Becoming An Effective Leader By Learning The Personality Traits Of Your Team

If you have served in a position of leadership in any way of form, from parenting to business, church, or even school leadership, you know and understand that leadership can be a very challenging task. Many times as leadersm we don’t always get the privilege to choose who is on our team. In fact in most cases a leader often inherits a team, of which most of the members have been there far longer than the leader, and may even know more about the work than the leader.

Whatever the present situation, one of the most important responsibilities of any leader is to motivate and encourage team members to all work together towards the common objective. Okay, I admit it, just getting people to work together towards a simple goal can sometimes be a difficult challenge because of the diverse strengths, weaknesses, and work styles of members on the team; but it is from these team dynamics that a competent leader can pull great success.

You have probably seen in your own leadership roles that the team dynamics can also be complicated by internal disagreements and personal conflicts, yet as the leaders, you not only must work with this group of people, but also needs to achieve the results expected by those you answer to.

One of the things that can help you succeed as a leader which comes with great benefits is the ability to identify the types of personalities that make up your team. By getting a simple understanding of the basic personality types, you can use the individual strengths of your  members for the good of the team; you can also more accurately assign tasks that individual team member’s may naturally excel in – giving them an added personal advantage which decreases the stress levels and speeds up the success rate.

To be an effective leader, you will need to learn how to communicate in a way that is encouraging and motivating; a communication method that takes into account the needs, values and working preferences of the various team members that make up your group.

One of the fastest ways to see the really good results is by working with and utilizing the strengths and working style characteristics of the personalities on your team. Once you learn how to correctly positiong each individual team member according to their strengths while compensating for their weaknesses, your leadership will bring the team into a productive balance and harmony.

I want to share with you a simple brief overview of the different values and working styles of the four dorminant personality types which will demonstrate to you the importance of adding this piece of knowledge to your successful leadership toolkit.

Okay, let’s begin. There are basically four types of personality we will use for this exercise which we will be described using the colours Gold, Blue, Green and Orange – to create a more vivid picture in your mind so that you can better absorb this concept.

The Solid Gold Member (The Contributor) – Let’s start of with the Solid Gold team member. This is usually the type of individual who take their work and responsibilities very seriously. The gold personality want to contribute in whatever way they can; they are true team players and show that they want the team to to be successful and productive. These types of people usually respond well to recognition, rewards and incentives.

However, gold team members need well defined responsibilities, they need things structured properly, they need firm expectations and timelines as well as being reassured from authority that they are on the right track. Once you create a solid structure for them to function by and are willing to reassure them about their progress, they will work almost tirelessly with you

The Solid Blue Team Member (The Relator) – The next personality is the Blue team member. These types of persons usually need an open social atmosphere to be able work well. This is often the case simply because relationships are important to them and they need the freedom to be able to nurture relationships with coworkers, customers and employers..

The solid blue team member will usually abhor conflict and intense competition simply because their personality trait and possible life experiences would have taught them that these things destroy relationship instead of build them – and they prefer creating connections with others. You will find though that your strong Blue team member will thrive in a positive, creative, service orientated atmosphere.

The Solid Green Team Member (The Expert) – The next personality is the Green team member. This personality type is more noted for expertise, knowledge of the job, and their ability to focus on a task and produce expert results – they are not known for their people skills…and if you make the mistake of placing them in environments that demand they be personable and deal with clients and customers, you business will suffer for it.

These people excel at working with facts, data, research and analytical projects; they really shine in areas that place a demand on their abilities for designing, understanding complex systems, and strategizing. Facts and figures are usually really important for this group or persons, but they have a weakness for routine follow through and are somewhat huge disadvantage when it comes to their social interaction with others.

The Solid Orange Team Members (The Energetic) – The last group of persons can usually be discovered through their noticeable high energy levels, their skills and creativity. One of the key factors for this personality type is the freedom to be able to use their skills and abilities. If there is too much structure, or their boss is very dictatorial, these type of persons would not function too well because they would feel suffocated.

Another great quality that your orange team members will bring to the table is that they enjoy working with others and do well in a spirit of teamwork, competition and camaraderie. They are action orientated though, and can become impatient with prolonged talking and detailed administrative tasks, so move wisely in your dealings if you want to maximize their productivity.

As a good leader, by understanding the personality colours of your team, you can use this knowledge to effectively blend your team members into a strong, cohesive, well coordinated unit that is poised to win. Once you learn how to facilitate each team members’ function in their areas of natural strength and encourage them by communicating in unique ways that inspire harmony and team work, you will be well on your way to achieving extraordinary results along with your team.

