Let's flip the question over and ask, what do you expect from your leader? What key leadership qualities must someone have for you to be willing to be led by them?
In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner identify:
- Honesty
- Supportive
- Forward-looking
- Broad-minded
- Intelligent
- Straight forward
- Fair-minded
- Dependable
- Courageous
- Co-operative
- Imaginative
- Inspiring
- Caring
- Determined
- Mature
- Ambitious
- Loyal
- Competent
- Self-controlled
- Independent
Their research, corroborated by our New Zealand based research and experience, shows that of these 20, the four most looked for attributes in leaders are honesty, forward looking, inspiring, and competent.
Honest
This is a ‘do not pass go' leadership quality. If this is missing, game over.
Inspiring
We expect our leaders to be enthusiastic, energetic and positive about the future. We expect them to be inspiring. Why?
Most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. Many people have jobs that are too small for them. People are looking to find some greater sense of purpose and worth in their working lives. Having an inspiring leader can make work more meaningful.
This is confronting for many managers and leaders we work with. Most Kiwi managers don't rate themselves high on the inspiration meter.
Forward-Looking
We expect leaders to set the direction. We need a vision – a picture of a desirable future. This picture needs to be made real to our day-to-day work.
Competent
Being ‘competent' is different from competent to lead. Many people are promoted to a management role because of technical competence. Technical competence doesn't necessarily mean competent to lead.
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