Most of us strive to become leaders. We want to do something great, be respected by our peers, make more money and acquire more responsibility. Overall, we want to make a difference at our job. However, most of us simply don’t know the proper way to gain heightened respect, confidence and admiration from those whom we work with.

In reality, there is no simple answer to leadership. It takes devotion, time and patience. Most importantly, it takes knowledge.

A firm understanding of leadership

Without a firm understanding of what makes someone more influential, you cannot begin to alter your beliefs, and practices accordingly.

Though, once aware of the traits that make someone more authoritative, you can formulate a plan to improve upon lacking areas and alter the behaviors preventing you from achieving management and executive status.

Below, you’ll find a list of traits that our sales and marketing headhunters look for in leaders, along with some exercises to enhance your influence and responsibility at work.



Defining the traits of leadership

1. Strength - Begin to carry yourself with poise and confidence. People are drawn to confidence and shy away from nervousness, lack of authenticity and insecurity.

How you feel about yourself will dictate your ability to lead and command authority. Essentially, if you don’t feel you’re important and deserving, don’t expect your co-workers to.

If you have come across as anxious and unassertive with your co-workers in the past, don’t focus on these shortcomings.

Your co-workers, like anyone else will have a short memory and so should you. From now on, think of the prior experiences as a learning tool rather than a future forecaster.

With that being said, here are some exercises on how to increase self-confidence and perceived strength:

a. Challenge the negative beliefs you have about yourself. Instead of focusing all your energy on what you don’t like about you, give equal weight to all your positive qualities.

b. Focus on past successes rather than failures. Don’t mull over what you’ve done incorrectly. It’s more productive to think about all the things you’ve done right in the past. Reinforce these thoughts repeatedly.

c. Stop always needing to be right. Understand there is nothing shameful about past work mistakes.

d. Stop looking to others for acceptance and happiness. Learn that you don’t need anyone’s approval for your own self-confidence.

e. The recruiters at KAS Placement strongly suggest that you let go of any anger that you are holding on to. Anger and resentment will prove a significant barrier to you becoming a leader at work.