Here are some of the QUALITIES AND SKILLS OF A LEADER while leading people.
- Being a visionary (e.g., help to describe the products, goals, and objectives of the project; able to dream and translate those dreams for others);
- Being optimistic and positive;
- Being collaborative;
- Managing relationships and conflict by:
- Building trust;
- Satisfying concerns;
- Seeking consensus;
- Balancing competing and opposing goals;
- Applying persuasion, negotiation, compromise, and conflict resolution skills;
- Developing and nurturing personal and professional networks;
- Taking a long-term view that relationships are just as important as the project; and
- Continuously developing and applying political acumen.
- Communicating by:
- Spending sufficient time communicating (research shows that top project managers spend about 90% of their time on a project in communicating);
- Managing expectations;
- Accepting feedback graciously;
- Giving feedback constructively; and
- Asking and listening.
- Being respectful (helping others retain their autonomy), courteous, friendly, kind, honest, trustworthy, loyal, and ethical;
- Exhibiting integrity and being culturally sensitive, courageous, a problem solver, and decisive;
- Giving credit to others where due;
- Being a life-long learner who is results- and action-oriented
- Focusing on the important things, including:
- Continuously prioritizing work by reviewing and adjusting as necessary;
- Finding and using a prioritization method that works for them and the project;
- Differentiating high-level strategic priorities, especially those related to critical success factors for the project;
- Maintaining vigilance on primary project constraints;
- Remaining flexible on tactical priorities; and
- Being able to sift through massive amounts of information to obtain the most important information.
- Having a holistic and systemic view of the project, taking into account internal and external factors equally;
- Being able to apply critical thinking (e.g., application of analytical methods to reach decisions) and identify him or herself as a change agent.
- Being able to build effective teams, be service-oriented, and have fun and share humor effectively with team members.