Most Challenging/Difficult Parts of Being a Leader: Just because you’ve been promoted to a leadership position in your company doesn’t mean the ceiling will fall around you. As a leader, you have been entrusted with this task. If you accept the task, it will be yours. Leaders are constantly confronted with problems, but you may chart a successful course and emerge victorious with the correct tact and skill. Frederick Douglass once said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
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What Characterizes a Good Leader?
After conducting extensive research, I’ve compiled a list of frequently mentioned characteristics when discussing what makes a strong leader. Several leaders have recommended these characteristics in Forbes interviews and business and personal growth books.
Confidence
Only a self-assured leader can instill confidence in their team. Because we all want to feel comfortable, people are more likely to follow someone who exudes confidence, even if it is fake. Self-confidence is an important part of a good leader’s development and personal development.
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Self-Control
You can’t effectively lead a team without first being able to govern yourself. A self-controlling leader shows his staff what it’s like to prioritize the right things over momentary gratification.
Decision-Making Capacity
One of a leader’s most important responsibilities is to make decisions. Indecisive leaders transmit insecurity and mistrust. On the other hand, a competent leader does more than make decisions (good or bad). He makes them swiftly and rarely backs down unless the situation is just right.
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A Clear Vision and Strategy
Leading people without a vision and a strategy is a recipe for disaster. Strong leaders know where they’re heading and how to get their team there. They put their imagination and that of their team into crafting a plan that will get them there.
Any leader who disregards the necessity of having a clear vision and plan risks squandering the entire team’s efforts. And this may produce unhappiness among individuals who have put in a lot of effort.
Faith
A good leader knows that his beliefs have a huge impact on the team. Because of this, he expresses faith in himself, everyone on the team, and their vision. When the sky falls, and the team has nowhere and no one else to fall back on, the good leader is always the last man standing. He is always there for reassurance, motivation, and inspiration. He isn’t easily affected by temporary defeat, no matter how long it has been around.
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Empathy
In human connections, empathy is crucial. Empathy deficiency can be devastating and damaging to a team’s dynamics. Empathy is the only way for people to work together from the mutual understanding without intentionally injuring one another.
This is a feature that a leader should possess to encourage other team members to develop it.
A Charismatic Personality or Charisma
Anyone who wishes to succeed in today’s culture must have a compelling personality. A leader who is pleasant to be around and makes their people feel good about themselves and their job is more likely to succeed than an arrogant or harsh leader.
Charisma is a seducing characteristic. In leadership, it’s all about persuading your colleagues to give their all on the work, freely and with true pleasure.
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Cooperation
Any leader worth his salt knows that his power lies in his team and his ability to connect with them. Like the saying “there’s no I in a team,” a leader knows that he wouldn’t be there were it not for the team. Thus, he values cooperation and teamwork above all.
This is the best strategy as everyone on the team will be more eager and happy to do their work if they feel that they are important in the estimation of the head of the team.
Responsibility
We can’t stop talking about the importance of taking responsibility in leadership. True leaders take their team’s failures and mistakes as their own. They show up when it matters the most and are not against doing and giving more than what’s required of them. A team will love and obey a leader who shows up for them and doesn’t abandon the ship when times get hard.
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Fairness
A good leader does his best to be fair and just in every decision he takes. Above all else, he upholds honesty and justice. He deems it as more than just a moral code. It is an indispensable part of his very personality.
This character trait builds engenders trust in his team for him. And it makes the team more willing to follow his lead.
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Most Challenging/Difficult Parts of Being a Leader
You have chosen a leadership position as a significant change in and of itself, but there are new opportunities for change every day. Some of them are your choices, while others result from chance. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to ensure that change doesn’t throw you off. Because these things are unavoidable, you must either see them coming and prepare or be ready to deal with them on the move.
1. People Who Make Life Difficult: There will always be challenging people on your team, organization, and work. As a leader, your job is to treat people with dignity and respect. Please don’t succumb to their pressures. Please don’t stay in contact with them for an extended time. Above all, don’t be discouraged by their actions.
