Originally published on topdreamer.com
Choosing the best people to be team leaders in your company is critical. The right person can have a positive impact on the entire business. The wrong person can cripple productivity and sabotage your success. In this article, Ferrari Energy shares what to watch for when picking the right team leaders.The best candidate for a leadership position in your company may not be the person you know or like the most.
Choosing the most popular or even the person with the most profound understanding of the company’s products or services has been the stumbling block for many owners and executives. Being liked by everyone and having technical knowledge of the business are certainly not disqualifiers for leadership positions, but they aren’t essential traits either.
Watch for these five leadership traits within your employees. People with these characteristics make the best leaders.
1. Accountability
Good leaders take full responsibility for their actions and the actions of their team. When things go well, they defer credit to the team. When mistakes are made, they accept responsibility and take action to rectify and prevent similar mishaps in the future. Your potential team leaders may not have a leadership role yet, so watch for general accountability. Keep an eye on employees that step up and admit their mistakes rather than looking for someone else to share the blame.
2. Adaptability
In business, things can change quickly. New and better methods and processes are discovered. Some otherwise great employees struggle with change. People that find change difficult can make good employees. They often like what they do and how it’s done — that’s why they dislike change. But these people may not make the best leaders. Look for employees that are always wanting to learn more and find a better way of doing things. As they mature, you may need to rein them in from time to time, but keep in mind that adaptability is an excellent leadership quality.
3. Communication
Superior communication skills — both written and verbal — are essential for good leaders. The ability to convey information, even complex ideas, is critical. Watch for employees that can sustain an idea through a conversation or an email without interjecting extraneous information that makes the dialogue hard to follow. This person may someday represent your company to the larger world. Find employees who have developed the art of communication.
4. Loyalty
Undoubtedly you want the best for your employees. If someone that works for you finds an opportunity to achieve their life goals and move ahead, you want that for them, even if it means they leave your company. On the other hand, few things are as frustrating as having invested in training, mentoring, and coaching only to have an employee move to a competitor for a few dollars more. Loyalty can be hard to define, but you will know it when you see it in one of your employees.
5. Team building
Lone rangers rarely make good leaders. A leader needs to be part of the team they lead. As your employees carry out their daily tasks, watch for those that display an understanding of the importance of teamwork. Superstars that want all the accolades for themselves often fail to foster loyalty and instill a sense of teamwork in those that work for them. The best performer does not necessarily make the best leader. It is important to remember that the path of company leadership often begins with a team leader role. As you choose team leaders, you may also be picking your eventual successor — choose wisely.