If you are new to leadership or maybe taking up a new leadership role, it is the perfect time to reflect on the kind of leader you want to be.

While this might seem obvious, it is easy to get drawn into the operational details of what you need to do, without giving explicit thought to how you might best do it. So, it is a good idea to approach your role with intention and a clear idea of how you want to lead, rather than to allow yourself to default to instinctive responses.

That is not to say that instinctive approaches are ineffective – we need habitual ways of working in order to be able to deal with the cognitive onslaught that we face on a day to day basis.

But not all of our habits are good ones and it is only by being deliberate in our approach, especially when faced with new or unfamiliar challenges, that we can hope to develop the kinds of habits that optimise our performance.

So with this in mind, and by drawing on my own experiences of coaching, leading and, perhaps more importantly, being led, here are my thoughts on the core leadership qualities modern leaders require.

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According to Gallup 41% of employees worldwide are stressed, half are looking for a new job, and only 21% are engaged at work.

People need to be engaged and motivated to do good work and neither of these states will arise if a person feels cut off from others or ignored by their manager.

It may be that if you don’t have much to do with your team on a day to day basis, it means that you are a good delegator and promoting autonomous working – and it’s fine if that is what you are doing. But, leaders who spend all their time managing upwards risk cutting heir team adrift, and fuelling disengagement.

It’s vital, therefore, to regularly connect with your team individually and collectively, and to promote a culture of collaborative interaction amongst the immediate team and more broadly in the organisation. This approach is not only important for motivational reasons, but also reflects how we need to operate in complex and organisational environments.

Richard Ryan and Edward Deci’s Self Determination Theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation, supported by a a strong and expanding body of scientific evidence.

Central to SDT is the idea that autonomy, competence, and relatedness are fundamental human needs which, when well-supported, lead to high levels of motivation, engagement, persistence, performance, well-being and creativity.

When conditions thwart the attainment of autonomy, competence and relatedness, performance, motivation and well-being fall away.

It is therefore critical that leaders:

These are both huge topics and impossible to summarise in a pithy way for a list type article like this one. But, suffice to say, if we accept (as I do) that the modern organisational settings we work in are complex systems, leaders need to recognise that outcomes are largely emergent and unpredictable, and dependent upon the properties of the system.

In complex systems, there are multiple variables operating at any one time and cause and effect among interconnected parts of the system is not predictable.

Therefore, an appreciation of complexity theory and the system dynamics in organisational settings is essential for leaders if they are to have the best chance of negotiating the ambiguities and uncertainties they face these days.

That said, I’ve found that one of the biggest challenges arises when you appreciate the complexity of the problem you are managing, but other leaders are operating under the misapprehension that simple, linear dynamics are at play.

Equanimity is defined as “calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation”. In complex work environments, where there are fewer and fewer predictable outcomes, anxiety is inevitable.

Thus, the ability to demonstrate a calm and measured approach in the face of uncertainty is critical.

What a good leader needs is the ability to maintain anxiety at the right levels, so that creativity and innovation are maintained but destructive levels of fear are removed.

It should be the case that these characteristics are so fundamental to good leadership, that success is impossible with out them. Unfortunately, the unethical and untrustworthy do get on. They are often found out in the end, but they’ll have damaged lots of people and lots of relationships along the way.

For those leaders and potential leaders who recognise the centrality of ethics and honesty, there is little more to say. If you are reading this and thinking these are optional extras, perhaps you should look elsewhere for your leadership advice.

If you are controlling and can’t let go, if you micro-manage and demand constant updates, if you take back ownership at the slightest sign of trouble, then you are not leading, you are stifling.

As we’ve seen, without autonomy people fail to thrive. So unless you place your trust in your team and give them the freedom to do what they are being paid for you will snuff out any motivation or sense of purpose that they have.

Of course, those who fail to honour that trust have to be dealt with, but unless you start with trust you’ll be going nowhere fast.

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Michael Cavanagh defines perspective taking as an individual’s “capacity to understand, critically consider and integrate multiple competing perspectives into a more comprehensive perspective that enables adaptive action” (Cavanagh, 2013).

This strikes me as absolutely fundamental to effective leadership, particularly in our interconnected and diverse working environments. Given the intensity of the modern workplace, leaders can easily become so locked into their own viewpoint that they fail to see the legitimate concerns and insights that others bring to the table. I’ve no doubt that I have been as guilty of that as anybody on occasions.

Therefore, the ability to step outside your own frame of reference and genuinely consider how others might view a situation is not just about being nice or politically correct – it’s about making better decisions.

When you can integrate different perspectives, you’re working with more complete information and you’re more likely to identify solutions that actually work for the people who have to implement them and are affected by them.

The traditional command and control approach to leadership simply doesn’t work in most modern contexts. People are too educated, too capable, and frankly too autonomous to be told what to do without understanding why.

What they need instead is a leader who can help them discover their own solutions and develop their own capabilities. This requires genuine coaching skills – the ability to ask powerful questions, to listen deeply, and to resist the urge to jump in with your own answers.

