Title

Characteristics of a leader

Group members :Shazni Izzati Bt. Radzi Shafinaz Bt. Sanusi Husna Bt. Yaakob Ira Syafiqah Bt Azmi Siti Maisaroh Bt. Khosim Premawati A/P Krishnansami The characteristics of a leader plays an important role in determining the kind of leadership that he asserts. They do have scope to develop through learning and experience, but those who have an in-born ability to lead, make good leaders.When leaders are chosen, everyone wants them to live up to their expectations. A lot of hopes are pinned on them to bring about change and reform, for the betterment of the field they belong to.There are many things that determine if a leader will be good or not, the most important being a leader is his/her characteristics. Some of the characteristics of a good leader are acquired through leadership training, development and experience while the others are in born. The characteristics of a leader is the ability to listen. Most leaders do too much talking but not enough listening. For example, if you are a leader in business. Feedbacks to your company's services or products are important to you as they demonstrate the customers' needs. Seconds, the ability to acknowledge and change. This is probably the hardest part to do by a leader. People often refuse to change. They believe their leadership are the best, which, there's nothing wrong with that. But when there are feedbacks coming from other people, you have to listen, then acknowledge them and make changes to be a good leader. The third characteristic of a leader is the ability to form one-on-one relationships. People will need to be able to reach you. If you are just starting to be a leader especially important for you to be able to spend some time to get to know your friends or employees. If you do that, over time, you will develop a strong trust between you and your friends or employees. Futhermore, the ability to know yourself also make you a good leader . It is very important to know what you're best at, and what are your weaknesses. Often one cannot handle all the aspects of work. You need to know when to seek for assistance. For example, if you a principal at a school, you have your teacher to help you run the school. All leader should have the ability to communicate. Communication is important because without it we cant send the message correctly to our people. A good leader is able to communicate well, not only with the people he is leading, but with external parties as well. Good leaders tell the truth like it is, without sugarcoating or fearing of hurting others feelings. A good leader knows what to say to get the best out of their followers. A good basketball coach never praises his star player after a great game. This is so that the player will keep on working hard to

improve. However, after a lousy game the coach is always the first person to go to the player, give him a pat on the back and encourage him. Successful people display high levels of optimism and confidence. A leader should believe in herself and is not afraid of failures. They see every obstacle as a stepping-stone to their success. They turn challenges into motivators and become their advantages. Another characteristic of leadership is to have a clear vision. A good leader is clear on what he wants. This clarity of vision is imperative to ensure that the whole team is continually moving in the right direction. A ship needs a captain who knows exactly where it is suppose to go. Theres nothing worse than having the destination constantly changed and the maps regularly replaced. A clear vision provides stability and certainty. For example, every school have their own vision to make sure they can reach the vision. A good leader knows how to trust others, especially his followers. For everyone there is always this natural urge to try to take everything on board, to review all work . A leader should believe in the abilities of others and are flexible enough to accept that everyone has their own way of doing things. Good leaders dont force their others to do things their way. It is important to trust others because it encourages followers to be independent rather than dependent. Then, the leader wont be worry to provide guidance and directions all the time to the follower. Not only that, when trusted by their leader, people will usually perform better and more creatively. It gives them more self belief and a boost in confidence. A good leader does not consider himself to be the boss, he or she need to be part of the team. Rather he views himself as part of the team, equal to all other team members. Leaders who consider themselves as part of the team quickly gains the respect of the team members. Followers will be more willing to help and give their best as they have a sense that the team is one and everyone is in this together. If you are given some assignment to do in team, so you have take part in the team to give idea and complete the assignment. Confidence also the important characteristic of a good leader. Believing in their own abilities is an essential trait of a good leader. Unless and until he has confidence in his abilities he will not be able to lead effectively. For example, if you are a boss in a company. If you didnt believe your accountant, for sure you find it too difficult to trust your accountant to make the account. Being highly knowledgeable about his field of work is an essential characteristic of a good leader. Only when he have been manage through with his field of work, he will be able to guide, and solve problems. This is also a quality required for leadership development. For example, if you are a principle at a school, you must know everthing about how to manage the school. So, you will be a good leader in the school. A good leader does not demand or command respect, he earns it. Respect should not be restricted only from the followers to the leader, it needs to be mutual. All team players should be respected and if the leader sets an example for this, the team will follow undoubtedly. If you just tell people to do something,but you didnt cooperate with them, Im sure they wouldnt respect you as their leader.

Attitude also encourage people to follow you. Be a friendly leader is a positive attitude, even in the worst of situations is a characteristic of a good leader. He should be able to instill the same in his followers, by appropriate motivation and problem solving techniques. The attitude of a leader is an important determinant in the successful overcoming of leadership challenges. In the nutshell,we all know that to be a good leader, we must identify ourself as a leader.There needs to be a complete shift in identity. It is a totally different mentality to that of a follower. Being a leader is not just having people working under us. When we are a leader we need to change the way you view things. The way we think, the way we do things and ultimately the way we live.