Top 5 Personality Traits To Know for Being a Better Leader
Getting to know others better is the key to better relationships.
Each human being is defined deep inside by different personality characteristics. The personality traits of a person allow us to better understand their deepest motivations. You may have found yourself in situations where you had difficulty understanding why a person acted the way they did.
By taking the time to understand the traits that make up that person's personality, you would probably have a better understanding of how they act.
Leading scientific experts define five major traits that are found at different levels in the personality of every human being. This is known as the Big Five model. By taking the time to discover what these different personality traits imply, you will be able to have better relationships with others, and thus become a better leader.
Indeed, understanding the motivations of others is what makes for better relationships. In what follows, I will go over the 5 major personality traits and how to take advantage of them to become a better leader.
Openness to new experiences
Openness is a person's tendency to be open to new experiences of any kind. Openness has six facets or dimensions that can be measured through the NEO-FFI personality test.
These facets are respectively:
Openness to daydreams.
Appreciation of the art of beauty (aesthetics).
Openness to feelings (receptivity to emotions).
Willingness to try different and new activities.
Intellectual curiosity.
Openness to values allowing one to question one's own values as well as those of authority figures.
Let's take the example of professional life. You are the leader of a team. You absolutely must have a good vision of the degree of openness of each member of your team. This will allow you to adapt your speech to each member of your team.
This will make you a much more effective leader.
Indeed, you will be able to propose challenges that require open-mindedness to those who can respond favorably. For the others, you will be able to adapt by proposing things that are less out of the box. This will avoid major rejection reactions among your team members.
This also applies to your personal life, of course. Knowing the people you have relationships with is essential to better understand and interact with them.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is a trait that consists of being thorough, careful, and vigilant. It implies a desire to do a task well. Conscientious people are generally efficient and organized as opposed to others who would favor quick and disorganized work.
Conscientious individuals tend to self-discipline. They act loyally and aim to achieve a goal. They are forward-thinking rather than spontaneous, which usually makes them a trusted delegator of tasks.
As a team leader, you know that Joe is an extremely conscientious person. On the other hand, you know that John is a rather creative person who tends to ramble frequently.
When defining which of Joe or John should handle a creative task, you need to think about this personality trait. For anything creative that requires spontaneity, you'll want to trust John.
On the other hand, you have a task that requires a lot of meticulousness. Delegating it to Joe is a better choice. You can be sure that he will do his best to return that confidence by performing the task to the best of his ability.
Introversion / Extraversion
The terms introversion and extroversion are used to distinguish between the two types of attitudes that can be observed in individuals according to their tendency to be interested in external objects (others or the world) or their own inner world of subjectivity.
An introverted person will not make a good salesperson. So, you should not put an introvert on your team where relationships are the key.
It would be better to use an extrovert who is more likely to make good social connections. The goal here is not to put a person in a box, but rather to seek to optimize the potential of each person within a team.
As a leader, your goal should not be to force your team members to do what you absolutely want them to do, but rather to get them to perform for the good of the company by taking advantage of their specific personality traits.
Agreeableness
Agreeableness is a personality trait that manifests itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and caring. People who have a developed agreeableness send will tend to believe that most people are honest, decent, and trustworthy.
Their sense of empathy is also highly developed.
When you have people with this highly developed trait, you need to have them work in a collaborative model, as they can bridge the gap in a workgroup between more individual people. They will always seek to understand others to try to find consensus.
So it's important to have these types of people on a team. As a leader, your job is to enhance this personality trait so that it benefits everyone.
Neuroticism
Individuals with a high degree of neuroticism may experience emotions such as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depression. Neuroticism is often associated with low emotional intelligence, which may involve decreased motivation and interpersonal activities.
It is also a risk factor for mental disorders such as phobia, depression, panic fears, and other anxiety disorders.
In the professional world, you may have encountered people with highly developed neuroticism. This is never easy to deal with. But remember that these people are the ones who suffer the most from this situation. They need to be helped to learn how to better channel these negative emotions.
Teaching them to turn those negative emotions into something positive for the team is essential. This will help them to better exploit their potential in the service of the team.
Final Thoughts
As a leader, your role is to put your team members in the best possible position to perform at their best. A true leader should be judged on this. Knowing the Big Five personality traits will allow you to optimize the potential of your people.
Not only will you gain, because your team will produce better results, but your employees will also gain enormously because they will be able to work in better conditions. This is ideal for them to be able to flourish in their work.
Some reading
How This Guy Became a Stock Market Millionaire Starting With Just $500/Month and a 45 Minutes-Effort - More than knowledge, it is patience that he has shown.
The Greatest Reward You Can Ever Get as a Bitcoiner - Hint: It is not getting rich.
Russia Drops the US Dollar — The End of the US Dollar Hegemony Over the World Is Getting Closer - More and more countries will seek to exit the US dollar system in the coming years.
Here Is Steve Jobs’ Unique Approach to Doing More Without Sacrificing Your Life - Your personal life must remain a priority.
What Does Bitcoin Bring to the World? - Yet another reminder for Amundi CIO who just called Bitcoin a "farce".