Tapping Into Your Superhero Leadership Trait

If you ever watched Spiderman and you were paying attention to all the various parts of the storyline, not just the action sequences, I’m sure you saw the scene where the wisdom and experience of an old man was passed down to the young Spiderman who was filled with youth and strength. There was a scene in the movie when Peter Parker’s grandfather looked at him and said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” and this rings true not just for those who have super powers, but all leaders in every aspect of life and work.

Just as the town people expected Spiderman, other comic book or movie superhero to be responsible for saving their city, or even the world, in some cases from evil because they had super powers, leaders are expected to fulfill thier roles of leadership and carry the weight of being responsible for those they lead. The same way Spiderman, or Superman had to make sure to be responsible in using their powers for the good of the people around them. all leader are responsible for using their influence and authority to positively impact the lives of those who are under their leadership.

So if you look at if from this simple angle, you will see that leadership is not that much different at all different from being a superhero. Well, you may not have super powers like Superman and Spiderman, but you do have the authority to lead other people towards success; and this is a much greater and stronger influence simply because it is a power that can be used by real people in this real world in a real way.

As a leader, you are required to possess a great sense of responsibility towards the people you lead; and this is something every successful leader strives to attain in every aspect of their leadership.

This power to lead people towards achieving a common vision, comes with responsibilities like making sure they are on the right track; being aware of each and everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, tasks and mistakes, and helping them find their way back on the right track when they get lost or confused. Who said it is easy to be a leader? Well, it is not…because it comes with tons of responsibilities—yet, true leaders are always willing to accept them all.

Of course there are many instances where sometimes it would just make us feel better to blame somebody or something else when things don’t work out according to plan, or when something goes wrong—that’s just our human side wanting to find the easiest way out. However, this should not be practiced, especially by a good leader!

As a good leader you should always take full responsibility for any task – because as much as you are responsible for your team’s success, you should also be willing to accept the responsibility for any failures. You represents the whole team so whatever happens to it, you are ultimately responsible.

It is important to note that making excuses and blaming others for failed jobs or mistakes is not a quality of a good leader and if you practice these actions, you soon won’t have anyone to lead. What should be done instead, is to accept the fact that something goes wrong with the organization, even if it is not your fault, you take responsibility to sort out the problem.

Now we all realize that it is indeed normal to make mistakes, as a matter of fact, making mistakes are as much a part of life as succeeding, and because of this fact, we understand that mistakes are often great opportunities to learn to do something better or to improve in some area for higher productivity the next time around. So ss a leader, it is also your responsibility to ensure that your team members learn from these mistakes so that these errors can be avoided next time.

Even though you may never have full control over others and you are not expected to have full control over their actions, what you do have full control over is your own reactions. Knowing what to do over unexpected and unpredictable situations will make you responsible, hence giving you true power as an effective leader.

8 Leadership Traits That Will Bring Success

Whenever the topic of leadership comes up, most people assume that full leadership is only about leading and directing others down a specific route, but this is only one side of the coin. The other side that is equally important is the willingness to lead ourselves. Success is connected to the ability to lead ourselves first, then to encourage others to follow our leadership because it will beneficial to everyone involved.

Because total life success can never really be achieved just by following behind someone else all of the time, it becomes important for us to simply  strike a bold new path for ourselves, and move in the direction of our own destiny.

But what does it really take to be a good leader; both for ourselves, and for others? The leadership track is much more than simply being at the forefront of the group telling them what to do, when to do it, and how it should be done. All leader must action oriented themselves. Too often, we simply accept that because someone looks or sounds like a leader, that they should be put in front—and oftentimes, this is done, without actually look at the actions that they performs. Action is the true test of leadership!

Anyone can become a good leader simply because we all possess the qualities to lead – they may just need to be developed and refined. If you want to be a good leader, it is important that you start by concentrating on your actions, rather than just your appearance. In this discussion, we want to look at 8 action steps that you should take on a regular basis to develop your leadership potential.

Step #1) Always Be Alert For Fresh Opportunities. Now this does not mean that you become an opportunist who merely seek out selfish gain at the expense of others, it actually refers to keeping your eyes open for opportunities that you can take which can create beneficial rewards for everyone involved.

Stop a minute and think about inventors, explorers, and agents of social change who have achieved greatness. Some people might tell you that these folks rose to success because they were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. And while that may have had some bearing on their success, the greater rewards came because had their eyes open for the opportunity. It would not have have mattered if they were in the right place or not if they were blind to what was happening around them.

