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Traits and Skills Approaches to Leadership
As I read through Peter Northouse’s second chapter, one of the ideas that resonated with me the
most was the five main leadership traits model. Reading about this model made me think about
my own life. The author's description of the efforts necessary to cultivate these attributes to
become a leader and gain acceptance from others struck me as very intriguing. An individual's
capacity for leadership is characterized by: Intelligence, Self-confidence, Determination,
Integrity, and Sociability. These five characteristics are not the only requirements for becoming
a leader; you also need to be able to completely comprehend how to use each one of them.
Northouse (2022) as noted in this chapter, Numerous empirical investigations have “
demonstrated that these capacities are essential characteristics of effectives leaders. When
combined, characteristics are the intrinsic qualities that define our personalities and set us apart ”
(p. 27). Finding the innate characteristics and attributes that set leaders apart from followers is
the main goal of the traits approach to leadership. These qualities were sought after in candidates
in both of my former professions as they prepared others for supervisory roles. Regards to “the
trait theory of leadership, personality traits help to explain why a person acts as he or she does in
leadership position and are thus a key predictor of a person’s leadership behavior” (Ishaq et al.,
2019). As God directed the advice of leaders throughout the Bible, it is our duty as leaders to
lead others and see to it that they are successful and safe. As Proverbs mentions “Where there is
no guidance, a people falls; but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14,
1966).
Skills Approach
Though one of the earliest theories of leadership was the Trait Approach to Leadership. It
only addresses leadership from the perspective of the individual leader. Conversely, the Skills
Approach places more emphasis on knowledge and skills and makes the case that the qualities
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needed for effective leadership can be cultivated and learned. It is possible to gain skills which
focus attention on the task at hand rather than the leader. Many people possess leadership
qualities, so it's critical to train and cultivate leaders who can evolve with time, learn from
mistakes, and grow into more capable role models for a variety of circumstances and obstacles
(Grunberg et al., 2019). Because the skill approach can involve developing the requisite talents,
this is what makes it so unique. It indicates how a person's leadership abilities may expand and
deepen over the course of their career. Olinover et al. (2022) contends that a combination of
situation-specific behavioral, cognitive, social, and visionary skills have been proposed as
desirable leadership frameworks. With a comprehensive and well-thought-out process of
developing leaders as they proceed from junior to senior training stages via practical application.
Conclusion
Development of technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills is necessary for effective
leadership. Effective leadership is aided by the insightful perspectives offered by the
characteristic and skills approaches to leadership. Effective leadership is linked to traits like
confidence, but technical proficiency, interpersonal skills, and conceptual reasoning are just as
important. Institutions look to leaders to set new standards for performance and new paths. For
this reason, it is essential that leaders maintain high moral standards and noble personal
attributes. The most effective leaders are not only capable of handling the current work, but also
have the flexibility and aptitude to grow into roles that will allow them to lead in unpredictable
situations.
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References
Grunberg, N. E., Barry, E. S., Callahan, C. W., Kleber, H. G., McManigle, J. E., & Schoomaker,
E. B. (2019). A Conceptual framework for leader and leadership education and
development. , (5), 644–650. International Journal of Leadership in Education 22
https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2018.1492026
Ishaq, E., Bashir, S., & Khan, A. (2019). Paradoxical Leader Behaviors: Leader Personality and
Followers Outcomes. , (1), 342–357. Applied Psychology 70
https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12233
Northouse, P. G. (2022a). Trait Approach. In (Ninth ed., p. 33). SAGE.Leadership
Olinover, M., Gidron, M., Yarmolovsky, J., Lipschits, O., & Geva, R. (2022). Predicting
Leadership Success in Extreme Organizations: A Prospective Study From Pre-
Recruitment Through Leading in Real-Life. Journal of Leadership & Organizational
Studies 30, (1), 71–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/15480518221117886
Proverbs 11:14. (1966). (The Catholic Edition of the Old and New Testament ed.). The Proverbs
Ignatius Press.
