Leadership

traits, motives
and
characteristics

Traits
featureorqualitydistinguishinga
particular person orthing
Confidence
Honesty

Motives
something (as a need or
desire) that
causes a person to act.
Leadershave a powerful desire to
occupy a position of responsibility
for others and to control them.

characteristic

a special quality or trait

that

makes a person, thing, or group

different from others

Effective leaders must

have.
cognitive skills
relationship with
subordinates
personality traits and
characteristics.

Understanding Leadership:
The Trait Approach
The Great Man theory:
The best leaders have particular qualities
which make them inherently more fit to lead
than other people.
Julius Caesar or Napolean would have been
influential figures anywhere anytime

The Trait Approach

Most extreme form:
Leaders are born, not made.

Characteristics associated with

leadership can be classified into
three broad categories
Personality traits
Motives
Cognitive factors

Personality Traits
P1) Self-confidence
The ability to be certain about ones
competencies and skills

P2) Integrity
The quality of honesty and
trustworthiness. They inspire
confidence because they can be trusted.

P3) Sociability
A leaders inclination to seek out
pleasant social relationships. Have good
interpersonal skills and are cooperative.

Leader Motives
M1) The power motive
Have a strong need to control resources

Can be used for the sake of the

powerholder or for helping others

2 Types of Power Motives

Personalized power motive
Seek power mostly to further their own
interests.

Socialized power motive

Use power primarily to achieve
organizational goals or a vision. Power
is used to help others.

Leader Motives
M2) Drive and achievement
motive
Putting forth high energy and
persistence into achieving goals
Finding joy in accomplishments

Leader Motives
M3) Strong work ethic
The belief in the dignity of work. They
value hard work.

M4) Tenacity
Better at overcoming obstacles because
of their tenacity.

Cognitive Factors
C1) Intelligence
Intellectual ability strongly related to
leadership

C2) Knowledge of the business or

group task
Important for the leader to provide expertise
in the field that will be a source of
competitive advantage

C3) Creativity
Creative in finding original and imaginative
solutions to complex problems.

 C4) Insight into people and

situations
A depth of understanding that requires
intuition and common sense.

C5) Farsightedness and

conceptual thinking
Need to develop visions and corporate
strategies.
Need to see the overall perspective

C6) Openness to experience

Having a positive orientation towards

Traits of a Leader Exercise

1___________________10
Trait not
trait manifest
manifest
Using the 1-10 scale above,
assess the following three
people on the traits listed to
the right:
1) Quaid-i-Azam
2) The leader you most admire
3) Yourself.

Traits:
1. Self-confidence
2. Integrity
3. Sociability
4. Power motives
5. Drive and achievement
motives
6. Tenacity
7. Intelligence
8. Knowledge of group task

General Personality Traits of

Effective Leaders

Self confidence.
Leaders need to believe leadership skills
and ability to achieve objectives.
Self confidence build confidence among the
subordinates. /Group members follow
leader who is confident.
Manager if not confident but tries to act
confident will be seen as working under
pressure.

Assertiveness
Straightforward in expressing
opinions, feelings, demand and
attitude,
helps to attain their
objectives.
Like demanding high
performance from workers and
correcting them on their
mistakes.

Enthusiasm.
Build good relationship with group
members.
Employees perceive as a reward for
doing something right.
Enthusiasm may be expressed verbally
or nonverbally through handshakes, or
touching.

Sense of Humour
Relieves boredom and tension.
Defuse hostile situations.
Makes the leader more
approachable .

Trustworthiness

Trust contribute greatlyto

leadership effectiveness.
Leader that can "walk the talk",
portrays a sense of trust.
Followersconfident in the
leader's intentions and motives.
Sincerity of the leader's words.

Extroversion

Leaders be outgoing in most

situations.
Make it easier to achieve goals.
It does not mean every leader have to be
extroverted.
Founder of Dell(Michael Dell)
introverted, yet he is very successful.

Warmth
Warmth makes it easier for followers
to associate with the leader.
Warmth portrays charisma, which is
a key component of leadership.
Warmth gives support to followers.

Humility
Humility magnifies all other positive
attributes.
Without humility leaders other
strengths become diminished.
Greatness lies not in trying to be
somebody, but in trying to help
somebody.
Humilityalso sign of authenticity.

Task-related personality
traits

Passion

Passion -----beyond enthusiasm

(obsession).
Inspires others to follow.

