setting.

Whatever the case may be, becoming better at making decisions is a good idea, because it makes you more open to new ideas, new thoughts and new ways of looking at a problem. When you’ve committed to solving a problem, you can start to uncover new ways of solving it making you a better leader in tough situations.

#3 Being fair

You don’t want to play politics because once you enter this domain, there is nothing stopping you. You will have to play it till the day you quit being a leader. Instead, you should talk to your team often and get to know them individually.

This helps develop a sense of fairness and equity among co-workers who all feel like they’re a part of the community that you’re leading. When one person feels left out, you should be able to get them on-board with the help of communication and cooperation. Otherwise, you’re just doing to be firefighting all day and not getting anything done on time.

#4 Integrity and ethics

Does your team follow you towards new projects? Or do they stop you at every junction and create roadblocks at every step. When you have integrity in your processes and try to follow a set of ethics that you have built over time, there is nothing that can stop you.

When you understand the basic needs of people, and how being ethical is the right thing to do – you get a sense of free energy that helps you become a better leader. This way, you’re also protecting your team from doing something bad that could bite them later on. You’re being a leader and a role model so that your colleagues and team members can learn from your decision making.

#5 Being innovative

There are few leaders in the world that aren’t eccentric at some point in their personality. This is because it takes a lot to become a leader, and it takes hard work and dedication to lead. When you are trying to become more innovative, you need to have a lot of information in your head.

This information can be detrimental or advantageous depending on how you see things around you. Being an innovative person, in general, has some amazing advantages that you can uncover after a long time of work. You can work towards the goals that you set, but you must be able to think outside the box.

#6 Creativity

One of the more underrated skills that a leader should have is that of creativity. It's not about being good at Photoshop or doing great things in the art world. It's about creating solutions to problems. That’s what creativity is all about – having a path towards a solution.

When you can think of new ideas, and new ways to approach problems you become more creative instantly. This cycle of creativity fuels itself into becoming more of a mindset than a simple trait. Becoming more creative is a great way to become a better leader.

Conclusion

Being a good leader requires courage, sacrifice and strong commitment to the end-goal. When you waiver in any of these areas you lose focus and become out of touch.