The Four Essential Traits of Passionate Leadership

At some point in your career, you most likely worked for a boss who was not inspiring. Yes, they are a boss, but not a leader, and neglected to provide room for excellence in your work. You weren’t able to operate at your full potential due to the lack of support or even the encouragement to do so.

Bad bosses encourage business leaders to learn from their mistakes. Leadership is about prioritizing your team’s success and pushing everyone to their highest potential. Good bosses motivate and encourage each employee to perform well in hopes of advancing to the next level.

This begins with passionate leadership. These are four essential traits to be a passionate leader. These traits will enable you to inspire your team to achieve greatness.

1. Transparency and Connecting with the Team
Leadership is more than just telling people what to do. Effective leadership culminates from connecting with your team, the people that you are responsible for.

Many organizations aren’t doing a great job of connecting with their team. They overlook the importance of creating good company culture. Transparency is the first step in connecting. To improve involves getting down to the root and analyzing your own character. Are you truly able to be humble and honest?

Irrespective of how good you are, there is always room for improvement. Transparency begins by being genuine and upfront. Be open and share some insights about the person you are. Then you can encourage your direct reports to follow suit enabling them to open up. It is imperative that your subordinates believe that they are interacting with the real you. Leading by example necessitates sincerity coupled with openness, humility and integrity.

Having accomplished the above it is time to use your skill of tactical empathy. Your team relates to you better as they believe that you are able to view their perspective on things. Tactical empathy is a crucial core talent for all leaders to be able to relate with their team. Chris Voss, American businessman and author, defines tactical empathy as the deliberate influencing of your negotiating counterpart’s emotions for the ultimate purpose of building trust-based influence and securing deals. This ideal will help shape you into a passionate leader, making the distinction clear to all.

It’s a waste to have a team but rule with an iron first. Micromanaging and leaving your employees with unifiling tasks is futile. You know they are capable of great and ambitious work because you hired them after seeing everything they bring to the table. Help yourself and empower your staff, which will spread the workload and allow you comfort that tasks are being completed.

Transparency, trust, and honesty, need to be present in the office every day. Practicing tactical empathy may require a conscious effort, but it will improve interpersonal relationships within the workplace.

2. Inspire Your Team to get Things Going
A leadership nightmare is hiring talented people and then making them feel incapable of doing their job. The function of a leader is to bring in the best candidates into the organization, train them, and then let them prove themselves.

Be open to feedback from your team on a regular basis. While every suggestion or idea doesn’t need to be taken into action, getting your team’s input shows you value their opinion. It says that you want to know their take on projects and policies. Not involving your team alienates them; it says you don’t trust them, and this can be offensive. It is the easiest way to turn a good employee to an unmotivated one.

It is important to encourage your team to feel a part of decision making. No one wants to feel powerless at work. This is especially essential in a crisis situation. The team should be aware that there is a problem when in the midst of it, not after it is over. Someone on your team may have an idea which could positively influence the outcome. Giving them the opportunity to suggest this useful action avoids the stress of problem solving alone. Not engaging your team when during work difficulties could damage your relationship with them. It indicates a clear message of not trusting your team to help you through. They need to know they’re valued at your company, and these simple gestures will do exactly that.

3. Practice Self-Awareness
Avoidant behavior is not conducive to good leadership. Avoiding taking action or acting on a certain matter can cause great damage to the business. It puts a stop to the progress of the organization’s success.

Why do some leaders avoid taking action? Being a passionate leader requires taking action. There are no moments to hesitate when making decisions in critical situations. They don’t want to take the responsibility upon themselves.

The fear is a result of a lack of self-awareness and self-confidence. It stems from a lack of faith and belief that they are able to overcome the situation, but it takes some action on their part.

How does one deal with this problem? Honing the skills of self-awareness comes from a constant quest to be curious and learn. The ABCs of life abbreviate Always Be Curious. As a leader your actions and decisions are influencing those who work under you. Analyse each decision and its consequences before putting it to action. How do they handle conflict? It’s human nature to react, but leaders must respond diplomatically. Be aware of your involvement in any conflict and come to a resolve with your team efficiently. This will leave people comfortable reaching out during issues.

Leadership involves high-pressure moments. Don’t let intense moments affect you, but set the example for your team. It all begins with self-awareness.

4. Accepting Power and Authority
A leader is ambitious by nature but this doesn’t have to be bad. Every leader has their organization’s best interest at heart, as the success of the company is a reflection on their role as boss. Projecting others in a bad light to gain favour finds a way of coming out. It is best to avoid negative antics that only breed room for a hostile work environment.

Misusing your power will affect your judgement and hamper your ability to make sound decisions. A narcissistic leader cannot see past their own thoughts and ideas, typically working solo. This will cause them to lose their team’s support. Acknowledging your team and their participation is a better path to follow.

Triumphing with your team backing you is the best way to prove your power and authority as a leader. Every leader has power and authority, but flaunting it in a negative light is not going to help. Try and engage your team and listen to them. A humble standpoint will gain you more authority and put you in a position of power more than trying to assert yourself with an attitude of arrogance.

Your attitude towards your team can gain you tremendous dividends in the long run. So make your team a part of your success. Power and authority are earned and your direct reports are major contributors.