So you want to effectively lead a team. What are the traits that will help you be successful as a leader that people love working with? There are some basic traits that are common it great leaders.

Vision

You have to stand for something. Standing firm when it comes to your company's policies and procedures is good, but it doesn't speak to having a vision. As a leader, you have to learn to communicate your vision or the vision of your company to the people you want to follow you. But how can you do that?

Learn to articulate your thoughts with words. Speak and write your vision in an honest and consistent way, every single day.

Ask each member of your team to tell you, in their own words, what they think the overall vision of the company is and how they fit into that vision. Is your team on the same page as you?

If the vision changes, make sure the team understands the change and are involved in the process.

Vision is something that you talk about frequently. There should be no mystery to your vision.

Listen to the team as they ask questions or have concerns about the vision. If one person is concerned enough to ask questions, others may have questions and aren't comfortable in speaking up about those concerns.

Passion

You have to demonstrate passion to inspire your team. Your team is capable of extraordinary accomplishments if they have the passion to do what seems impossible. To build an extraordinary team, you've got to inspire them to feel real passion about the company and connect to the leader's vision. Passion is such an important part of being a great leader that if you don't have it, you can't be a great leader.

When you talk about your vision for the company or department, let your passion for your vision shine through and inspire the team.

Decision Maker

You have to be willing to make decisions. Your team has to have confidence that you will make the correct decisions that lead the team forward. You need to formulate a decision making process that works in your environment, helps the team feel involved in the decision, and generates decisions that the team feels comfortable in supporting.

Make sure your decisions are made quickly, are thoughtful, based on facts and not emotion, and are decisions that you are committed to supporting. Your team must feel comfortable that you aren't going to change your mind every couple of hours or days. They must feel comfortable that your decision is based on thoughtful consideration and not emotion.

Team Builder

A great team is an obvious indicator of a great leader. Delegation of responsibility is the first step in building a team that feels empowered and responsible for their actions. Don't breathe down their necks and don't micro-manage, but make yourself available if problems come up or questions need to be addressed. Teach your team how to be leaders, and mentor them to use established leadership traits to become a leader of their own teams.

Be strong and support your team at all times. Even if they fall behind schedule on a project or make silly mistakes, offer assistance and be the source of ideas that enables the team to fix their own problems. Be seen as a person with solutions or assistance, not the guy who scolds failure or points the finger of blame.

Character

Evaluate your leadership style and verify you are comfortable with those character traits as it apples to how you lead your team. Are you a perfectionist, a procrastinator, a poor communicator, etc. What are your strengths or weaknesses? You have to do a personal inventory and identify what you are good at and what you aren't so good at, then attack your weaknesses as you would any other professional assignment. Be honest to yourself and to your team.

Summary

Are you a great leader, or do you want to become one? You must develop a clear vision of what you want your team to accomplish, articulate that vision with passion, make decisions that inspire the team to do a better job, while you inspire the team to become better at what they do. You must do all this while not micro-managing their efforts or standing in their way of success. Your strength of character must also help guide your team to success in good times and bad, without wavering from the original vision. And you should be continually assessing your own character and never stop growing, personally or professionally.

If you can apply the five traits of great leadership, you'll be a great leader surrounded by great employees that will one day be great leaders themselves.