Rate your boss on these top 15 leadership qualities
They say that people don't leave bad companies, only bad bosses. So in today's article, let's look at what makes for a good boss. Below are the top 15 qualities of a good boss. Go through them and then rate your boss on the scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means absolutely not like my boss, and 10 means absolutely like my boss. After that, total up the score. Any score of 105 and above means that you have a good boss, the higher, the better. Any score of 60 or less means you have a bad one. And any in between 61 to 104 means that you have a mediocre boss, in varying degrees of mediocrity. So here goes (in alphabetical order)...
Top 15 Leadership Qualities
Accountable
The ability to hold his team, and himself, accountable for results
(Note: a boss who only holds the team accountable but not himself can, at best, receive 5 points!)
Adaptable
The ability to accept changes in execution, and change the plan in response
Authentic
The ability to be true to oneself, developing honest relationship with his team
Competent
The knowledge and ability to carry out the job of the leader
(Note: First level team leaders should be able to carry out the jobs of team members; higher level leaders should know how to employ the skills of lower level leaders)
Confidence
The ability to instil confidence in the team by exuding confidence in self
(Note: A self confident boss who does not instil confidence in his staff cannot earn more than 5 points.)
Creative
The ability to maintain an open mind and view situations with different perspectives to come up with new and novel ideas
Decisive
The ability to take in all the available information and make a decision without dithering
Empathic
The ability to identify, acknowledge and take into account, the feelings of others
Empowering
The ability to delegate tasks effectively without micromanaging, developing leadership skills in others
(Note: A leader who delegates but micromanages is as good as not having delegated. He cannot earn any more than 3 points in this case.)
Focused
The ability to remain committed to the vision, mission and goals of the team or organisation
Insightful
The ability to uncover the true underpinnings of a situation, often without hard data, to lead to the right decisions or actions
(Note: It is good to be data driven. However, a boss who is overly reliant on facts and figures, and is unable to extract the underlying factors cannot earn any more than 3 points for this.)
Inspiring
The ability to paint an empowering picture of the future, aligning team or organisational goals with individual intents
(Note: A vision of the future painted with broad strokes but is not aligned with individual effort throughout the team or organisation is ineffective. Such a leader cannot earn any more than 3 points.)
Integrity
The ability to act consistently with honesty and with high moral principles both in good times, and in challenging times
(Note: Either a leader has integrity or he does not. If he has, he should be rated no less than 8 points, if he does not, he should be rated no more than 3 points.)
Positivity
The ability to look at situations optimistically and projects a confident and hopeful future
Stable
The ability to remain calm and not over-react in times of unexpected outcomes
What about you?
So now that you know how well your boss stacks up against the top qualities of a good leader, what about you? How do you rate as a good boss? Why not apply these questions on yourself, and if you are brave, ask your direct reports to rate on you? If you have true leadership abilities, you will be able to maintain an open mind, see what your shortcomings are, and work on improving them. After all, no one is perfect. But the one who acknowledges that, and does something about that, will get closer to being one.
Your growth mindset is also important...
Apart from qualities, your mindset is another another key contributor to leadership success. The growth mindset is one of the most researched in work, business and life success. If you want to know how robust your growth mindset is, take this FREE assessment...
