The trait approach to leadership “empathizes that having a leader with a certain set of traits is crucial to having effective leadership” Northouse, 2022, p. 41). Leadership defined from a personality perspective (p. 6) state that certain traits are inherent in people that allow them to be leaders. There are five major leadership traits; “intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability” (p. 34). Self-confidence, of these five traits, is the most important trait because it instills confidence in followers that the leader is competent and capable.
I started working on my Organizational Leadership degree about three years ago. The more I learn about leadership, the more I find myself observing not only our current leaders but also potential leaders around me. In monthly all-staff meetings, I pay close attention to the volunteer speakers who are not in assigned leadership roles. In particular, I take note of their self-confidence. The more confidence the speaker projects, the more charismatic that person comes across. To me, that person will be the next to be promoted. I base this assumption on another observation I have noted. All of our leaders that have been promoted within our department had at one point volunteered to speak at these all-staff meetings and that they spoke with high levels of self-confidence.
Northouse describes self-confidence as the “ability to be certain about one’s competencies and skills” and the self-assurance “that one can make a difference” (p. 33). It’s not necessarily that the person is actually capable of doing the things that will influence others but the self-confidence that those things can be done. The example given of Steve Jobs as a self-confident leader underscores the importance that this trait plays in being a good leader. The term “good leader” in this blog is not tied to a moral definition but rather the capacity to influence others.
Sociability is closely tied to self-confidence more than the other three traits. You have to be social on some level to display your self-confidence. Newhouse defines sociability as a “leader’s inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships” (p. 34). Likeability would be a simpler way to describe it. To me, sociability and self-confidence are interchangeable traits. In our last all-staff meeting earlier this month, I focused on the leaders who gave updates and noted their traits. I then wrote down what we as a department thought of them as far as leadership was concerned. I asked a group of my peers for their input to ensure that the results were not my opinion alone. The more self-confident and sociable the leader was, the more confidence we had in that person being a good leader.
Another term that is closely associated with self-confidence and sociability is charisma. Conger & Kanungo noted that when groups of people work together to attain group objectives “observations of the influence process within the group help them determine their status” (1987, p. 639). It is within these interactions that leaders are identified. Individuals who exude self-confidence, either through verbal or nonverbal processes are identified as leaders more often. Self-confident leaders are often perceived to be charismatic leaders. These leaders communicate their self-confidence “in order to give credibility to what they advocate” (p. 643).
Interestingly enough, the leader whose turn it was to lead the meeting for this month, was the one we ranked the lowest, or the worst leader. This leader sounded grumpy, disinterested in the meeting and came across as somewhat disorganized. The leader didn’t engage with the group other than following the meeting agenda point by point. There was no social interaction. We didn’t find this leader to be at all charismatic.
Self-confidence is a leadership trait that is a crucial component in leadership. It instills confidence in their followers and therefore it influences them to work together on a common goal. Which is at the heart of leadership.
References
Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1987). Toward a Behavioral Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings. The Academy of Management Review, 12(4), 637–647. https://doi.org/10.2307/258069
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.
Hi Richard
I agree with you, as I’ve progress within this courses of gaining a deeper understanding of leadership, I have found myself observing all the individuals around and the leadership skills in which they have within different scenarios.
I am happy you point out some of the factors in which great leaders have such as self confidence and sociability. Stogdill (1948) has provided support that these traits do influence leadership along with other factors such as
alertness
insight
Responsibility
Intelligence
Persistence
Initiative
I also agree that sociability is closely tied with self confidence. Based on the 4 central components to leadership (PSU World Campus),
1. Leadership is not a process but it is an event between leader and followers
2. Leadership involves influence.
These 2 components in relations provide additional insight to be socially you must interact very well with your employees as leaders. Based on the interaction between the leader and employee, the leader may developed influence.
3. Leadership occurs within a group context
4. Leadership involves goal attainment
Components 3 and 4 in relation also provide insight that leaders and employees must have a common goal and have the same energy towards that goal. Trying to be sociable with individuals that aren’t interested in the same goals as the leaders can take away that leadership title for that individual within that scenario as they fail to interact with their employees, resulting in the lack of influence. Without influence leadership does not exist.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and Practice (9th Ed). SAGE.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2023). PSYCH 485 Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp23/22311–16647/content/02_lesson/05_page.html (https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp23/22311–16647/content/02_lesson/05_page.html)
I agree with you when you say that confidence is a crucial component in leadership. It will show if you do not have the confidence to lead people in the right direction or have that ability to influence others. this article states, “Self-confidence is necessary for leaders to take risks and accomplish high goals. Leaders who are self-confident tend to deal immediately and directly with problems and conflicts, rather than pro-casting, ignoring, or passing problems to others (Chance and Chance 2002, p.86). Leadership involves influencing others and self-confidence allows the leader to feel assured that his or her attempts to influence are appropriate and right”(Self-confidence, n.d.). Which i feel like is a good explanation on how self confidence can affect leadership and why it is important. Being able to direct and have the confidence to solve peoples problems is essential. That is why i agree with your post when you say that confidence is crucial.
References
Self-confidence. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.tlu.ee/~sirvir/Leadership/Leadership%20Attributes/selfconfidence.html#:~:text=Self%2Dconfidence%20is%20necessary%20for,86).
Hi Richard!
I loved that you mentioned your own personal experiences about watching people in your own meetings. I also mentioned in my own blog post that people who are more self-confident and speak up more are more likely to be promoted if they are not in a leadership position already.
In my own experience, I have seen all 5 of the leadership qualities you mentioned in your blog, “intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability” (Northouse p. 3). It seems that the more confident a person is in their role, the more likely they are to be deemed a leader by their team around them, despite a position of power. A leader with confidence also has a better chance of being able to organize their team and have better outcomes.
The text explains further on what you mean, by defining the ideas of leadership as a trait versus a process. Some people are seen to be born a leader, others pick up the traits as they go along. In the end, one is not better than the other, but as long as you decide that you want to be a leader- you can be. I know some people struggle to have the innate qualities you described, but it is always something that can be learned.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.
I liked your idea of self-confidence being a great trait approach to leadership. Giving a fresh look at leadership using this trait. I liked the way you brought in the Northouse definition for a personality perspective (p. 6) and explained how certain traits are inherent in people that allow them to be leaders.
I liked how you listed the five major leadership traits from Northouse “intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability” (p. 3) While emphasizing Self-confidence is essential because” it instills confidence in followers that the leader is competent.”
In my experience, having a leader that had little self-confidence hindered the project, which just adds unnecessary stress to the situation. This “Leader” had other traits that made them a very easy leader to want to follow but when it came to this project. He lacked self-confidence and he needed more reassurance to help guide the team due to his lack of knowledge. During the project, he was unclear about what he wanted, and he looked to the team for guidance. This young team needed a leader that had the self-confidence to guild them through this project.
When you look at what happened with this leader, he was placed in a new situation that he had very little knowledge of, which made him feel unsure and he lost his self-confidence. Then, He overstressed which trickled down to the team and caused conflict in the project.
If he just discusses the issue, he was having with the team and rebuilds the trust back regardless of the self-confidence issue. He could have reassured the team and this conflict could have been handled more effectively or maybe just “Fake it, until you make it.” When all else fails.
References
Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1987). Toward a Behavioral Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings. The Academy of Management Review, 12(4), 637–647. https://doi.org/10.2307/258069
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.