Prove You Have Leadership Qualities

Leadership is an important role for any type of organization, whether it be corporations, small businesses, schools, and even families. Proving that you have leadership qualities means being patient and humble. Leadership is bestowed by followers, not a consequence of position. It can take a little work on your part, but following the example of others can help you prove your leadership qualities in any setting.

Steps

Learning from Others

1. Choose positive examples to study. Just as good leaders lead by example, you can learn from the leaders around you. Try to understand their acts and attitude that makes people willing to follow them. Doing so will teach you important lessons that would probably have been learned the hard way.
   • Choose a leader in your daily life, or a famous leader you know of. For example, you could choose a successful businessman like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. Examine their life stories to see what they did in similar situations. Think about famous leaders you read about in college. Who did you identify with the most?
   • Note that leadership and popularity are not synonymous: leader inspire and managers direct. Observe the leader and try to understand what makes people follow them.
2. Learn from a mentor. You need to develop yourself as a leader, even if you are born with a strong personality or knack for leading. One way to do this is to choose a role model from your daily life and Ask someone if they would be your mentor. This way you can ask them for advice.
   • You might ask a mentor for advice about learning, growing in your position, and so on.
   • It can benefit you to have multiple mentors. Leaders don't fit into a specific mold, so more experiences, observations, and interactions are beneficial.
   • Do what your mentor does and go to them for advice when you encounter situations that you don't know how to handle.
   • If you are a supervisor in a corporation, you might select a manager one step above you to be your mentor.
3. Be responsible. Leaders step up to the bar without being asked. Be willing to take justifiable risks before you ask others to take the risk. A leader should be ready shoulder the blame for mistakes and defer the credit for victories to others.

Demonstrating the Right Characteristics

1. Keep your cool. A mark of a good leader is knowing how to receive criticism without getting angry about it. When a supervisor gives you feedback, respond positively by thanking them and then implementing their suggestions. This demonstrates humility and willingness to learn.
   • Keep a positive attitude when receiving feedback. Your morale reflects on your team.
   • Avoid anger, over-reaction, and indecision. These create lack of confidence in a leader that make followers question their decisions.
   • When someone tells you how you could be less aggressive with your athletes when coaching a sports team, don't get upset. Smile and thank the critic.
2. Do your share. Although as a leader you often direct others in their tasks, doing your fair share is important. If you aren’t willing to do the grunt work that you assign, your subordinates won’t be willing to do it either. How much work you are willing to do is important in leading by example and proving that you have leadership qualities.
   • For example, you may have “cleaning the bathrooms” on your list of team tasks. Place yourself in the rotation of people assigned to clean them.
   • If you're coaching a sports team, go out and demonstrate the play that you're describing.
3. Walk the talk. Show confidence and don't be afraid to be yourself. Lead from the front, not from behind. Leaders who are confident are usually noticed by those in authority. In other words, don’t change your personality to fit a leadership role; make the role fit your personality.
   • Look for challenges to take on. Managing small projects shows you have leadership qualities, especially when you are successful.
   • Try doing a few things to be more confident. For example, give yourself a pep talk in the mirror before work each morning.
4. Be willing to admit mistakes. Proving you have leadership qualities means you must prove you are also honest. Leaders must show and inspire humility, transparency, and truthfulness through their actions. Lead by example by freely admitting your mistakes and shortcomings.
   • For example, if you send an email to the wrong person, immediately send a follow-up email correcting the mistake. Don't try to pretend it didn’t happen.
   • Own your failures, downplay your successes, and let others take the credit. Being humble is an important part of proving you have leadership qualities. It demonstrates that you are all about helping others be successful. A leader helps others grow.
   • Also try to celebrate in private. If you land a big success as a leader, don’t gloat or boast. Leaders simply don’t do this.
     • For example, if you were coaching your child's little league baseball team and they won the #Be adaptable. Another important element of proving you have leadership qualities is being able to adapt to circumstances. You must be able to think out of the box, even being able to choose between two bad options. Adapting allows you to look beyond the easy decision.
   • You will have to make different types of decisions according to the circumstances. Quick decisions as well as deliberative, objective decisions are called for at different times.
   • For example, you may be required to decide on a last-minute revision to a project to meet a crucial deadline. This would require quick prioritization and decision-making skills.
   • However, deciding on a new direction for a product line might require more deliberate and planned style of thinking.

