7 Qualities of Effective Leaders

In this episode of the Brazen podcast, hosts Calley and Valerie discuss seven essential qualities of effective managers and leaders.

They dive into topics such as having a growth mindset, the importance of empathy, communication skills, vulnerability, adaptability, and courage. The hosts share personal insights, experiences, and strategies for developing these qualities to become successful leaders who empower and inspire their teams.

Make sure to check out Episode 61

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Positive Leadership Coaching

Transcript

The Brazen Podcast - Episode 67
The 7 Qualities of Effective Leaders

Calley: [00:00:00] welcome back to another episode of the brazen podcast. We are your hosts, Callie and Valerie, and today we are going to be talking to you about [00:00:10] the best qualities that all good leaders share. There are seven that we're going to talk about and we're just kind of going to kind of break [00:00:20] them down. And, you know, just think as we're going through about if any of these qualities kind of come naturally to [00:00:30] you, or if any of them are a particular weakness for you, and that might be a sign to spend a little bit more time and [00:00:40] energy trying to shore up that area so that you can become a really well rounded, great leader.

Val, do you want to kick us off with [00:00:50] number one? 

Valerie: Sure. The first thing is something we say is important for all of our clients, but it's having a growth mindset and [00:01:00] as a leader, this is particularly important because things are not all black and white and people come to your team, not necessarily having a thousand innate [00:01:10] abilities and you need to be able to work with people or situations in order to improve them.

So a growth mindset basically functions on the principle [00:01:20] that everything can be improved with effort and you might not be at a great spot right now, but you can always work towards being better at a particular thing. And so [00:01:30] if you are kind of a black and white thinker, it can be really hard because you kind of just put things into boxes.

Like this person is really bad at customer service. [00:01:40] And that, like, that's it. You don't want to kind of work towards improving them or any type of, like, you know, work towards. Getting them [00:01:50] to a place where they actually excel at something and so it can be really dangerous when you're working with people to not have that growth mindset.

Calley: [00:02:00] Yeah, and just to add on to that, I think it's really helpful to kind of think of this as, I don't know, a little bit of a balance [00:02:10] because with the growth mindset, like. you're aware that you have the ability to grow skills, but then you're [00:02:20] also aware that you have natural strengths. And so.

You know, that isn't to say that you need to ignore the things that you're good at and only [00:02:30] focus on improving the weaknesses you have. I definitely am a big advocate for really playing to your strengths. [00:02:40] And if there's something that you're really good at and comes super naturally to you and is, you know, what some people call your zone of genius, then that's what you [00:02:50] should be focusing on.

But you also would benefit from. You know, improving your emotional intelligence, if that's a weakness, [00:03:00] you know, don't neglect things, but also don't try to make your weaknesses into your strengths. 

Valerie: Yeah, I think that's a really great point because we talk a lot about [00:03:10] positive leadership and one of the tenets of positive leadership is to truly focus on people's strengths and keep kind of cultivating those.

And so you're [00:03:20] right that there is a balance between really cultivating those skills, but also just understanding that people's weaknesses. Don't [00:03:30] mean that they're automatically not going to improve in those areas and yourself included. If you're just like, Oh, I'm really bad at communicating.

You're just never going to get anywhere [00:03:40] with that. So the idea that you can kind of continually improve and get at least a little better at that is something that's really valuable to keep in the back of your mind. 

Calley: Yeah, and [00:03:50] number two is a love of people and empowering others. So this is something that I have had to personally [00:04:00] grapple with as a major introvert.

So I do like people and I do like encouraging [00:04:10] and inspiring people, but I really struggle in social situations where there's like a lot of people around and maybe [00:04:20] my social battery is not fully charged. So, you know, if that kind of resonates with you, then I just [00:04:30] want to encourage you to, you know, focus more on the one to one aspects if you are more introverted.

