Personality traits of a leader can create ascension to the top of an organization or result in the collapse of a promising career. I have experienced the rise and fall of leaders in my decade plus career as a sales leader. Often the reason for both are based on personality traits that were capitalized on, allowed to negatively influence leadership or were ignored all together. Personality traits almost occur automatically in individuals and while they can be managed and improved upon are very difficult to change (The Pennsylvania State University, 2020). There are many different personality traits that influence leadership, I will touch on the positive and negative traits that I have experienced throughout my career and provide what I believe is the single most important element in preventing the negative results of ignoring personality deficiencies in the workplace.
The Five-Factor Model have provided a basic consensus on what traits make up a personality. The big five are neuroticism, extraversion (surgency), openness (intellect), agreeableness, and conscientiousness (dependability). These personality traits all have been associated with being a strong leader (Northouse, 2016). Extraversion is an easy trait to spot when you are working your way up in an organization and has a strong association with leadership. Many of my mentors and role models in my career have been extraverts. However, I am not an extrovert and get extreme anxiety when I am forced to participate in public speaking events and socialize in large groups. Without being strong in what was uncovered in the big five as the most associated trait for leadership, how can I become an effective leader? I believe that self-awareness is as important to a developing leader as excelling in individual traits. Knowing yourself and what traits you are better at than others is essential in managing your career. Taking personality tests and figuring out what traits you aren’t as strong in makes you aware of what work you will need to focus on as a leader to improve.
Those who lack self-awareness often enough will not succeed as a leader or will have their career goals stalled and reach a point where they will be stuck in a role that is less than their desired peak. Some examples of these negative personality traits that I have experienced the most are argumentative and interpersonal insensitivity (The Pennsylvania State University, 2020). Argumentative leaders in my experience have been extremely insecure in their abilities and unwilling to accept advice or constructive criticism. If you aren’t willing to accept advice and surround yourself with smart people, there is a limit placed on success. Lack of empathy or interpersonal insensitivity will create resentment from your followers. I have witnessed this many times as peers become leaders or bosses and lose touch with the challenges that were faced by the group that they recently departed. There is power in leadership but losing the ability to empathize with others will create followers who aren’t willing to work as hard as their capabilities and will ultimately check out.
Self-awareness should be a focus of continual improvement and growth in leadership. Being able to recognize when you are becoming aloof with followers or letting your ego control decision making can be catastrophic to your team’s success. Leadership is inspiration and knowing your negative tendencies from a personality standpoint is as important as knowing what you are strong in. I know as a leader my extroversion isn’t as strong as my dependability or my openness, so I have to prepare for those situations where extroversion is needed. Usually that means gaining more information about a social event or being overly prepared for a speech or public speaking opportunity. Without self-awareness and knowing how to overcome deficiencies I would be satisfied not stepping out and taking opportunities that make me uncomfortable or cause anxiety. While personality traits can make leadership easier, overcoming them is possible with some extra work and focus. The key to this is knowledge and self-awareness.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
The Pennsylvania State University. (2020). Leadership in work: PSYCH 485 [Online course lesson]. Retrieved at: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2045005/modules/items/28166534