What Leadership Qualities Make Managers Better?

Key takeaways

Strong leadership qualities help create engaged teams, reduce stress, and support a healthier, more productive workplace.

• According to Gallup, employee engagement fell from 23 percent to 21 percent in 2024, the second decline in 12 years [1].

• Confidence, communication, integrity, adaptability, and resilience all contribute to stronger relationships, clearer expectations, and better decision‑making.

• You can strengthen your business by helping your team apply core leadership qualities in their daily work, from learning agility to more confident problem‑solving.

Discover the value of good leadership qualities and how you can promote them in your workplace. If you’re ready to start providing employees with learning opportunities to help them gain in-demand skills to progress to the leadership level, Coursera for Business can provide valuable training materials in a wide range of areas, including Guided Projects and Professional

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Why companies ask for leadership quality

As a leader, you’re responsible for establishing a vision, encouraging your team, enabling employees, setting strategy, providing feedback, modifying behavior, mentoring and training others, and so much more.

Ineffective leadership can undermine business success. According to Gallup research, in 2024, the worldwide percentage of engaged employees decreased from 23 percent to 21 percent. This is just the second time in 12 years that engagement has fallen, the previous drop happening in 2020 [1]. Worker stress also remains high, with 43 percent of employees experiencing daily stress the previous day [1].  This 2025 Gallup study also found that poor management leads to lower productivity, less profitability, and increased turnover [1].

With the right leadership skills, you can better manage your team to create a positive work environment that alleviates stress and improves engagement.

Types of good leadership qualities

In addition to different leadership styles, many leadership qualities can help you and your business achieve your goals. Your leadership attributes will support strong relationships with team members and allow you to enjoy greater success in organizing, guiding, motivating, and inspiring others.

Successful leaders share many of the common qualities we discuss in this section. The good news? You can develop many attributes through learning, practice, and reflection.

Confidence

Believing in yourself is a core leadership quality. Confidence in your problem-solving and ability to motivate others will inspire others to follow you and trust your decisions. Leadership guru Tony Robbins suggests that nonverbal cues are important in conveying confidence [2]. These can include:

• Improving your posture by standing tall

• Making and maintaining eye contact

• Trying your best to control nervous fidgeting 

• Mirroring body language where possible

• Keeping a relaxed arm position, as folded arms can seem defensive

• Offering a firm handshake

• Listening attentively

Organization

As a leader, you set timelines, keep projects on track, and formulate plans. Strong organizational skills will make all the difference. You can have the ability to focus and think ahead, but you’ll also need time management skills and the ability to prioritize to be able to multitask effectively.

Integrity

People follow leaders whom they trust. Being honest and demonstrating respect for your team members will help you build stronger relationships. This, in turn, encourages people to do more and try harder, which can lead to innovation and the taking of rewarding risks.

Another way to think of this is to demonstrate authenticity or be genuine. Leaders who have this quality can enjoy greater credibility, which supports a stronger overall team culture. 

Communication skills

Strong leaders communicate goals and vision. It’s best if you know how to offer feedback and set objectives, as well as how to listen and ask powerful questions that prompt reflection and positive action. Communication is not one-sided. You need to be both a motivational speaker and a listener who encourages and empowers team members.

You’ll also need to consider cultural differences and incorporate them into your communication methods. The successful leader is always working to effectively communicate expectations and objectives in a way that resonates with everyone on the team, with clarity and conciseness that translates efficiently over email, in person, or through other communication channels.

Remaining consistent and transparent can also help your people know what to expect. These qualities make your leadership expectations more predictable. Plus, your employees will feel more respected. When you are willing to be honest and open, this can encourage your team to communicate similarly.

Use your communication skills to convey positivity, and you’ll be rewarded with more engaged employees. For instance, embracing challenges as opportunities and encouraging people to take risks can reassure employees and elevate their efforts.

Resilience

Strong leaders learn from mistakes and recover from failures. They have the resilience needed to face challenges and adapt to changing environments. By acknowledging responsibility and being accountable, you can demonstrate inner strength and resilience. This can encourage your team members to take calculated risks, driving the business in new, positive directions.

Adaptability

Also known as agility or flexibility, this quality speaks to your ability to excel in any circumstance. Be ready to adapt to changing external pressures. Be willing to accept changes as positive. Showing you can revise plans and consider other people in changing situations can differentiate you as a leader. Business is evolving rapidly, and with this quality, you’ll have the ability to adjust quickly to both risks and opportunities. 

Decisiveness

Your team members will look to you to make decisions and problem-solve. Depending on your leadership style, you may involve your colleagues in decision-making in various ways. Ultimately, a strong leader demonstrates a willingness to lead under pressure and make critical decisions.

Business agility could rely on your decisiveness. Making decisions promptly and confidently can prevent missing out on valuable opportunities.

Willingness to delegate

Delegation is essential to leadership success. Otherwise, you risk taking on too much, getting overwhelmed, and being less productive. Delegating frees you up to take on the more mission-critical tasks of a leader or manager.

