When recruiting, we're often seeking certain leadership characteristics that would be best suited to lead the team and pursue the organizational goals.

Here we identify the most important leadership characteristics and how you can develop your leadership character.

When we started using the game of golf as our classroom to develop leadership we noticed a similarity between the way people play golf, and their leadership characteristics. Originally, we created nicknames for our participants as an easy means of communication between us trainers. The nicknames not only stuck, it spurred me to delve in and research. What I found was that there were 9 major styles of golfer that corresponded with their leadership nature. For example, the golf "Conqueror" - the guy (and it was usually a guy) who smacks the ball as far as possible and uses the biggest baddest club in the bag... well, he was just like that as a leader.

As part of an assessment center process, our golf challenge has proven to be an exceptionally powerful way to identify the real leadership characteristics... on the golf course, there's you and there is physics... the golfer is the only one who is responsible for what happens and theri response to "fluffing" a shot, or sending their tee shot into the trees (which do snatch balls from midair!), or into the water... that is exactly how that leader responds to disappointment.

We identified nine different character types and with a little imagination created the "9 Character's of Leadership.

Nine Leadership Characters

There are nine main 'styles' of leadership - the 9 Characters.

By 'style', I do not mean to refer to an individual's personality or their innate character as though this were true. I am, instead, referring to the way in which you perform at your best and most naturally - which may represent your true personality - best to ask your spouse or a close friend who knows you in many other situations as well. This is your character paradigm.

We'll consider each of the characters or styles in turn, pointing out the dominant leadership characteristics displayed and consider a few well known business leaders who fit each style. Your job is to identify your own style amongst these nine - finding the one which most accurately matches your approach to leadership.

This isn't about choosing the style you think that you 'should' have, or would like to have. This is about understanding whereyou are now, and knowing that if you lead in this style, it will be the most comfortable. Later you can consider how to compensate for the weaknesses in your leadership.

Your leadership charcater is the combination of your technical competency (how well you do the leadership
Skills) and your leadership advantage (have developed the Leadership Qualities).

Leadership Characters
Now, just because one of the 'characters' is labelled "clumsy", this is not to say that someone demonstrating the lower levels of technical competence and lower levels of leadership qualities is unsuitable for a leadership position! On occassion, "clumsy' leaders are in fact the most suitable... with the caveat that they know that they are clumsy leaders!

Why?

Because a leader who knows (and accepts) that there are others more technically qualified, and others better at, for example, dealing with people issues... these leaders learn to delegate.

In the same way, not every organization needs a "Chess Player" leader. Many would be better to find a "Conductor", a "conjurer" or a "Craftsman". Organizations needing a short sharp push or a turnaround, might be better finding a "Conquerer".

For more on these leadership characteristics, you are welcome to visit my website at leadership-qualities.org