GOOD LEADERSHIP TRAITS
Janelle Boehrer
Charter College

Abstract
The ability to communicate and be a good listener is an essential component for effective leadership. Also, having effective people management skills as well. I also believe intelligence, empathy and emotional intelligence, and the ability to inspire are also very important skill sets leaders can possess. Leaders need the ability to put others before themselves, to empathize, to seek to understand and to build rapport. This skill directly impacts the ability to build an environment based on trust, which allows people to flourish and to achieve their full potential/empowerment. Good leaders have integrity and vision. Good leaders are clear with staff about challenges and strategies, and they provide staff and colleagues with a strong sense of direction and purpose. I personally like the self-managed team leaders. I believe a self-managed team is likely to boost a company's efficiency and productivity. They have the freedom and flexibility to devise innovative solutions to business problems and rapid responses to organizational challenges. Self-managed team members who are empowered with full responsibility and accountability for their work tend to have higher levels of commitment and motivation as well. Self-managed team members are also likely to have a higher level of job satisfaction, which can also mean low absenteeism and turnover for the organization. However, self-managed teams aren't the right fit for every company. The best-performing self-managed teams are found in companies where the organizational culture clearly supports decision-making by employees.

GOOD LEADERSHIP TRAITS
I believe the best leaders work in self-directed teams - sometimes called self-managed teams, empowered work units, or autonomous work teams, function in their truest sense without supervisory authority. Team members are interdependent. A self-directed team is as much a team as any other, but it has a unique management structure – no supervisor. By comparison, a regular work group reports to a supervisor who is part of the group. In many such cases, the supervisor does much of the same work that the group members do, or he performs a higher level of the overall work that the group must accomplish. Self-directed teams, on the other hand, report to a manager, but generally no management personnel are part of the team's ongoing and daily operations.
The role of manager or supervisor, in the case of a self-directed team, is replaced by all the members of the team. Together, they plan and execute the work, day in and day out, carrying out the directions set by management above them. It isn't unusual for only one manager to oversee several self-directed teams.
Communicating is an important trait for this kind of leadership. Teams should meet frequently to plan and carry out their work, and you want to use those face-to-face occasions to provide leadership and direction. Keep in closer contact by being present at occasions like meetings, and drop in a visit with team members to stay in touch. Walk around. If you walk around to people's work areas for a few minutes of social chatter, you will still have the rest of the day to handle business issues, so have a little fun. This communication strategy makes you a visible leader and enables you to gain a better knowledge of your team members as people and not just as employees.
Regular training is also an important practice. Your expectations about training and helping your team find the resources that it needs to meet those expectations is a vital part of your job. You can evaluate their success when you evaluate team performance.
Gradually expand the team member’s responsibilities one step at a time. Ultimately, a truly self-managed team handles all responsibilities that a work group supervisor would. But a team can't assume all those responsibilities at once. Team members need time to discover and