As your company grows and evolves, you’ll find you need to hire new employees. You may even decide you need to create additional positions.
Before doing this, you want to strategize and lay out what you’re looking for. You’ll find there is so much more to a good new hire than a resume and years of experience. While those are both important, you don’t want to overlook other important leadership characteristics.
So, if you’re developing a new role, we’ve put together seven key characteristics to look for in a candidate.
#1: Communication Skills
The number one key leadership characteristic for your new role is communication skills.
You can easily determine this during the interview as well as in any pre-interview correspondence. Take a look at the candidate’s social media platforms to learn more about their communication skills. In addition, ask about this during reference checks.
#2: Confidence
You also want to look for a candidate who is confident. This isn’t someone who is too proud to listen to others. This is someone who has self-esteem.
You’ll find that confident candidates are also better able to handle constructive criticism because they aren’t full of insecurities.
You want someone who is confident enough to not only make a decision but to listen to others’ ideas as well.
Gauge this by really listening during the interview. Are they confident in what they’re saying? Remember, they can be quiet and confident at the same time.
#3: Positivity
A positive person makes a good leader. You’ll find that positivity is a strong leadership skill held by many. Negativity drags other team members down.
You want the person you hire for your new role to be excited about working for your company. Ideally, they’ll be passionate about their work which leads to higher productivity.
#4: Flexibility
A flexible person also showcases good leadership characteristics.
You want your new candidate to be flexible enough to adapt to your new role and any uncertainty around it.
If they lack flexibility, they will certainly cause issues for your business and your overall team.
You want them to be flexible enough to go with the flow and handle events and crises that may arise.
#5: Emotional Intelligence
This is a person’s ability to control their emotions and handle relationships with others with empathy.
It’s a critical leadership skill that helps your new hire motivate and inspire the team. This person can defuse conflict and stay calm in times of trouble. Others like to be around them, and this is someone who would ace your new role.
#6: Goal Oriented
A goal-oriented candidate will see the new role you’re developing as an exciting task.
These people are highly motivated to get the job done to the best of their ability and great to have on your team.
#7: Loyalty
This key leadership characteristic also engenders loyalty in others. By expressing their own loyalty, they encourage it at all times in their team members.
A loyal candidate will serve you and your company while helping you develop your new role.
#10: Management Traits
When developing a new role, you want to hire someone who has management skills. They will be better able to understand what you want and how to move the company forward.
You want your candidate to be well-versed in inspiring, directing, motivating, and mentoring the people working for them.
Final Thoughts
When you put these key leadership characteristics together, you have a great candidate for your new role. This person will be able to encourage your staff, helping them perform to the best of their ability.
With these 10 traits, approachability, friendliness, and charisma, coupled with a strong job description you will have found someone with the leadership characteristics to take on your new role and grow.