Interacting With Others

1. Have an Objective. Leaders inspire their followers to accomplish specific goals or objective. Before taking others to a place, you need to know where you are going. Create clear objectives for yourself and make sure you can describe them easily and passionately to your subordinates. Make sure goals are measurable, specific, and time-bound so that you and your team can track progress.
2. Communicate with your team. Pay attention to the people you lead when you give instructions. For example, if you are met with a blank stare, take the time to make sure they fully understand. Being a good communicator is an important part of showing you have what it takes to be a leader.
   • When you are training people under you, for example, adopt an “open door” policy, or allow them to come to you whenever they need help.
   • When leading a committee on enacting social change, tell your team your ideas and invite them to contribute.
3. Strengthen links with others. You can build relationships with your team by listening carefully and asking intelligent questions. Listen more than you talk. Be willing both to ask your subordinates questions to help them stay motivated, and ask questions of your supervisors.
   • • For example, ask questions and call on others while you speak rather than giving a solid monologue. Call on people to answer questions when no one volunteers an answer.
   • It can be tempting to jump up in front of your team and prove that you know what’s going on by talking a lot. However, good leaders promote conversation amongst their team members. Listen when people present ideas.
     • Repeat back an instruction in your own words when someone has finished speaking.
     • Nod while others talk, and make steady eye contact.
     • Keep your body language open by fully facing the person you're talking. Focus on their face instead of glancing around the room.
4. Be fair. To demonstrate your leadership qualities, show that you aren’t afraid of to resolve conflict. You should also focus on being objective and showing followers that you are trustworthy. To successfully navigate conflict, you must have the respect of your peers and the people skills to address the needs of those involved. Watch the body language of those in conflict to determine what they need.
   • You can find ways of resolving conflict by simply jumping in and seeing what works with different people.
   • It may also be helpful to read books on conflict resolution when working with groups of people.
   • Try to remain calm when someone gets agitated, deferring your negative reaction until you can be alone.
   • Work with your colleagues to find a compromise. If you have to resolve the conflict between two of your members, help them negotiate.
   • In all situations, eve outside of conflict, be equitable in your treatment of coworkers.
5. Delegate tasks. Delegation is the best way to show someone they are important and you trust them. It also demonstrates your ability to let others handle small tasks. This shows that you have the wisdom to allow others to do work that they may be better suited for.
   • Figure out the strengths that each team member has and assign tasks to fit each person.
   • Hire team members who are strong where you are weak. Give them tasks that are suited ti these strengths.
     • For example, if you run a website, hire writers who produce quality articles since your strengths are likely more in web design or customer service.

Tips

• Treat everyone in a friendly manner and get on good terms with as many of your colleagues as possible. A little kindness goes a long way.
• Not everyone is naturally a leader, so make sure you are evaluating yourself honestly when you're envisioning a future role for yourself. Try to find a position that you are most suited for to maximize your chance of success.
• Always attempt to be humble and respectful. You may have some incredible accomplishments, but so have your colleagues and supervisors.

Warnings

• Be cautious not to step on other people to push yourself higher as a leader. Instead, allow your qualities to speak for themselves. You will alienate people by pushing them down, which is not a leadership quality.

Related Articles

• Improve Leadership Quality
• Develop Leadership Qualities

Sources and Citations

See also

• Ask Someone to Be Your Mentor
• Persuade People
• Empower Employees
• Delegate
• Manage People
• Be a CEO
• Imitate a Person You Admire
• Effectively Lead Groups
• Be a Leader
• Be a Good Person That People Look up To

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• Develop Leadership Qualities
• Improve Leadership Quality