Step #2) Always Be Open For Fresh Inspiration. One inspired idea can transform the biggest failure into stunning success in the shortest time possible; this is what inspiration does. Great leaders are always ready to receive inspiration from wherever it comes; even if that means taking a cue from their critics. If you study the secrets of the the most successful leaders of the past and those of today, you will find that they constantly study their competition. In war, politics, and business we constantly see these examples of this research and reconnaissance.

Unfortunately, too many times, some leaders take the wrong approach to studying their opponents by concentrating on finding a weakness to exploit. These attitudes are produced by poor leaders who are only looking for reasons to remove the spotlight off their own failure and faults by highlighting the faults of others. If you want to a be a positive change leader, don’t allow yourself to fall victim to this trend. Instead, when you do find weaknesses, work to avoid that pitfall yourself; then look for strengths that you can use to strengthen your own qualities, performance and abilities to grow and thrive more.

Step #3) Keep Learning And Growing Everyday. Being a life-long learner, should be one of the passions of every great or aspiring leader. When you choose to learn something new often, this works to continually expand your horizons, internally and externally. Feed your mind with new lessons and knowledge, but constantly expand your social horizons as well. Seek out and meet new people and immerse yourself in new social situations. You never know when these new experiences will help you in your leadership role.

Step 4) Develop Your Inner Detective. If you keep your mind open, you will often find that life gives you an abundance of clues to help you find answers to challenges and situations that you may need to deal with from time-to-time as a leader. Practice the art of exploring beneath the surface and constantly ask questions that can reveal valuable insights. Of course you do realize by now that this is an extension of the third step in that you are seeking new knowledge. But this also means that sometimes you will need to move away from the regular paths of conventional knowledge to uncover newer ways and ideas of getting results.

Sometimes you will want to move away from the bestsellers list in the bookstore and read something else that people aren’t talking about. Most of the times, some folks only read the bestsellers to keep up with the popular conversations – not to learn and grow from what they read. Don’t be a slave to popular leadership culture, seek out the unconventional thinkers, teachers, and writers, those who help you explore other avenues of reaching your leadership goals and deepening your well of understanding and experiences.

Step #5) Develop The Skill Of Improvisation. One of the leadership traits that most great leaders share is the ability to improvise if no existing solutions are available—No excuses. I know you have heard the statement that necessity is the mother of invention, but did you realize that you can never know if something works or not if you have never tried it before? If you keep in mind that not every single approach needs to come from what’s common, but that if you looked at the problem from all sides and systematically attempt different solutions in various combination, you will find success. But now only that, you will also have the opportunity to be recognized as a leader who is on the cutting edge, or even revolutionary.

Most revolutionary leaders never started out with the idea in their heads that the would become revolutionary – and usually, most of them were recognized as such long after their deaths; but they were simply leaders who we never afraid to improvised and create a new solution if the only one no longer worked. They were not afraid of trying new thing out.

Step #6) Create An Atmosphere Of Contentment Around You. Now this does not refer to settling for mediocre and menial stuff in life, but rather, it refers to creating an atmosphere around you that people actually enjoy your presence. I do realize that we have this perception of leadership as some lone guy sitting in a big important office that you need make at least one hundred appointments to see, but that’s tv land.

Being personable as a leader not only causes people to have a positive impression of you, but they are often happier to share their gifts, time, and talents with you that allows all of you to meet common goals and objectives together. Even in your personal life, you and choose to make someone you care about happy every day. If you make it a point to be thoughtful and caring for people every day, then soon this thoughtful, caring behavior will become a habit, and that habit will spread to the others around you.

Step #7) Offer No-String-Attached Help. If you start offering help to others, even if there’s no apparent advantage to you, you will definitely attract more into your life because you operate on the principle of generosity. Now understand that this can mean much more than writing a check or giving away money; it means that you are also willing to give of your time, energy and yourself. Sometimes it will mean helping someone you don’t know and sometimes it can be a very personal action. Heck, you can give share you experiences and wisdom with other up-coming leaders to help them mature into great leaders—there is no end to what you can give; you are only limited by your creativity.

And Finally, never let negativity be your last word on the subject. If your final words are negative, than no matter how hopeful you may be about the potential of a project or action, the lasting impression you give to others is one of negativity. Accentuate the positive and you are more likely to see a positive outcome.

If you follow these eight action steps not only you will be a better leader, but you will also lead yourself to a more successful life.