Your willingness to delegate also empowers others by giving them opportunities to grow and develop. Feeling they can make decisions and solve problems independently can boost team members’ productivity and give them a sense of responsibility that engages them in their work.

It may seem easier to do the work yourself, but delegating pays off. Those who can effectively delegate are more likely to maintain employee support. Delegating creates a sense of autonomy for team members and shows that you respect their efforts. This can enhance their productivity and make them more willing to contribute fresh ideas.

Gratitude

Gratitude is a powerful leadership practice. People feel appreciated when leaders recognize significant contributions, which promotes motivation, well-being, and improved team cohesion. Even small actions, such as a verbal commendation in a meeting or a written acknowledgment, support a positive culture and motivate people to keep up their excellent work.

Learning agility

Learning agility enables leaders to adapt quickly, absorb new information, and refine their approach as circumstances change. It entails maintaining curiosity, getting input, and applying lessons learned to novel circumstances. Even in unpredictable or quickly changing environments, leaders who develop this flexibility are better able to handle obstacles and confidently lead their teams.

Read more: 10 Leadership Books to Grow Your Professional Life

How to improve leadership skills

You may be in charge of a team of three contractors, the manager of 60 remote employees, or the leader of an enterprise-sized business. Whatever the size of your organization or your industry, having strong leadership qualities can help you, your people, and your business thrive. 

Develop self-awareness about strengths and weaknesses.

Through self-awareness, you can better understand your strengths and areas to develop. You’ll know which qualities to lean into and which to improve. Conducting self-assessments and requesting feedback can help you to establish your priorities.

Reflecting on how others view you is another way to develop your self-awareness. Plus, knowing how others perceive you can help you become aware of what you model through your actions. For instance, if you are unaware that you become reactive under stress, you could make your reports feel more anxious around you during deadlines. 

Understand your leadership style.

Knowing your own leadership style and how you communicate with others can help you be a more effective leader. First comes identification. Then you’ll need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of your leadership and communication. Taking stock like this can help you develop stronger management, negotiation, conflict resolution, and persuasion skills.

Set measurable goals.

Goal setting is a good way to develop your leadership qualities. You might consider using specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to set practical objectives.

SMART goals can improve your chances of success by providing clear objectives and requiring continuous effort. While it’s often easier to think short-term when setting goals, think also of mid-term and long-term goals. This can help keep the development of your leadership qualities in management ongoing. 

Consider leadership development courses.

You can learn about leadership by reading books and articles on your own. You might also read interviews or view videos featuring leaders you respect. To discover even more about yourself as a leader, consider enrolling in leadership development courses. These often encourage you to identify your leadership style, reflect on your strengths and needs, and discuss scenarios with peers equally interested in practicing effective leadership.

Some top-rated leadership courses include Finding Your Professional Voice: Confidence and Impact, offered by the University of London online, which can help you improve your communication skills. You can also take courses to help you develop problem-solving and decision-making skills, conflict-resolution skills, and greater resiliency. This focused, practical experience can prove invaluable to developing as a leader.

Observe other leaders.

A leadership mentor can help you develop the qualities you want to improve. Working with someone more experienced in training or in fostering shared ownership can help you observe traits you may want to nurture in yourself.

Historically strong leaders to learn from 

You can look to leaders throughout history to see the importance of these qualities. Consider some famous examples when seeking inspiration for your leadership success.

• CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has steered Microsoft to reach a market value of $3 trillion, the second company in the world to do so, while inspiring leaders who desire to implement organizational change and create clarity amidst uncertainty. Nadella notes that those moments when chaos and panic could overtake the situation are when leadership is most needed. 

• Martin Luther King, Jr. shared his vision for a better world in leading the civil rights change. He also demonstrated confidence in his beliefs and the communication skills to inspire others to follow and enact his ideas.

• Steve Jobs is credited with dreaming big and inspiring others to do the same. His strength was in communicating his passion and his decisiveness. He was also known for being a tough taskmaster, but his demand for excellence prompted people to improve their performance.

• Winston Churchill served twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom (1940–1945 and 1951–1955). He was known for his communication skills. During World War II, he embodied resilience.

• Oprah Winfrey, best known for her talk show, is also a CEO and influential leader. She reached international acclaim despite initial rating struggles, thanks to her authenticity and refusal to engage in cheap tricks on TV at the time. Her success also demonstrates the need for communication skills, adaptability, and resilience.

• Reshma Saujani founded Girls Who Code to inspire more girls and women to enter the technology industry and empower female economic empowerment while teaching them to be “brave, not perfect.” 

• Walt Disney’s strength was communicating his vision and empowering others to play a clear role. He delegated and gave people opportunities to enhance their skills.

• Mary Kay Ash, the founder of a cosmetics empire, encouraged her people not to limit themselves. She had confidence in herself and demonstrated it in her employees as well. Follow-through was critical to her leadership style, and she involved others in the design and decision-making process to earn their buy-in.

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