Not just anyone can be a leader. Some know this for a fact and when you ask them if they are the leader, they will answer that they are not. To be a good leader you have to possess some qualities that are essential. Want to know what a few of these are? Here are my thoughts.

One of the first things that a leader should be able to do is give orders. He should be able to spot what needs to be done and go from there. If this can’t be done and there is no leader in a group, things can tend to fall apart. They should have this quality to be able to do it at the right time as well.

A leader should also be able to encourage the people who are under their leadership. When you look at a group, you will have different personalities. Some of them will question if they can’t do the tasks at hand. You have to be willing as a leader to encourage them as not everything is a bed of roses.

Any leader in any group will come across a number of dilemmas. It could be within the people you are leading, or it could be elsewhere. You have to be ready for whatever is thrown your way. When you are ready for anything, when it hits, it will not hit so hard as long as you keep going forward with confidence and as a role model.

Yet another quality that is good to possess is the ability to be able to keep the peace within your group. As mentioned earlier, there are different personalities. You have to be ready for a few of them to be too like minded and therefore, they might get at each others throats. Be ready for that, for it does happen from time to time.

The leader of any group has to look at things differently from the rest of the group and be able to look at different dynamics. If that doesn’t happen, a leader is normally just as lost as the group. So, knowing what you are doing, and what you are talking about is always an essential when it comes to your leadership skills.

Then there is the fact that any good leader should be able to hold his or her own. He or she does not need to justify why they do things, but if they so desire to they should be able to explain throughly, and what it was needed to be done.

As you can see, there are many key roles a leader plays besides, well, leading. He plays the mediator in many cases. He’s the dealer of tasks and the inspector. If you are ready to take on a number of roles that all fall less than one particular name and you have these qualities, then you are what people are looking for when they think of a good leader for this is what it takes.

Picture credit: pedrosimoes7Creative Commons Attribution