Common Website Design Mistakes Beginners Make

As beginners, it’s easy to jump straight into designing a website’s interface. However, working offline should be carried out first to generate a good foundation that you can build on. You can use this time to inform your web design, add more structure to simplify your design process, and articulate a clear purpose for the entire design.

Of course, one crucial consideration is user experience. Since your users have varying levels of expertise in website navigation ranging from newbie to proficient, you have to outline key paths and interactions and satisfy wireframes with rough or preliminary web design to iterate it without undue consequences.

This article summarizes the five (5) most common website design mistakes that you should avoid in your own output.

1. Using a Single Web Design Software.

Before getting too excited to create and design a website, it’s important to compare software the programs that are available to you so that you can identify one that can give you the best possible results for what you have in mind.

Due to common web design misconceptions, many beginners feel that making professional web designs would take them years. However, using the right combination of web design software programs can help you easily create beautiful pages particularly those that automate most of the entire design process.

However, there’s no single tool that can be used to create all web pages. As a web designer, you’ll need to be familiar with an array of different software programs to include in your designer toolkit. For instance, here are some of the most commonly used types of web design software available today:

• Web design software for building business websites
• Web design software for online business or eCommerce
• Web design software for graphic designers
• Web design software for advertisers and marketers
• Web design software for creating HTML sites

2. Disregarding Grids, Guidelines, and Columns.

For some reason, many web designers consider the use of columns, grids, and guides as unnecessary or an indicator of inexperience or lack of confidence. However, consistent and disciplined use of these elements can help in creating professional page layouts and effective visual design. For instance, web content should always have space to breathe so, with very rare exceptions, the use of gutters on all sides is a design must.

Whether you are a confident professional or an experienced beginner, you should make sure that all your website elements are easy on the eyes and create low cognitive demand by being properly aligned, columns vertically segment contents, and content blocks are aligned correctly and positioned for most effective user navigation.

The use of gridlines, guidelines, and column blocks can help you during a design makeover, so you can quickly manipulate columns to provide the right context to the appropriate space, particularly when you must use in-between content.

3. Using Carousels.

While carousels aren’t always terrible, they can become a major problem whenever they scroll automatically and become conversion killers.

Carousels can reduce visibility by inducing banner blindness. This is when carousels look like ads that distract and annoy website visitors. These ads can move the attention of users away from the most important things they need to focus on.

4. Unclear Visual Hierarchy.

A common mistake that newbie designers usually commit is not imposing a clear visual hierarchy. Visual hierarchy is a vital aspect of web design principles that guides online users through the entire website and to realize their goals.

Here are some ways to implement visual hierarchy:

• Make web elements larger to show degrees of importance. For instance, make some elements more prominent than others to deliberately draw more attention.
• Increase the hierarchy’s visibility by using white space, negative space, or blank areas on a website. This aids in drawing the attention of the target audience to a particular element according to the website’s purpose.

5. Overlooking User Accessibility.

Accessibility is an overlooked aspect of website design. A poorly accessible website is a barrier for customer entry, most particularly those with auditory or visual impairment. Accessibility involves a broad spectrum of considerations. You have to make sure that accessing your website is simple and easy to implement. As early as possible, incorporate an accessibility design plan into a website instead of improving the website later.

For instance, it’s easier to fix color contrast, a large blocker for many users, at the onset rather than resolving this issue later on. According to Colour Blind Awareness, there are about 300 million people with Color Vision Deficiency. To ensure that the colors on your webpage are visible to the largest possible audience population of web visitors, you must always conduct a color contrast test on your website design.

6. Using a Complicated Font Family.

Hand-drawn scripts, cursive fonts, and unusual symbols can be difficult to read. Fonts that are difficult to read or are unreadable can decrease cognitive fluency. They can decrease the ease of website use. To ensure a clear understanding of your webpage content, use clear fonts.