So, you [00:04:40] know, cultivating the next generation of leaders within your team or your organization doesn't have to be this big, like, [00:04:50] networking, social. You know, process, unless you want it to be an, unless that's your strength. If you're an introvert, this is still [00:05:00] something that you're able to cultivate and improve on your own by like really focusing in on that one to one personal aspect, you know, [00:05:10] teaching people how to do what you're doing with like, you know, improving your weaknesses, but really focusing on leaning into your strengths.

And [00:05:20] learning how to improve their emotional intelligence and learning how to really cultivate their communication skills like all of that can be done in both [00:05:30] group settings and one on one. And just keep in mind that Every single person that you're impacting with [00:05:40] your own leadership and coaching is going to go on and do that for other people. So it's kind of, you know, this exponential [00:05:50] effect of, Your encouragement of one person turns into many down the road. 

Valerie: Yeah, I really love that you brought up the introvert piece because I [00:06:00] literally had a client last week say, I don't feel like I can be a good leader because if there's ever more than 5 people in a room, like, I just freeze up and I was like, I don't think [00:06:10] that leadership means that you have to be able to lead the masses of people.

It can be a smaller group or. You can be that type of manager [00:06:20] or leader that focuses on the 1 on 1 interactions, like you said, and you can make your impact even more so that way. And so I think it's really good that you brought that piece up [00:06:30] because there's definitely a different levels of management and also just in terms of, you know, changing people's lives, like.

Being a leader, I tell people this and [00:06:40] I know don't ever want to scare them, but you are impacting people's lives so much as a leader. You're helping them grow. If you think about all the times that you mentioned things that have like [00:06:50] influence your life, a lot of times they are work related and, you know, people get hired and fired and.

Trained and promoted and all of that stuff is something that's [00:07:00] really impactful in your life. So as a leader, you kind of are involved in that piece. And so I think just understanding the impact you are actually having on someone's life so that [00:07:10] you are very careful, but also very empowered to continue to empower and inspire people.

Number 3 is [00:07:20] vulnerability. I really love this one and I think it can be one of the hardest things as a manager to embrace. I think particularly as a new manager, the concept [00:07:30] sometime is to switch into being kind of a harsh boss because you think that's the only is.

having [00:07:40] a willingness to just be a person and to admit mistakes. We talk a lot about when you're having difficult conversations. It's just 2 people in a room like, and you have to remember [00:07:50] that. And you can take a step back and say things like, I don't feel this is going well, or I feel like I didn't present that.

Really well, and I want to kind of, like, take a step back and [00:08:00] just really acknowledging the humanness of being a leader and the interactions that happen on a daily basis. And I think that the top thing, which I've already [00:08:10] mentioned is just being very willing to admit when you haven't done something super well and allowing.

The feedback from your [00:08:20] employees or your peers and to help shape you and help you be able to grow as a leader going forward. 

Calley: Yeah. I mean, a lot of [00:08:30] people think that, you know, once you become a leader, you need to know all the answers and you need to, you know, never do anything wrong, never [00:08:40] make mistakes, but.

That is actually the opposite of what's true. People respect you more when you do make mistakes and then [00:08:50] correct that and own up to it. And if you don't know something, people really, I mean, think about it. Like if you know that [00:09:00] somebody doesn't necessarily know something and they're just like talking out their ass, you can tell.

And so, You know, it comes off as so much more genuine [00:09:10] and authentic. If you're like, I don't know the answer to that, but let me figure that out and I'll get back to you. Or let me point you to somebody who would know the [00:09:20] answer and we'll learn it together. That comes off as so much more leadership, like.

Authentic leadership rather than [00:09:30] just like making up some vague explanation and like it being clear to everybody that you don't actually really know what you're talking about. But you don't want to admit it. [00:09:40] 

Valerie: Absolutely.

Calley: Number four is empathy. So you just have to understand, you know, kind of. In the same [00:09:50] vein as vulnerability, empathy is understanding that you are working with people. You're not working with robots. People aren't going to get it right. Every time [00:10:00] people aren't going to always communicate in the most effective way with each other.

