Leadership Skills in the Workplace

Maintaining Gains Made

LEADERSHIP BRIEFS

06 What Makes a Good Leader?

Objective

To reinforce important leadership qualities by examining role models

Lesson

It’s often helpful to have models that inspire us when we seek to improve our personal characteristics. We can look to these people for the courage or inspiration we need to break out of less productive patterns of behavior and adopt new thoughts and actions.

Questions for Group Discussion

Encourage each group member to supply an answer, round-robin style.

1. What famous person, living or dead, do you admire for their courage, inspiration, or leadership?
   
   
2. You don’t have to be famous or influential to show courage. Can you think of some act of courage or character you have seen demonstrated by an “ordinary person”?

Group Brainstorm

Create a list of what characteristics or behaviors a good leader should display.

Personal and Group Activity

After you have created a list of a dozen or so characteristics, ask each participant to rate himself/herself on each of these qualities. Write down each quality on a piece of paper and beside each quality, use a 1-10 scale to rate the level of your own development in that area.

Pick one area you think is weak and resolve to work on it for 30 days. Ask each participant to tell the group what quality they most want to work on. As each person shares their quality, ask the group to offer specific ideas or steps the person could take to improve on these qualities. This is to be offered as encouragement, as a gift, not as a criticism!

Make a pact with each other to gently remind each other of what each person resolved to do. Show support for each effort by noticing and complimenting each person on efforts and progress they are making towards their goal.

At the end of 30 days, have a short reporting time where each person share something he/she learned or gained from doing this activity.