What Makes a Good Leader? 8 Important Leadership Qualities

Leadership roles are in high demand today, across a variety of industries and sectors.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates up to a 9% increase in leadership and managerial roles across the next decade—nearly triple the average job growth rate. Growing your leadership skills has also been proven to increase wages by 4% to 33%.

Now is an excellent time to cultivate your leadership skills for long-term professional success. Read on to learn more about the skills you need to advance and excel as a leader today, and about UC's Online BA in Organizational Leadership—which can help you get there.

Organizational leadership can either make or break a business.

Reports show that poor leaders cost the global economy trillions of dollars every year—and 7 out of 10 workers leave their jobs because of bad managers.  

Being a successful leader today doesn’t just mean being an authority over your employees and delegating tasks; it also means inspiring and motivating workers to do their best work and grow professionally to reach personal goals and organizational targets. 

Along with excellent communication skills and self-awareness, leaders today need clear strategic vision, plus the flexibility to adapt, problem-solve, and collaborate when unexpected challenges shift strategy. 

Effective leadership isn’t one-size-fits-all. Every leader brings their own natural strengths and leadership style to every role. However, there are common qualities that excellent leaders exhibit across the board, across every organization. These include:

1. Excellent communication
2. Self-awareness
3. Compassion and respect
4. Visionary thinking
5. Accountability
6. Collaboration
7. Mentorship
8. Adaptability

To build trust and drive successful outcomes within teams, a good leader must communicate effectively. Strong verbal and written communication from leaders helps team members understand expectations, stay on task, and achieve organizational goals. Poor communication, on the other hand, leads to inefficiencies, lower productivity, job dissatisfaction, and profit loss—costing American businesses an estimated $1.2 trillion annually.

Active listening is also an often-overlooked communication skill. By focusing on team members' concerns, withholding judgment, and finding solutions, leaders can better resolve conflicts, build trust, and help team members feel valued.

In addition to communicating effectively, leaders need to cultivate internal self-awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, values, management behaviors, and cognitive biases. This helps them lead teams more fairly and effectively and grow both personally and professionally.

According to research highlighted by Psychology Today, both internal and external self-awareness benefit leaders and their teams in several ways:

• Making better decisions by considering multiple perspectives.
• Enhancing communication by adapting styles as needed.
• Understanding and regulating emotions to maintain workplace morale and positivity.
• Recognizing values and motivations to show authenticity and build trust.

Google’s famous multi-year leadership study, Project Aristotle, found that psychological safety is the single most important factor of high-performing teams. Team members who feel safe around their leaders—able to speak up, make mistakes, and voice concerns without fear of punishment—perform far better than those who do not.

Great leaders show they care about their teams, see them as individuals with lives beyond work, and treat them with consideration and respect. By being empathetic and exhibiting genuine care, leaders cultivate trust, mutual respect, and lasting team commitment.

Visionary leaders see beyond day-to-day tasks, carry an organization's “big picture” goals, and guide their teams with thoughtful, clear direction—continually leading them toward greater improvement and success. 

However, visionary leaders do more than delegate strategic direction—they foster a growth mindset and motivate teams around a shared goal and purpose. As a result, they inspire collaboration, innovation, and a collective sense of purpose that drives organizational success.

An accountable leader takes responsibility for their actions and decisions, whether positive or negative; owns their mistakes; can handle constructive criticism; and follows through on commitments. By modeling these qualities, leaders instill these values in their teams, fostering a workplace of ownership, honesty, and trust.

In fact, a recent Culture Amp study reports that employees who work under leaders who model accountability are 4.5 times more likely to become high-performing workers, and overall employee turnover rates are lower. This shows that accountability is a key driver of organizational growth.

Micromanaging is when a leader exerts excessive control and scrutiny over every aspect of a worker’s job and decision-making. This leadership style harms organizational health, employee productivity, retention, and satisfaction.

Collaborative leadership is the direct opposite of micromanagement. Collaborative leaders trust their teams, empower them to work and think independently, delegate tasks while building relationships, and encourage collaborative decision-making. Studies show that collaboration between leaders and their teams boosts engagement, success rate, and overall employee productivity by up to 39%.

Great leaders care about their employees' growth and success; they use their experience, networks, and expertise to provide professional guidance, constructive criticism, and opportunities for team members to develop professionally and succeed.

Mentorship within organizations has been shown to improve retention rates and accelerate career outcomes—especially for underrepresented professionals—and it also plays a critical role in developing a new generation of leaders and transferring important organizational knowledge between employees.

To succeed as a leader in today’s fast-evolving workplaces—particularly in the business, healthcare, and technology industries—leaders need to be able to stay calm and collected when unexpected situations arise and adapt quickly to new situations and organizational demands.

Adaptive leaders are flexible, innovative problem solvers who know when to pivot organizational direction and strategy in challenging situations. They are not afraid of trying new things, are highly collaborative, and embrace continuous learning and development for themselves and their entire team to foster long-term success.

Although some character traits of strong leaders, such as confidence or charisma, can seem innate, most leadership characteristics require intentional practice and learning.

According to leadership experts at the Center for Creative Leadership, most leaders are made through real-world practice and experiences that help them learn core leadership skills—such as strategic thinking, communication, and emotional intelligence—paired with deliberate effort and study.

Becoming a better leader requires time and investment. To accelerate leadership knowledge and skills, many professionals invest their time in a professional leadership learning program. 

Popular leadership learning methods include college programs (like our Online Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership), professional workshops, seminars, and coaching. Most organizational leadership courses focus on:

• Communication skills
• Team building
• Conflict management
• Strategic thinking
• Ethical leadership
• Change management
• Delegation
• Organizational culture

During and after degree completion, professionals can apply what they’ve learned in the workplace, continually developing and refining their skills.

Do you want to become a better leader and advance within your career or organization? University of Cincinnati’s Online Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership can provide you with a flexible and convenient pathway to a rewarding career in leadership.

Our 100% online program prepares you with the skills you need to become an outstanding leader. It emphasizes essential interpersonal skills and practical outcomes, making it a standout choice for those looking to excel in human resources and other managerial positions.

Required coursework includes classes in:

• Foundations of Strong Leadership
• Organizational Behavior for Effective Leaders
• Leading the Diverse Workplace
• Ethical Issues in Organizations
• The Practice of Leadership
• Business Communication
• And more!

Best of all, you can complete our program entirely at your own pace, so you don’t have to sacrifice your career or personal commitments to advance professionally.

Interested in our Online BA in Organizational Leadership or other online undergraduate programs? Connect with an Enrollment Service Advisor today to see how our online programs can fit your career goals and personal schedule.