You just have to. Be able to [00:10:10] give people the grace that they need to learn how to be a more effective leader from their mistakes, because, you know, this is something that I [00:10:20] tell my kids all the time is that, you know, you can learn from me telling you how to do something, but it's not as [00:10:30] effective as when you try it a different way and it doesn't work out and then you learn from that mistake.

That's how people learn. And so just. [00:10:40] Knowing that and extending grace toward your teammates, your employees you know, when things don't go well, or if they're coming into work and they [00:10:50] have a really bad attitude, you know, just going up to them and being like, Hey, I noticed that you're not really yourself this morning.

Are you okay? Is everything okay? [00:11:00] I've noticed that you're. Really quiet, like if they're giving everybody the silent treatment or, you know, you just seem a little bit more on edge if they're being maybe like a little snippy [00:11:10] or like slamming drawers and doors or whatever leading with the empathy is one of the biggest things that [00:11:20] I try to educate people on as.

You know, I focus on building emotional intelligence because it is a learnable [00:11:30] skill. It's not something that you're born with or born without, you know, you can build your empathy. And basically it's just an understanding that you know, it's just two people. [00:11:40] You're not. talking to somebody who, you know, is just, fixed in one state like a robot would be.

Valerie: Yeah, and I know that when I've [00:11:50] talked to people about having empathy, sometimes people take it too far and they feel like they can't say anything. About performance, because, you know, maybe someone's having a really [00:12:00] bad day and it's like, no, you can still bring it up. But, you know, for example, if someone is like a super high performer and they're having a rough week and [00:12:10] you need to talk to them about it, you can say, I know that this isn't typical of your performance.

So are you doing okay? Like what is going on? Are there things that I can [00:12:20] do to help you? You're still able to bring up the performance issues that you're having with staff, but doing it in a way where you're almost curious, like what [00:12:30] happened in this week that you're just not performing like you used to.

And that gives you. Chance to be more collaborative and to work with them and obviously they're going [00:12:40] to be less defensive if you're approaching it in that way. 

Calley: Yeah. And if you build a reputation as being an empathetic leader, people [00:12:50] are going to be so much more prone to come to you before it becomes a problem and being like, hey, I just want you to know, like, this is going on with me.

[00:13:00] And if I'm acting off, like, you know, just. Yeah. Let me know if you notice anything. I'm going to try my best, but you know, like they'll just be more open with you [00:13:10] and they'll know that if you do have to have a conversation with them, it's not because like they're in trouble or you're going to yell at them or, you know, put them on a performance [00:13:20] plan or anything like that.

So that's one of the other benefits of building your emotional intelligence and your empathy skills with 

Valerie: your team. Number 5 is [00:13:30] having excellent communication skills, and this just doesn't mean just like a written and verbal communication skills. It's more about understanding who you [00:13:40] need to communicate with and what types of things you need to communicate.

And some of the feedback I've had from employees in the past has been things [00:13:50] like, We never know kind of where we're going as a business or what the direction is, or, you know, what are my top priorities or what are the [00:14:00] goals for the company and I think that communicating your vision and your culture and your expectations is super [00:14:10] important because people need to kind of know that information to be able to function.

Well in their positions. And I think the more you get everyone sort of pulling in the same direction and [00:14:20] towards the same goals, the better for obviously your company and for your team. And this can seem like a lot, because obviously if you're a business owner or a leader [00:14:30] of a company, you probably have a lot of goals kind of swimming around in your head.

But a good way to start is just to set like a weekly goal or a weekly theme for your [00:14:40] team. So it could be like, This week, we're going to focus on amazing customer service. And these are like five ways we're going to do it and like, get kind of everyone on board and it's, it [00:14:50] kind of cultivates your muscle in terms of communication and like understanding that you need to bring that information to your team, but also gets them sort of [00:15:00] excited to work with you on these particular goals.

