What kind of leader are you?

There’s no denying that the role of a ‘leader’ has expanded extensively in the past few decades. The increasing prevalence of ‘both/and’ leadership means that leaders are not only spearheading organizations, they are also managing the gap between the global and the local, maximizing their company’s values while doing good by the community. With these ever-growing paradoxical demands, it has never been more important for you to know what kind of leader you are. 

Your leadership style is your own: unique and evolving. Knowing what kind of leader you are (or want to be) is an adept way of identifying the goals you want to prioritize, and the leadership competencies you will have to develop for the same. Certain leaders make their employees thrive and build organizational resilience in times of crises. What makes these leaders stand apart? What competencies did they showcase?

A leader with perspective

Years ago, I approached my manager with the intention of devising a remote working plan. I had personal reasons to work remotely, and had proven that my productivity wouldn’t be affected. We worked with the team and drew up a plan that was a win-win for all. I could work remotely, visiting my work sites as required, and the company continued to benefit from my expertise.

This was during a time when ‘work from home’ had not become a ubiquitous workplace term. It required a leap of faith, which they were ready to take. Why? Because the leader had clarity about their vision and goals, so they were ready to experiment with the routes they took to get there. They had built trust with their employee and were willing to go the extra mile to ensure that this trust was nurtured and drawn on. 

This required perspective: the ability to spot potential and cultivate it, without giving in to rigidity. As a leader with perspective, you can challenge yourself and your employees, and lead them towards greater innovation. A leader with perspective, thus, will not just tide over disruptions, but use them as a jumping point to even greater heights.

A leader with curiosity

The importance of continued feedback is becoming a crucial aspect of leadership development, especially when it comes to building better organizations. Transparent feedback was given great significance at the global IT company I worked for, where the motto was ‘employee first, customer second’. They took this beyond just a saying: the leadership promoted all-round, transparent feedback that was available to every person in the organization. 

Gathering feedback (and acting on it) is a way of keeping your people at the core of your business and ensuring that the company’s growth is in alignment with the views of everybody who’s a part of it. It’s also a great way of oiling the creaks away, after all. 

A leader with curiosity will take advantage of these transparent & continued feedback, not only for the organization, but for personal development as well. Feedback is a highly effective way of building versatility as a leader. It helps you confront your strengths and drawbacks, broadens your perspective, and prevents you from becoming too myopic as a leader. 

A leader with empathy

Empathy is an underrated leadership characteristic that is finally getting it’s day in the sun: Forbes even goes as far as to say that empathy is the most important leadership skill to have. This is a step away from authoritative and hierarchical leadership of the past, but one that has proven to distinctly improve employee performance, turnover, and innovation. 

A leader with empathy can inspire employees, eliciting the best from them in terms of performance, personal development and attitude. They can also use empathy to institute organizational impact. The best example I always give is of a communications organization who stepped up and changed their infrastructure and policy to accommodate mothers, and those who had to leave the workforce for maternity reasons. It opened up a potential talent group for them, while evoking positive response from the staff and the community. 

Leadership, after all, is a set of diverse competencies that let you withstand and overcome rapidly changing environs. These competencies build your resilience and ensure that you bend, but don’t break.