Here are the recommended fonts for websites:

• Arial: This sans-serif font is a standard website font on Windows devices.
• Roboto: This sans-serif typeface as a standard system font for Android devices.
• Times New Roman: This “new” version of the old Times font is one of the most popular fonts on Windows devices.
• Other Fonts Used on Websites: Courier New, Courier, Verdana, and Georgia

Note: Avoid using too many fonts on one page. Changing fonts too often can break the focus of your visitors.

End Notes.

The most common mistakes in website design include: using a single software, using unclear font, unclear visual hierarchy, and overlooking columns, guides, and grids. Avoid these mistakes so that you create pleasing and easy-to-use websites that clients and users will love.

The post Common Website Design Mistakes Beginners Make appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/2xUmTA5 via website design phoenix

New Company Makes It Easy To Find The Cheapest Price For Bus Rentals

*the following article is paid and produced in collaboration with the websites linked to.

There are a lot of advantages to renting a bus for any occasion. It could be for a trip with your coworkers, a stag party, or a bus going abroad for any kind of vacation. No matter what reason you have, you now have the opportunity to rent a whole bus with a driver through a new company called 3bustilbud.dk. The new online service portal not only helps you find bus rentals at the best prices, but you can also sort offers based on other requirements you may have for your trip.

Find the cheapest price for a bus rental.

When you need a cheap bus rental, you can easily find one with 3bustilbud.dk. It is a new bus rental portal that corporates with 40 different bus companies around Denmark. Therefore, they are able to find a great price on a bus rental for you. They have created a price calculator to help you find the cheapest price for your bus rental. This lets you find the type of bus, destination, and dates you want at a reasonable price.

You simply need to follow a few easy steps to find your cheapest bus ride. First, you put in your travel details, such as whether you need a one way or return bus, destination, time, and so on. Then, you decide what kind of bus you want. You can rent a minibus, regular bus, party bus, and many others. All you need to do is decide what kind of trip you want and the company will find the bus to suit your requirements. You will then get the price in no time.

If your trip is longer and maybe even abroad, the company themselves get you the offer. In that way, you will save money and save the trouble of finding the cheapest ride yourself. As you can see, there are many advantages to renting a whole bus for yourself and your friends, family, or coworkers. And it’s very easy and cheap. All you need to do now is to plan your trip and figure out where you want to go and with whom.

Plan your trip.

Now that you’ve got the cheapest price for the bus ride, all you need to do is plan your trip down to the detail. If you are going abroad, you need to find a hotel and things to do and see. If you are going on a shorter trip, with for example your coworkers, you need to find out what you want to do when you arrive. If the goal of the trip is teambuilding, you may want to plan a day full of interesting teamwork games and challenges.

If you are using the bus as a party bus, then you need to focus more on the bus ride itself. What are you doing on the bus and what do you need for the bus ride? All of these questions should be in the back of your head when you plan your trip.

When you have sorted out all the practicalities, all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the ride!

The post New Company Makes It Easy To Find The Cheapest Price For Bus Rentals appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/3eX0keu via website design phoenix

5 Questions We Asked Ourselves Before Rebranding Our Business

by Rohan Thambrahalli, the Founder and President at UpstartWorks

As they mature, many companies find that they have outgrown their original purpose, realize they want to expand their operations, or see that their brand simply doesn’t reflect who they are anymore.

With that said, rebranding is a common part of every business journey. The names BackRub or AuctionWeb may not ring a bell, but those companies turned to become the ultra-successful tycoons Google and eBay.

Note that rebranding goes well beyond changing the logo. It’s a process that requires the alignment of different sections of your business and requires an immense effort that – if planned right – is definitely worth it.

Just a quick internet search will give you detailed guidelines on how to carry out a rebranding, step-by-step. However, these guides often miss an important reality that: it’s important to think about rebranding – before actually rebranding.

To lead a brand that better represents our business, we opted for rebranding in the fourth quarter of 2019. These are the questions that helped us ensure that the process was as smooth and constructive as possible.