Calley: Yeah, and I would also add, you know, in regards to the personal [00:15:10] communication skills, if that is something that you want to learn more about, we did talk about that much more in depth in episode 61, which is 3 [00:15:20] types of feedback. You should be giving as a leader. So if you haven't listened to that and you want to improve your process of giving one on one [00:15:30] feedback to your teammates or your employees, check that episode out.

We will link it in the show notes.

And then number six is having courage. [00:15:40] So courage isn't You know, not being nervous or afraid to do something there's this quote about courage that I [00:15:50] actually really love that courage is fear in action. So, like, you're nervous and you're, you know, uncomfortable, but you're moving forward anyway. [00:16:00] So.

Something that I really struggle with is confrontation and difficult conversations. And so [00:16:10] in the past, I would really shy away from having those conversations and basically I would just procrastinate until things were so [00:16:20] bad that I literally couldn't go any longer without addressing it. And of course, that just makes the whole conversation so much more painful to [00:16:30] have when you haven't had any conversations as a precursor to the big one, right?

I mean, it makes sense when you're talking about it, [00:16:40] but like in practice, it's so much more difficult if that is something you struggle with. So courage is something that I really had to build in that [00:16:50] area and having the courage to move forward with. What I perceive to be as a hard conversation or a difficult [00:17:00] conversation is something that has been probably the single biggest thing that I've done to [00:17:10] improve my leadership skills and how I'm leading my team.

You know, you just have to kind of Psych yourself up for it the first few times [00:17:20] and just like dive in, don't think about it too much. But you know, the things that you're having trouble working up the courage to do right [00:17:30] now, the more that you practice it, the easier it's going to get. So, you know, just keep doing it and just encourage yourself that, [00:17:40] everybody has those things you know, whatever yours is.

you're able to do hard things as Glennon Doyle says.

Valerie: So number [00:17:50] 7 is adaptability and creativity. And as a leader, you are likely dealing with a lot of the problems that pop up at a company.

And so being [00:18:00] able to be a creative problem solver and 1 that also can take that solution or look at kind of the problems that keep popping up and turn that into [00:18:10] failing up as we've talked about in the past and creating systems around it. Can be so important to the evolution of your business or your team, [00:18:20] but also just.

Being creative and adaptable means that you can kind of keep the stress from permeating the rest of the company [00:18:30] or your team because you are able to quickly assess the situation and then possibly turn it into something positive, or at least take action [00:18:40] in a way that's inspiring to the rest of your team.

So I always. Talk about situations where you're really short staffed and you can turn that into like a [00:18:50] challenge or like a fun way of getting everyone like inspired and breaking a couple of the typical daily rules or, you know, anything you can do to [00:19:00] add some fun to it. I think those types of actions can like really set you apart as a leader and keep people motivated when.

The times are the most [00:19:10] challenging. 

Calley: Yeah, and also remember that, you know, your first knee jerk reaction is probably [00:19:20] not the most creative solution to whatever problem you're trying to solve. And so, something that I've had to learn [00:19:30] is that almost nothing is an emergency. You don't have to solve every single problem in the [00:19:40] first two minutes that it's brought to your attention.

It's okay to, you know, kind of. Sit and think on it and, you [00:19:50] know, maybe talk to some other people talk to the people closest to the problem. See if they have any ideas about ways that you might solve it. That time is [00:20:00] kind of what allows the creativity to bubble up within you and within your team and you're able to.

Often in my own experience, [00:20:10] anyway, you're often able to come up with a solution that's going to solve the problem and keep it from coming up again, as opposed to creating [00:20:20] like a temporary solution, like putting a bandaid on it when you're going to have to probably deal with it again at some point in the future.

So [00:20:30] keep that in mind. Almost nothing's an emergency and. You almost always have a little bit of time to figure out a good solution to the [00:20:40] issue. 

Valerie: Yeah, so these are seven qualities that we look for in managers and leaders, but I'm curious what quality [00:20:50] comes most naturally to you, Callie, and which one have you struggled with the most?

