4 Traits Needed to be a Great Leader in 2017

February 15, 2017

By Dan Charney, President

Day by day, the workforce evolves due to economical, technological, and societal changes. With the constant workforce transformation is a constant need for leaders to strive for quality management tactics. Common important traits for a leader to have are confidence, transparency, and innovation, among others. However, 2017 is a new year, with new challenges, and leaders should take note of these 3 key traits and skills that will make them successful and benefit their employees this year.

1. Decisiveness
On a regular basis, leaders are put into situations where they are expected to make tough decisions that can impact the entire company. In addition, they are responsible for communicating their decisions to employees and others. To be successful, a great leader is able to make quick decisions by balancing emotions and logic. When it comes to information processing and decision making, leaders are able to use both sides of the brain; left being the logic center responsible for reasoning and analysis, and right being the emotional center responsible for creativity and intuition. With the fast pace of the business world, leaders and top executives have to implement balanced decision making without hesitation and without wasting time.

2. Focus
In 2017, technology continues to expand and grow at a fast rate with big data, cybersecurity, and IoT being at the forefront of not only the tech industries, but also manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and more. With this growth, leaders need to be able to adapt to changes, but also know their core business and stick to it. Changes and challenges can cause leaders and executives to lose focus and lose sight of their mission which can ultimately result in a loss of profits. It is important for leaders to stay organized and stay on track with established strategies, plans, and goals, while also keeping employees and other leaders in the company focused for the business to be successful no matter what changes the business world could be experiencing.

3. Communication Skills
Having exceptional communication skills is common for leaders, but especially important in today’s day and age. There are four different generations with a prominent presence in the workforce today. Furthermore, today’s leaders fall into many of these generational categories. This makes it so important for leaders to be able to clearly communicate strategy, goals, give and receive feedback, and motivate employees no matter if they are dealing with Baby Boomers, Generation X, or Millennials. While many of these generations have stereotypes stamped onto them that may or may not be true, it is extremely important for leaders to pay attention to what communication methods are the clearest and most concise for employees and the team.

4. Insightfulness and Innovation
The 2017 workforce has been highlighting a key factor in what is most valuable to them in a job: company culture. A recent poll by Hunt Scanlon Media shows that 73% of respondents say culture is the most important workplace consideration at their organization, with 42% responding that culture is a leadership priority driven from the top down. As leaders, it is extremely important to be insightful and innovative in creating a great company culture. Top executives can improve the quality of their workplace environment and culture by simply having a clear understanding of what employees want, and creatively implementing perks. This will help to not only retain current employees, but attract new talent as well.

Effective leadership takes time and experience, but with practice, leaders can polish these traits and benefit themselves, and their employees. What other leadership traits do you think are crucial for top executives to have in 2017?

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