What Makes An Effective Leader?

By Christine E. Nicholas

Christine is a shareholder in the law firm Moffatt Thomas Barrett Rock & Fields, Chtd. in Boise, Idaho, where her practice focuses on business, real estate and finance transactions.

Like Vince Lombardi, I believe that leaders are made and not born.  My college did not offer a major in leadership.  I majored in management and over the years have attempted to learn leadership on my own.

Throughout my career I have held active leadership positions in my church, community groups, law firms and bar associations.  Those leadership opportunities have enriched my life and have had a positive impact on the lives of others.  However, my life has also been impacted by the leadership positions I sought but did not receive.  For example, I was once a candidate for General Counsel of the company where I had been in-house counsel for 10 years.  As the only “business lawyer” among the candidates, I perceived myself as the best candidate for the position.  My skill set was highly relevant to the core competencies of typical General Counsel, and I had been training myself for such a position for my entire 20-year legal career.  I was a very successful negotiator, had demonstrated an ability to identify legal risks and to suggest ways to minimize such risks, had demonstrated an ability to quickly understand my client’s business goals and to suggest ways to achieve them, had demonstrated an ability to solve complex legal problems in an efficient manner, had demonstrated an ability to lead a team to successfully conclude acquisitions and other legal projects, had demonstrated an ability to handle multiple tasks to achieve key results, and had established a strong reputation in the areas of corporate governance and business conduct.  I thought I possessed all of the attributes usually desired in a General Counsel.  I had even taken the initiative to meet several years earlier with my General Counsel – the man who was now vacating the position – expressly to discuss what aspects of my skill set needed improvement in order to make me a better candidate for his position when he retired.

Imagine, then, my surprise when none of the interview questions explored my technical skills or experiences relevant to General Counsel legal duties.  Instead, the interview questions all focused on leadership.  One question on leadership would not have been unusual.  After all, the General Counsel for this business was responsible for the performance of a small legal department, advised company management on legal risks associated with various business decisions, participated in strategic business decisions, and was the legal face of the company in the communities where it conducted business.  What was surprising was that nearly every question was designed to elicit information about the candidates’ leadership traits and it seemed that no questions were designed to explore our technical legal skills or practice accomplishments.

Immediately following conclusion of the interviews, the company’s environmental lawyer was selected for the position, suggesting that he was perceived to be the better leader and that my leadership qualities were found lacking.  Ironically, I received a Business Woman of the Year Leadership Award from the NAWBO Boise Area and Southern Idaho Chapter a few years later.

Being rejected for that General Counsel position caused me to evaluate leadership qualities in myself and others.  Having been both a follower and a leader, I believe that effective leadership does not depend on gender or any other intrinsic trait, but rather on traits that can be developed in anyone.

I believe an effective leader has:

> VISION.No one wants to follow a leader that doesn’t know where she’s going.  An effective leader must communicate that vision so her reports embrace her vision, to insure that the team moves in the same direction. People can only follow the leader after the leader clearly identifies where the leader is headed and engages her reports to follow her there.

> A sense of HUMOR.  She uses humor to relieve tension, manage stress and improve the team’s well-being.  Followers who feel good about the team’s work are most likely to remain on the team, and every leader needs followers.

> INTEGRITY.  Her actions reflect her inward principles and she is genuine and honest in her adherence to those principles.  Followers know what she expects and know what to expect from her.  If followers do not trust that their leader will do what she says and go where she says she’s headed, they won’t follow. There are few people willing to follow someone who has demonstrated dishonesty with her followers or others or hypocrisy in her actions.  Each follower will always wonder if her leader is dishonest with others, will she be dishonest with me?  If she says one thing but does another, how do I know she won’t act that way with me?  Integrity creates trust, which is an important foundation of teamwork.

An effective leader is:

> FLEXIBLE.  She knows there is more than one way to skin an apple, understands the constraints and abilities of her team and utilizes the skills and talents of each team member to best advantage.  Her flexibility not only makes her an effective problem-solver, it causes her followers to view her with higher esteem, influencing them to understand that she’ll come up with a way to help the team reach the goal she has set and to which she is leading them.

> UNSELFISH.  She takes personal responsibility for team failures, and gives credit to a follower for a job well done. No one wants to work on a team where the leader takes all the credit and the followers take all the blame. A leader that spotlights blame on an individual follower or who fails to give credit to an individual follower for an important contribution to the team mission introduces competition among team players and operates to divide the team. A team divided is unlikely to reach its objectives.

> HUMBLE.  She shows respect for the contributions of each team member and causes each team member to feel valued, making her followers more willing to contribute to the team’s effort. An effective leader is proud of the team, not proud of her importance within the team. A leader who demonstrates hubris and arrogance demeans the value of the team and every follower on the team and risks loss of her followers. As the saying goes, there is no “I” in “team.”

> OPEN-MINDED and FAIR.  She welcomes new ideas from team members.  New ideas help an organization innovate and differentiate it from other organizations to help it be more successful than its competition.  Followers are more likely to present new ideas if they believe their ideas will be considered.  She also checks facts and listens to team members’ input before making a decision or jumping to a conclusion.  Followers that feel they are treated fairly will reward a leader with loyalty and dedication, improving the chances that the team reaches its goals.

> ASSERTIVE and not aggressive.  She knows and clearly communicates what she expects of her followers. An aggressive leader attacks and intimidates, which alienates team members. No one wants to be on a team led by someone who may attack team members at any moment.

> CREATIVE.  She sees beyond traditional methods to create meaningful new ideas and processes to lead followers in a new and profitable direction. It doesn’t take a leader to walk the same path the organization has always followed. A leader who creates new and interesting paths for the team to follow will have followers that are interested and invested in the goals of the team, improving team efforts.

I believe the foregoing traits are common in all effective leaders, regardless of the leadership style they choose to employ—autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic or delegative. Anyone can develop the foregoing traits and use them as needed to become an effective leader for any group of followers. So, develop these traits and go out there and lead!

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