5 Must-have leadership traits

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Leadership has a lot to do with you and how you relate and react to people who work with you. Here are 5 traits that leaders must have to successfully mentor and manage their teams to deliver results.

"Leadership should be borne out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it." 

- Marian Anderson. 

Respect people working under you. Make them feel worthy of their work by seeking their answers to problems or opinions in official matters. Appreciate their work and boost their confidence. Show interest in their work and maintain a healthy bond.

Inspire your people to work. This is a deciding factor of how efficient your leadership is. You can motivate them by throwing challenges at them and then rewarding them with bonuses and promotions, etc. You can become a role model for your juniors by setting an example with your work and conduct in office. 

Chalk out the process and explain it in plain terms to people under you.Your plan will be successful only if the team understands and relates to it. Give the team direction towards achieving goals. Exercise your leadership effectively for the enhancement of your team’s output. 

Empowerment is the tool to successful delegation. Make your people more accountable by giving them responsibilities. Let them make their own work decisions. It boosts their confidence and makes them better workers in future.

Trust your juniors. Share your goals with your team members and divide responsibility amongst them. Ask them to plan their actions for accomplishment of targets. Communicate clearly to your team to take onus of their work. However, oversee their work and always be in the loop. 

Leadership also has a lot to do with you. Accept all realistic challenges and deliver them on time. This is a valuable lesson which can be passed on to your juniors. Initiate extra initiatives for the enhancement of your work and betterment of your team. Adopt an optimistic approach towards work. 

Steer your way through all challenges in the organisation. Ensure your team is following you closely. Together, use all new prospects to move ahead.

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Morale and Motivation in the Workplace

Why do the simplest things seem so hard sometimes? The way to improve Morale is to ask your staff what they need in order to work more effectively. This is not asking "What do you need in your life?" or "Who drives you up a wall?" or "How can we make you glad to be alive?" Rather, it's asking "What tools, resources, clearer communications and expectations, rewards and workplace norms do you need that you are not getting now? How can we help you fulfil your part of this bargain to be effective, efficient, optimistic, and a good team player?"

Managers can do this on their own or get some help with the task. If you ask these questions yourself, the advantage is that you don't have to involve anybody else and risk having your office laundry hung out to dry. The disadvantage is you'll seldom get the whole truth that way.

Having a trusted colleague or external consultant ask these questions and prepare a summary for you will make the exercise much safer for your folks. They should do this without attribution -- that is, get you the information you need, but strip the comments of any identifiable content. This way, your staff will be more willing to give you really useful information.

Similarly motivation in the workplace when it works means there's seldom much need for disciplining people. It's unfortunate that military-style thinking is so common with people trying to lead, because the emphasis on strict discipline, crucial to success in combat, is often so disastrous to morale in civilian work teams.

Motivation is about joining with the people who report to you (knowing them, listening to them, and valuing them for their particular contributions and potential) so that they feel moved to join with you in meeting the challenges you're facing

And so it is. Whole people come to work each day, not just brains and Right arms. They bring with them their hopes, dreams, talents and hang-ups. The manager, who genuinely likes people, finds their foibles at least somewhat humorous, and who believes that there's a way to reach almost everybody, seldom has trouble with either discipline or motivation. It could be said, in fact, that the two are related this way: When your people start needing to be disciplined by you, it means you'd better upgrade your motivational skills.

People will be shocked that you're willing to hear both good and bad news, and even more surprised when you set out to do something about the suggestions they've made. That shock will turn into greater commitment to the job, a renewed interest in working together, more willingness to collaborate, and greater permission to be honest with you and each other. Now, if that isn't the definition of high morale, I don't know what is. So start listening, and get ready to do a little learning and changing yourself. That's the first step to better morale!