Five Qualities of a Good Leader in 2024

Contents

• Engagement
• Delegation
• Flexibility
• Focus on goals
• Expertise
• Additional qualities of a good manager

Engagement

Engagement involves trusted communication, accessibility, openness, and empathy.

Accessibility

Keeping the lines of communication open with employees helps leaders resolve conflicts faster, build trust, and motivate their team. Constructive feedback also helps your team grow as professionals.

Keeping the lines of communication open with employees helps leaders resolve conflicts faster, build trust, and motivate their team.
Photo: SeventyFour / Shutterstock.com

Here are some practical examples of how leaders can communicate better:

• Use kanban board software (for example, Kaiten) for collaborative teamwork
• Plan brainstorming sessions 
• Invite the team to socialize outside of work

Openness

An open leader is ready to hear out and accept ideas from their employees because they understand that out-of-the-box thinking can be the key to success. To find these ideas and reach the best solutions, a manager must be open to other points of view and criticism.

The ideal manager should also know how to talk about the current state of the company honestly, including future plans, changes in strategy, and potential consequences.

Empathy

Empathy is one of the most common characteristics people expect in a leader. Sensitivity and compassion help managers see the real needs, problems, and motivations of their team members and be ready with productive feedback.

Empathy is one of the most common characteristics people expect in a leader. Photo: Drazen Zigic / Shutterstock.com

Empathetic managers make sure their employees aren’t overloaded, and if there’s a lot of work to do, they offer additional support or resources (for example, by redistributing tasks within the team).

Delegation

Knowing how to delegate is an indispensable skill for any manager. It builds trust between the manager and team members, improves morale, and motivates the team.

Abbey Lewis, Director of Corporate Training at Harvard Business Publishing, explains in her article why trust in your employees is important for good leadership. Trust is the belief that your employees will do the job they were hired to do. When a manager micromanages, employees start to suspect that they’re seen as unreliable, and that can have a serious impact on the trust between a manager and their team.

Knowing how to delegate is an indispensable skill for any manager.
Photo: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/ Shutterstock.com

Flexibility

Being a good leader means being able to adapt quickly in a rapidly changing world.

Insightful managers adjust processes based on the current needs of the organization and team. For example, if the company is affected by sanctions, they may need to quickly transition to new software if their previous supplier is leaving the market, and CEOs must focus on new sales markets and the ability to pivot the business to other regions.

Focus on goals

Call them what you want, results or goals, this aspect is important for any job. To stay productive, leaders can set goals using the SMART technique: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Strategic planning expert George T. Doran first came up with this term to stop managers from setting goals that were too diffuse to have any meaningful impact.

To stay productive, leaders can set goals using the SMART technique.
Photo: Midnight Studio TH/ Shutterstock.com

Good leaders should also:

• Track the progress of each subordinate and the entire team.
• Measure success by tasks completed, not hours worked.
• Make decisions based on accurate data.

Expertise

Most people would agree that leaders should be experts in their field, but what does “expertise” really mean? In most cases, it includes the ability to learn. Even if a manager is a top professional in their field, they still need to keep learning new things from other experts and their own employees.

Critical thinking skills are also important. The best managers analyze the entire production cycle, find the problem areas slowing down processes, and come up with solutions.

Even if a manager is a top professional in their field, they still need to keep learning new things from other experts and their own employees. Photo: insta_photos / Shutterstock.com

Expert managers think strategically. They can see future opportunities in advance and make decisions that lead to long-term success. For example, developing a plan to expand the company’s market share over the next several years.

Additional qualities of a good manager

The list of ideal qualities doesn’t end there. A good manager also:

• Knows how to inspire.
• Isn’t afraid to argue or talk about their success.
• Focuses on people’s strengths.
• Is a time management pro.
• Handles pressure and stress in healthy ways.
• Thinks outside the box.
• Rewards people for good results.

Insights

• Good leaders communicate regularly with team members and strive to be open and empathetic.
• When delegating tasks, they trust employees and give them the opportunity to take responsibility for the results.
• Make decisions quickly and are flexible about changes.
• Achieve results and set clear goals and criteria for success.

Successful leaders know their field in depth, think critically and strategically, and continue to learn from colleagues and other experts.
Photo: StunningArt / Shutterstock.com

Successful leaders know their field in depth, think critically and strategically, and continue to learn from colleagues and other experts. One of the most important skills a manager can have is time management. The Roundtrip service will help you save time planning business trips. Book travel services the easy way and generate expense reports in just a few clicks!

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