One of the toughest aspects of leadership is delegating authority. People are complicated, having their personalities, backgrounds, and ways of dealing with problems. Managing a group of people who come from different backgrounds is difficult because you must understand them all. Nonetheless, it is one of the most crucial aspects of leadership.
2. Pressure: There is a great deal of strain in the workplace. Your capacity to tolerate and release some of that pressure will benefit you in the long run. You can’t always run at full speed, so allowing some quieter moments to help you find balance will be critical to your leadership success.
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3. Letting Someone Go: As a leader, you will be faced, at some point, with the dreadful job of either recommending that someone leaves your organization or you are going to have to lay someone off yourself. Be careful not to do this rashly or when you are angry. Your ability to affect this organizational change calmly for the organization’s betterment is the mark of true leadership.
4. Delivering Bad News: Products will fail, you may not meet timelines, and your goals will not be accomplished when you planned them to be—that is all just part of business, but it will be your job to tell your board or superiors. Breaking bad news without drama and clarity will allow you to find the next steps. Bad stuff happens; how you share it will matter in your next move.
The role of the “bad guy” is usually left to the leader. He is the one whole needs to show up when work is not going as planned or when a team member is going out of line from the team or the mission.
It’s a tough position, especially when you’re responsible for firing individuals. However, a true leader must be prepared to deal with such situations.
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5. Keeping Yourself Inspired: As a leader, you may notice that your enthusiasm for the project or organization has waned. It happens to everyone, but all you have to do now is gather all of your positive attributes and get back on track.
If you can’t fix it, don’t waste time obsessing over what isn’t functioning. Even if you aren’t always the number one cheerleader in your mind, your team expects you to be, so get out there and convey the energy you do have, even if you aren’t at your best.
6. Problems with Culture: The mere fact that you work for a company doesn’t imply you don’t have cultural challenges. You can work in an office that doesn’t get along as a team, has communication problems, gossip, or has team members undermining each other. As the leader, you must deal with whatever it is.
It’s not easy to change a company’s culture, but you have the power to do it. Don’t chatter if you don’t want others to. You must work well with teams if you want teams to collaborate more effectively. You’re the one who sets the tone for your company’s culture.
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7. Being Liked and Respected: You won’t always be liked. Someone will shoot you down when you put your hand up to lead something. That’s just the way things are. Don’t be swayed by it; instead, attempt to communicate in a compassionate and focused manner. Respect will come, and you may even get popularity if you’re lucky.
8. Maintaining Focus: You can easily get distracted! Everyone is looking to get something, is trying to get you to buy something, or wants you to notice them. That is an inescapable part of leadership. Your job is to not get carried away by the shiny objects and to remain focused on the end game. You have a team to lead, a product to deliver, or a project to complete—make your plan, keep your head down, and focus.
The shoulder of a leader is laden with many responsibilities and tasks. It can be tough to keep focused on your leadership role or your assigned tasks with so much going on. That’s something you can’t let happen. This is because your team looks to you for guidance, and your ability to concentrate is critical to their success.
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9. Problems with Communication: Inevitably, someone will reply to every email they shouldn’t have, a team member will misunderstand the deadline, or the memo will be misplaced. As a leader, communication challenges are most likely your number one source of stress. It will assist the entire organization if you practice being clear and concise.
10. Taking Care of Failures: Now and then, a project fails, or an event is a flop. Do not be concerned. It occurs to the most well-intentioned of people. What counts is how you deal with it. Allowing your team to descend into a downward spiral of self-pity or blaming is not good. Just pick yourself up and figure out how to make the next thing wonderful.
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Conclusions
Leadership isn’t just about dealing with difficult situations; it’s also about accepting responsibility. Every time you have to deal with a difficult situation, you practice how to do it better because problems will arise. The lessons you acquire about dealing with the good and the bad will determine your leadership development.
It may appear to be a lot, but with the internet and a plethora of self-help groups for personal and team development, you may overcome the obstacles and develop the character of a great leader.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.