7 Inspiring Traits of Compassionate Leadership

This article comes from Entrepreneur.

7 Inspiring Traits of Compassionate Leadership

When people are open, this is exactly when a compassionate leader can be more creative in solving problems in ways that drive productivity and long-term success. To follow are seven traits of compassionate leadership.

1. Learning

Compassionate leaders understand that no matter how great they think they are, they are still surrounded by other intelligent people who are full of ideas that can enhance their skills and knowledge to lead even more effectively. When leaders operate as if they know everything, they harden themselves to new ideas by stubbornly assuming they have nothing more to learn to be effective in their role. There is no compassion in that mindset. Leadership requires learning. Leadership is the sum total of mistakes made, and the learning and growing it takes to remain patient, yet persistent, in their objectives. Compassionate leaders possess the modesty to continually seek feedback under the belief system they can only grow their team to the extent they grow themselves.

2. Removing barriers.

Compassionate leaders immerse themselves in the daily grind with their team, helping them face and solve problems harming productivity or hindering reciprocal communication when closing deals. Removing barriers is twofold. Leaders have to understand the internal emotional patterns of each team member, which patterns hold them back and which promote them into success. Leaders need to help team members work through their defeatist thoughts and encourage new patterns of thinking to help them be more successful going forward. Once team members start thinking in terms of success rather than failure, leaders have the role of helping team members talk through ways to remove any external barriers with others they may face when closing deals.

When team members stop bringing leaders obstacles to overcome, their days as a leader will soon end.

3. Impact

Compassionate leaders live to help others and make no room for selfishness on the teams they lead. Greed has no place to prosper when selfishness is not part of the program. These leaders live with an attitude of abundance and prefer to look at what team members need rather than at what team members aren’t doing. Compassionate leaders make no room for pessimism. They view challenges with interest rather than dread. This attitude sets the tone for team members and keeps morale high.

For these leaders, success is less about riches or fame and more about having a deep and lasting positive impact on all who are served. The compassionate leader seeks to understand people, knowing that understanding is the doorway into having the greatest impact on guiding others.

4. Standards

Compassionate leaders hold themselves and their ethics to high standards. These leaders are ethical and expect every one of their team members to be the same. Ethics are the building blocks upon which success of any kind is based. These types of leaders strive for nothing less than excellence. Some team members may not be used to an environment where excellence is expected of them. To inspire them, compassionate leaders show high levels of integrity in their daily actions. This helps to gain the trust and confidence of team members who are new or unsure.

These types of leaders trust team members will live up or down to their expectations; therefore, they set the bar high on quality but keep it within reach. When quality is expected, team efforts naturally increase.

5. Influence

Compassionate leaders seek to influence, not authority. They don’t demand, they encourage. They lead with hope. They guide, acknowledge and support team members to combine their efforts, skills, talents, insights, passion, enthusiasm and commitment to work together for the greater good.

These types of leaders find their purpose in bettering the lives of others. Compassionate leaders use the power of their role to lead others into the discovery of their own unique power. They view the growth and development of the people they lead and the communities they serve as the great makers of their success.

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