Leadership Traits & Behaviours: What Matters Most?

Hey there,

In continuation of the mini-series on leadership this week, we’ll be exploring what are some of the most effective leadership traits and behaviour. We will also briefly share some leadership trait misconceptions. Let’s get into it:

Leadership Traits & Behaviours: What Matters Most?

Leadership is a complex phenomenon that involves many skills, behaviours, and roles. However, some traits and behaviours seem to be more important than others for effective leadership. In this blog post, I will discuss some of the most important leadership traits based on our reading of the research and how they can help you become a better leader.

One of the most widely studied leadership traits is Extraversion, and probably rightly so. As noted by Judge and colleagues, extraversion, along with openness to experience, has been shown to have a strong relationship with leadership effectiveness. This doesn’t mean that introverted leaders don’t exist, and that introversion is negatively correlated to effective leadership. It just gives validity to general social thinking of extraversion as a good trait and shows that extraversion as a trait is strongly related to effective leadership, especially when paired with the trait of agreeableness.

A leadership trait that’s getting lots of attention is “Openness to Experience” or what some would term adaptability. Adaptability is one of the strongest predictors of leadership effectiveness across different contexts and levels of analysis. Adaptability refers to the ability to adjust one's behaviour and goals to changing situations and demands. Flexible leaders can think creatively, cope with uncertainty, and learn from feedback. They can also tailor their leadership style to the needs and preferences of their followers and stakeholders. The research shows that this is an important trait for effective leadership.

A third leadership trait that matters a lot is Intelligence. Intelligence can be broken down further into IQ, emotional intelligence (EI) and social intelligence. For this post, we will focus on EI, the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively in oneself and others. EI enables leaders to empathise with others, communicate clearly, resolve conflicts, motivate followers, and inspire change. Other research has shown that EI is positively related to leadership performance, satisfaction, and outcomes. One thing to note about intelligence research is that there can be too much of a good thing! Using Wonderlic Scores, Antonakis and colleagues found that, after a certain point of intelligence, the correlation between very high intelligence and positive leadership outcomes diminished. This curvilinear relationship is important to note, as, despite general social thinking that the smartest people should lead, this research would question that social norm, and should be something you consider when next hiring, developing or promoting a leader within your organisation.

Not all of what we think about leadership is true. Some widely touted and lauded leadership traits and behaviours are not founded in research. This can be detrimental to leadership effectiveness and organisations. Some of those traits are:

Charisma: While charisma may help leaders attract followers and gain popularity, it does not always translate into effective performance or positive outcomes. Charismatic leaders may also be prone to narcissism, manipulation, and abuse of power. When exhibited at higher levels, those characteristics are negatively correlated with the positive outcomes of effective leadership.

Dominance: While dominance may help leaders assert their authority and influence, it may also create a hostile and competitive environment. Dominant leaders may also be resistant to feedback, collaboration, and change.

Physical appearance: While physical appearance may affect how others perceive leaders, it does not directly affect their performance or outcomes. Physical appearance may also create biases or stereotypes that may hinder or harm leadership. This idea is very much in the era of the “Great Man” theories which focused on innate qualities and features possessed by what were seen to be great social, political and military leaders.

Summary:

We’ve only scratched the surface of leadership traits and behaviours in this post, but in doing so we hope it shone a light on some of the leadership fallacies and biases that exist. Giving you some food for thought on how you see leadership in yourself, your organisation, and your hiring processes.

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Karl

P.S. - If you have questions 🗨️ about the content we share or would like to discuss the topics in more detail, please pop us a mail to chat. We’d love to hear from you.