What Employers Really Want Leadership

What Employers Really Want Leadership Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'KxR8sdn_QOZcQIDjkUpw1Q',sig:'Ebn267CKyC9JHNYf9LP6OkHPAC18DIMpPxVzY5ZR0II=',w:'507px',h:'338px',items:'531337715',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); This is one of a series of posts based on LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions’ Guide: 30 Behavioral Interview Questions to Identify High-Potential Candidates. Here’s the list of the qualities managers value: Adaptability Culture add Collaboration Leadership Growth potential Prioritization Leadership is a slippery concept. It’s not strictly confined to actual leaders of a company; we hope to see it at all levels of an organization. That means it’s an important quality to spot early â€" leadership potential is more valuable to the company in the long run than technical skills. But how do you define it? I found a great list pf leadership qualities on the website of Queensland, Australia’s small business site. Here’s what it says: Though different leadership styles can be used at different times in a business, some character traits are important for all leaders: self-awareness   understanding your own strengths and weaknesses decisiveness   the ability to make decisions quickly fairness   treating others equally enthusiasm   motivating a team with a positive attitude integrity   earning the respect of your team knowledge   keeping abreast of the facts and figures creativity and imagination   coming up with new and innovative ideas endurance   persevering when things go wrong. It’s as good a list as I’ve ever seen. How can you interview to uncover these qualities?   Here are the questions managers suggested to determine leadership. Describe a situation where you needed to persuade someone to see things your way. What steps did you take? What were the results? Give me an example of a time when you felt you led by example. What did you do and how did others react? Tell me about the toughest decision you had to make in the last six months. I would add these: What do you do at work on a regular basis that’s not part of your job description? Tell me about a time something went wrong at work and you took over. What happened? Tell me about the first time in your career you thought of yourself as a leader. If a candidate has no answer for these questions, he or she hasn’t yet adopted a leadership mindset. That’s the essential first step to true leadership. John Maxwell once said: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” None of those actions requires a manager’s title on a business card.