IABC/Toronto President’s Message: What Makes a Good Leader?

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The following article appears in the April issue of Communicator.

I’m sure you have seen a good leader in action. Good leaders inspire and motivate us to make things happen – in team projects at school, on the sports field, in volunteer work.

Being an effective leader was the focus of IABC’s recent Leadership Institute in Nashville. International, regional and international IABC chapter leaders attend this annual event to share best practices and learn how to keep members active and involved. This year, I was one of six members of the IABC/Toronto board who attended.

At one session “Influencing without authority,” presented by John Almond, President of IABC British Columbia, offered ideas and insights beneficial for any leader.

John set out four major characteristics of a good leader:

Ask the right questions:

Effective leaders don’t dwell on the issue at hand—they are solution-oriented, and ask how it can be fixed. Rather than making declarations and expecting everyone to fall in line, an effective leader prefers to ask questions that will lead a team to find an explanation and respond to an issue themselves.

Be the right person:

Being the right person refers to your personal qualities as a leader. John said leaders know their own strengths and weaknesses, and they manage their emotions and behaviour to suit different situations. They do not blindly react to a situation, even when provoked.

Have the right vision and values:

Leaders have their own personal vision and rely on their values to guide decisions and actions. John said one of the most important values to look for in a leader is personal accountability.

Do the right things:

Leaders are constantly learning, and they can read people and understand what motivates them. They give credit rather than take credit—and leaders take action now, not later.

Thanks go to John Almond for allowing me to share these ideas in this column. In addition to his volunteer role as President of the BC chapter, John is Vice President of Graphically Speaking Services Inc, a web development firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia and Co-Founder of WarrantyLife.com. He can be reached at president@iabc.bc.ca

What do you think? What makes a good leader? This is just the start of the conversation – please add your comments!

Carrie MacAfee President IABC/Toronto toronto-president@iabc.com

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