I’ve found that when you coach rather than direct, people not only perform better in the immediate term, they also develop the skills and confidence to handle similar challenges independently in the future. It’s an investment that pays dividends over time.

Your team needs to know that when things get tough, you’ll be there for them – not to solve their problems for them, but to provide the support, resources, and backing they need to solve problems themselves.

This means being consistent in your support, not just when it’s convenient or when things are going well. It means advocating for your team when they need it, whether that’s with senior leadership, other departments, or external stakeholders.

People need to feel that their leader has their back. Without that fundamental sense of security, they’ll spend energy protecting themselves rather than focusing on the work that needs to be done.

Fairness isn’t just about treating everyone the same – it’s about treating everyone appropriately according to their circumstances, contributions, and needs.

This requires you to set aside personal preferences and biases and make decisions based on objective criteria. It means being transparent about how decisions are made and ensuring that processes are consistent and equitable.

When people believe they’re being treated fairly, they’re more likely to accept difficult decisions and more willing to go the extra mile when needed.

Conversely, perceptions of unfairness can poison team dynamics faster than almost anything else.

There’s a balance to be struck between maintaining optimism and being grounded in reality. Blind positivity that ignores genuine problems is just as unhelpful as persistent negativity that saps motivation.

What I’ve found works is what I call realistic positivity – acknowledging the challenges and difficulties while maintaining confidence that they can be overcome. This means being honest about what you’re facing while focusing on what can be done about it.

This approach builds credibility because people can see you’re not trying to sugar-coat reality, but it also maintains the forward momentum that teams need to tackle difficult problems.

Nothing of significance gets done in isolation. As a leader, your effectiveness is largely determined by the quality of relationships you build – with your team, with peers, with senior leadership, and with external stakeholders.

This is about establishing the trust, respect, and mutual understanding that enables effective collaboration. It means investing time in getting to know people, understanding their motivations and concerns, and finding ways to align individual and organisational interests.

Good relationships also provide the foundation for having difficult conversations when they’re needed. When people trust your intentions and know you respect them as individuals, they’re more likely to hear feedback constructively and work with you to resolve problems.

Psychological capital, or PsyCap as it’s sometimes known, refers to an individual’s positive psychological resources, particularly their levels of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism.

What I’ve observed is that leaders who embody these qualities – who remain hopeful about the future, confident in their ability to influence outcomes, resilient in the face of setbacks, and optimistic about what can be achieved – tend to create environments where others develop these same qualities.

On an individual level, research shows that higher levels of PsyCap are related to increased engagement and positive emotions (Avey et al, 2008).

Higher levels of Psycap are also correlated with job performance, job satisfaction, workplace happiness, organisational commitment and psychological well-being and associated with decreases in levels of stress, counterproductive work behaviour and cynicism (Avey, Reichard, Luthans & Mhatre, 2011, Peterson et al, 2011).

So leaders who demonstrate positive levels of Psycap can maintain a constructive orientation that focuses on possibilities rather than limitations, on learning from failures rather than being defeated by them, and on building capability rather than just managing problems.

Therefore, as a leader, one of your most important roles is to model these psychological resources and nurture them in yourself and others.

The practical implication is that you need to pay attention not just to what gets done, but to how people feel about their ability to get things done. When people believe they can make a difference, when they have confidence in their capabilities, and when they maintain hope even in difficult circumstances, so much more is possible.

These qualities will certainly help you build effective teams and succeed in delivering what is expected of you, and more. But, importantly, they are also qualities that will sustain you on a personal level as you meet the strains and pressures of modern leadership.

Of course, these qualities don’t exist in isolation – they reinforce each other and work together to create the kind of leadership that people want to follow and that organisations need to thrive in our complex and uncertain world.

The challenge, of course, is developing and maintaining these qualities consistently over time. Like any other set of skills, they require deliberate, intentional practice. But for those willing to make the effort, the rewards – both personal and professional – are considerable.

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Avey, J. B., Wernsing, T. S., & Luthans, F. (2008). Can positive employees help positive organizational change? Impact of psychological capital and emotions on relevant attitudes and behaviors. The journal of applied behavioral science, 44(1), 48-70.

Avey, J. B., Reichard, R. J., Luthans, F., & Mhatre, K. H. (2011). Meta‐analysis of the impact of positive psychological capital on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Human resource development quarterly, 22(2), 127-152.

Cavanagh, M. (2013). The Coaching Engagment in the 21st Century: New paradigms for complex times. In S. David, D. Clutterbuck, & D. Megginson (Eds.), Beyond Goals : Effective Strategies for Coaching and Mentoring. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

Newman, A., Ucbasaran, D., Zhu, F. E. I., & Hirst, G. (2014). Psychological capital: A review and synthesis. Journal of organizational behavior, 35(S1), S120-S138.

Peterson, S. J., Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Zhang, Z. (2011). Psychological capital and employee performance: A latent growth modeling approach. Personnel psychology, 64(2), 427-450.

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