“Broadly, leadership is the ability to empower and engage others to work towards a common goal,
and in a world of ever increasing complexity, where individuals most often have to collaborate
outside of formal hierarchical lines, leadership must take place at all levels within a company.”

We know how important good leadership is and that it is relevant across the organisation. I a recent CIPD study carried out it showed that 1 in 3 employees rate their trust of senior managers as weak, and the more senior the leader is, the less trust of their people they enjoy. This means that alongside the directors and senior managers who provide the general direction and sense of purpose for the company, individuals at all levels of an organisation – even if they don’t have anyone reporting to them directly – have the potential to communicate the meaning of their ideas to others around them and positively impact individuals and teams to secure their support.

Good leadership is seen as using their influence to encourage, empower and engage employees to achieve long-term sustainable results, while bad leadership is ego-driven and prioritises the interests of the leaders themselves without taking others into consideration, and thus leads to poor results.

To be a good leader, this report finds, you need a certain degree of ability and good basic ethical values, with some self-confidence added in and the ability to communicate effectively and of course determination. But there was another finding too! a simple smile from a leader can make a difference.  That outward display of positive attitude can help inspire employees and deliver better results