Calley: Oh, that's a good question. I guess I would say that [00:21:00] Communication skills is probably my. Biggest strength, which is also kind of ironic or surprising because I am such an [00:21:10] introvert and I really don't enjoy a ton of social interactions. But like I do tend to be able to kind of phrase things in a way [00:21:20] that is easy to understand for people.

And so that would probably be my biggest strength, my biggest weakness. [00:21:30] Is probably vulnerability because I was totally that person who. You know, felt [00:21:40] like if I'm the leader, well, first of all, like I used to kind of shy away from leadership because I'm like, well, I don't know all the answers and I kind of feel like I don't know what the [00:21:50] hell I'm doing, even though I might've been in that position for years.

And like, I definitely knew what I was doing. I just really lacked the confidence that I [00:22:00] thought I needed in order to take on a leadership role. But once I started actually learning more about leadership. I realize that you don't have [00:22:10] to have all the answers. You just need to know what direction to move in to try to find them and you don't need to never make mistakes.

You just need to [00:22:20] know how to take responsibility for them and keep positive attitude to sort of, like, move in a different direction. So. Yeah, those are probably [00:22:30] my strengths and weaknesses. How about you? 

Valerie: Val? I would say that my strength is probably empowering others, which probably makes sense that I'm a [00:22:40] coach.

But I love seeing people grow and thrive in leadership positions. And I love seeing just how Thanks Bar people can come with like the [00:22:50] right nurturing and the right kind of education and leadership coaching and all of that. And I love the concept that you're potentially [00:23:00] influencing the lives of so many more people than you think you are because just they're learning so much from you and from your leadership team and then going out and using [00:23:10] that.

With either other jobs in the future or their families or other employees or whatever, you know, it may be. And so there's just something [00:23:20] really exciting and inspiring to me about being able to do that. I think the thing I struggle with the most is probably the growth mindset. And it's the thing that I most encourage [00:23:30] new leaders to embrace.

But I think because you Positive leadership is something that I really love. I do focus a lot on people's like innate abilities [00:23:40] instead of really trying to help cultivate some things that might be holding them back. And it's also sometimes that it's very easy to put [00:23:50] people in boxes quickly so that you can not spend time getting to.

Truly know all of their strengths and weaknesses. So I think that's kind of a downfall for me and [00:24:00] I'm trying really hard to like, take the time to kind of work with people a little more closely so that I don't just sort of categorize them in that way. So. 

Calley: Yeah, as far as the strength [00:24:10] being the empowering, I just have to like, add that it makes sense to me, like knowing Valerie, because she is so confident [00:24:20] and how she says that, you know, she loves the idea that like what she's teaching somebody is like influencing so many other people and I'm like, well, that's [00:24:30] just your confidence.

Being, like, on point because that idea freaks the hell out of me. I'm like, oh my god, I could [00:24:40] just be, like, totally. You know, steering this one person in the wrong direction and then I've got like a whole army of people heading in the wrong direction right along 

Valerie: with me. [00:24:50] Well, now I'm going to doubt that, but 

Calley: and you're welcome.

Valerie: I think I've been very lucky that I've had a lot [00:25:00] of women mentors. That have been like, really powerful for me and that I still remember things that they've told me. So I think that I always [00:25:10] just feel that you have more influence than you think you do. And I always want leaders to know that not to scare them, but because I think that it really [00:25:20] shows how important their role is.

Calley: Yeah, and it just really brings to the forefront the importance of being authentic, because if you're [00:25:30] authentic, then it gives you the latitude that you need in order to grow. And you know, people will expect that you're going to grow and evolve and [00:25:40] learn new things and like change your opinions on things that you said in the past.

So I love that. So that wraps up another [00:25:50] episode of the brazen podcast. Make sure to subscribe and follow the podcast if you like it. And if you're interested in supporting us, [00:26:00] please check out our Patreon. We do have options for a variety of different, you know, interest levels and skill sets in [00:26:10] leadership.

So. Go to our Patreon, which is linked in the show notes and figure out how we can best help you on your leadership journey and be sure to come [00:26:20] back next week and we'll have more for you.