Traits of a Leader

 

Section One: 

The trait approach to leadership was one of the theories of leadership, it’s so early theory in most of the leadership research. This approach focuses on the traits of the leaders, such as physical and personality characteristics, competencies and values. Most of the studies shows that most of these traits are born with the leader or it can be studied and practiced by a leader to be stable over time.

Most of the researches in the early 1900s focused on identifying innate qualities and characteristics possessed by social, political and military leaders. Which called Great Man theories.  In 1930-50s the studies focused on the traits interacting with situational demands on leaders in which Landmark Stogdill in 1948 study, analyzed and synthesized 124 trait studies about leadership and the relationship between people in social situations. Then in 1970s-1990s most of the researches shows the critical role of the personality and the behavioral traits on the leadership effectiveness, and now a day’s studies show the five major leadership traits which are:

·         Intelligence

·         Self-confidence

·          Determination

·          Integrity

·         Sociability

Intelligence is the mental capacity for understanding, in which the effective leader should be able to understand and explain the complex concepts in manner that meets the following needs and help them. Also, self-confidence is one of the major leadership traits have realistic certainties in their own judgment, ideas, ability, power, decision making, and skills. Such leaders know and trust themselves. Effective should have self-confidence in order to understand that their leadership can make a difference to their work place.

Determination is the motivation a leader needs to take a decision, to persevere in the face of obstacles, and to see a job through to completion. Beside determination we have integrity which is the quality of being honest which makes people trust you as a leader, and the last trait we have is sociability which is the ability to have social relations, so the leader to be an effective leader should have good social skills.

A number of investigators have examined the various aspects of personality, and over time they have identified the “big five” personality traits which are:

·         Extraversion

·         Conscientiousness

·         Openness

·         Low Neuroticism

·         Agreeableness

 

Extraversion is the ability of being sociable and have a positive energy so the leader will be able to motivate the followers positively and able to have social skills, beside extraversion we have conscientiousness which is the tendency to be thorough, organized, controlled, dependable, and decisive. Also, we have openness which is the tendency to be informed, creative, insightful, and curious. Moreover, we have low neuroticism which the tendency to control depression and control emotions, leaders who are able to handle stress, deal with criticism, and take failures and mistakes in stride, low neuroticism helps leaders develop good interpersonal relationships. Finally, we have agreeableness which is the ability to get along with other people, resolving conflict and gaining follower’s trust.

Emotional intelligence the ability to review the emotions of oneself and other individuals, Specifically, emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to perceive and express emotions, to facilitate thinking, to understand and reason with emotions, and to effectively differentiating between various emotions and labeling them. To be effective leader, the leader should be more sensitive to his/her emotions and their impact on others.

The trait approach is very different from the other approaches because it focuses exclusively on the leader not one the followers or the situation. This makes the trait approach theoretically more straightforward than other approaches. So, the trait approach is concerned with what traits leaders exhibit and who has these traits.

The trait approach has several strengths. The trait approach is intuitively appealing in which leaders are different in that they posses’ special traits also the followers need to see their leaders gifted and the trait approach help them to figure this out, beside that it highlights the leadership component in the leadership process by the deeper level understanding of the leader personality and finally it provide a benchmarks for what to look for in a leader.

In addition to its strengths, the trait approach has several weaknesses. It fails to delimit a definitive list of leadership skills, it doesn’t take into account situational effects, it lists of the most important of the leadership traits is highly subjective, it fails to at the leadership outcomes and finally it’s not useful for training and development.

 

 

 

Section Two:

I used to teach physics for five years in different schools in Lebanon, as a teacher I stimulate the educational environment to students so they can grow mentally, emotionally and socially, and that by creating a good atmosphere in the classroom so the students can meet their full potential, also by providing the students a safe environment so they can share their ideas and thoughts so they can be more creative. 

As a teacher my coordinator is an effective leader, she has the five major effective traits of a leader in which she has intelligence, she has  this  mental capacity for understanding, she able to understand and explain the complex concepts in manner that meets the my needs and help me to overcome all the obstacles that I may face during teaching or planning . Also, she has self-confidence she knows her ability and her power and skills, her self-confidence helps her make to make difference in the science department and in the school, beside that her determination helps her to take a decision, to persevere in the face of obstacles, and to see a job through to completion. Beside determination her integrity makes teachers trust her as a leader, and the last major effective trait she has is sociability, she built relations with us as a teacher with students and with parents and her highly social skills help her to be a very effective coordinator in my school.

Beside the five major effective traits my coordinator is have the five personality traits she is extraversion she has the ability to be sociable and always has a positive energy so as a leader she is able to motivate us positively, beside extraversion she has conscientiousness , she is highly organized and able to control and manage her time effectively and she always helps teachers  to manage their time . Also, she is openness she always informs us with new ideas about our topics beside that she is so creative and help us to increase our creativity by giving us a chance to introduce new ideas in our lesson plans and experiments. Moreover, she has a low neuroticism she is able to control emotions, handle stress and she knows how to deal with criticism, low neuroticism helps her as a leader develop good interpersonal relationships with us as a teacher and with students and their parents. Finally, she has agreeableness she is able to solve problems and as a teacher we trust her so much for her honesty and her professionalism in coordination.