Flexibility and adaptability

A great leader facilitates

change .
The leader have to be able to
accept change .
Be

flexible and adapt.

Internal Locus of control

Having external locus of control,

believe everyone and everything
around leader responsible for.
Having internal locus of control,
can control the events that
happen and be motivated to
achieve goals.

Courage

Leaders needs courage to face the

different challenges .
This involves
taking responsibility,
taking risks and
taking initiative in general.

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability
to understand and manage your own
emotions, and those of the people
around you.
With a high degree of (EI)
Able to know feeling,
emotions meaning,
how these emotions can affect other
people.

Daniel Goleman, (elements of

EI)
Self-awareness.
Self-regulation.
Motivation.
Empathy.
Social skills.

1. Self-awareness

how you feel, how your

emotions and your actions can
affect the people around you.
As leadership position means
having a clear picture of your
strengths and weaknesses ,
behaving with humility.

How to improve your self-awareness?

Keep a journal
Writing down your thoughts.
Slow down
When you experience anger
(emotions), slow down to examine
why.
Always choose how you react to it.

2. Self-regulation
Helps to control verbal attack, make
emotional decisions, compromise their
values.
Self-regulation

staying in control.

Covers a leader's flexibility and

commitment topersonal
accountability.

How to improve Self regulation

Know your values "code of ethics."
Hold yourself accountableadmit to
your mistakes and to face the
consequences.
Practice being calm
deep-breathing exercises
write down all of the negative
things you want to say.
Express emotions on paper

3. Motivation

Self-motivated leaders work

consistently toward their goals,

have extremely high standards
for the quality of their work.

How improve your motivation?

Re-examine why you're doing your

job
If unhappy in your role, remember
why you wanted it, find the root of
the problem.
make goal statements fresh and
energizing.

 Know where you stand

Leadership Motivation
Assessment(how motivated you
are in your leadership role).

 Be hopeful and find something

good
optimistic
Whenever face a challenge, or even
a failure, try to find at least one good
thing about the situation.
Always think positive.

4. Empathy

Help to develop the people of team,

challenge others who are acting
unfairly,
If you want to earn the respect and
loyalty of your team, show them you
care by being empathic.

How can improve empathy?

Put yourself in someone else's

position
look at situations from other
people's perspectives.
give constructive feedback, and
listen to those who need it.

 Pay attention to body language

You'll be better able to determine
how someone truly feels.
This gives you the opportunity to
respond appropriately.

 Respond to feelings

Situation
You ask your assistant to work late
again.
Although he agrees,
You can hear the disappointment in his
voice.
So, respond by addressing his feelings.

5. Social skills

Well in the social skills -- great

communicators.
Open to hearing
bad news as
well as good news
Give team to support and be excited
about a new mission or project

how can build social skills?

Learn conflict resolution

Leaders must know how to
resolve conflicts between their
team
members,
customers, or
vendors.

 Improve your communication

skills
How well do you communicate?
communication quiz

 Learn how to praise others

Inspire the loyalty of your team
simply by
giving
praise.

WICS model of leadership

WICS stands for
'wisdom,
intelligence,
creativity synthesized'.
leadership is not something people are
born with.
leadership is something one decides to do
- a decision that builds on a combination,
of wisdom, intelligence and creativity.

 Wisdom- positive use of knowledge

and skills.
Intelligence- Successfully applied,
intelligence help to attain goals.
Creativity- come up with ideas and
then use analytical ability to judge
whether they are good ideas.

Influence of Heredity & Environment on Leadership

Are leaders born or made?

Do you have to have the right stuff to
be a leader?
Does heredity or environment
contribute more to leadership
effectiveness?

 Traits, motives & characteristics

required for leadership effectiveness
are a combination of heredity &
environment

People need right opportunity to

develop their mental ability for
leadership position

Physical factors
genetic contribution to imaginative
thinking is
brain power & emotional expressiveness
For flourishing these required :-

Encouragement from others and

Opportunity to experiment with ideas

Strengths and Limitations

to the Trait Approach
Strengths
Intuitively appealing
A great deal of research
In-depth understanding of the leader
Provides a way to evaluate our own
leadership attributes

 Limitations
Often based on leaders own accounts
Measurement of traits is difficult
Comprehensive reviews fail to find a general
set of traits
Overlooks the needs of the followers
Fails to clarify relative importance of traits
It ignores situational factors
Not amenable to training and development