1. Why do you want to rebrand?

Rebranding shouldn’t be inspired by a whim or a fad. It may be tempting to rebuild your brand around a current trend, but know that once the hype is gone, you risk becoming outdated and irrelevant. If you choose to rebrand, make sure that the decision is value-driven.

While there is never a perfect time to do a rebranding – it depends on the stage of your company – there always needs to be a valid reason for the change. After all, the decision shouldn’t be taken lightly: it’s a time-consuming and irreversible process that will touch every aspect of your business.

For example, our decision to rebrand was inspired by the evolution of services that we were providing and the technology capabilities we were building. In a relatively short period of time, we went from an agency business model to become a sales automation and sales accelerator technology provider. And we wanted our brand to reflect that.

The decision takes strategic and future-oriented thinking. When you built your company, you created a brand that could now be irrelevant and obsolete in some respects. But the prerequisite of a successful business is always challenging yourself to be relevant. So ask yourself: Is my brand still relevant to my customers and does it resonate with them?

2. Who do you want to become?

If you choose to set off on the rebranding journey, you need to carefully assess what your new brand should look like. Every decision you choose to make should reflect where you are headed as a company.

When you are building a new brand, invest time and resources in designing clear guidelines. Whether it’s logos, fonts, new branded products, customer service approach, website design, or the content strategy, it’s vital to create a comprehensive strategy.

At UpstartWorks, we didn’t want to reinvent ourselves completely. We knew we needed a new name and logo, but not necessarily a new color palette – the one we had represented our vibrant company culture. While our previous logo was a vertically-angled rocket ship, the new one – which features a box instead of a rocket – shows that we’ve reached a steady trajectory after take-off and demonstrates clearer how we help our customers.

3. How will you communicate the decision to rebrand?

Rebranding is never a single announcement. It should roll out over a series of different campaigns, deployed over a period of time, to ensure a continuous conversation about the rebranding efforts.x

That’s why it always requires a well-established communication strategy that caters to both internal and external exchanges. Internally, you need to ensure that everybody within your company is following the new branding guidelines. For example, we worked on a comprehensive identity usage guideline and distributed it to the entire team across countries to ensure the consistent use of key branding elements such as the logo and colors. We also worked on a comprehensive social media guide for our team to understand the brand tone, voice, language, and other key aspects  of communication.

Externally, you must communicate the rebranding to your customers, vendors, and partners, while making sure that all your social channels reflect the new branding. At UpstartWorks, we sent out a newsletter to all of our existing customers, announced the rebranding across our social media channels, and made it part of presentations to prospective clients.

We found it extremely important not to hide anything behind the curtains. People want to know what’s going on and being open is a great way for you to show that you’re reflective and future-oriented. Added to that, 94% of customers are likely to show loyalty to a brand that offers complete transparency.

4. How will you ensure your team is onboard?

In our company, we put a lot of value in our employees: It’s always people that make your brand. And it’s the team who at the end of the day interacts with your customers, vendors, and partners. So they have to be able to demonstrate and live the brand, and really bridge the gap between what the brand stands for and how your audience perceives it.

If you decide to work with an outside agency, make sure to include your employees in the process. Boutique agencies – as opposed to large ones – may be the safe bet, as they tend to spend enough time with the founders and the team to understand and immerse in the company culture. This is important when creating a lasting and inclusive outcome and guarantees that your team feels identified with the new brand.

Instead, work hard to ensure that every member of the company feels good about the rebranding. To do that, have internal discussions about the value of the process to get the buy-in from both key stakeholders, core leadership, and the workers.

Even when doubts appear, try to address them by analyzing why you need to do rebranding – the critical piece is to talk about where you are going as a company. Paint that vision to people and show them that the current brand doesn’t reflect the company’s ambitions anymore.

5. How will you ensure there’s continuity?

Rebranding can earn you the reputation of a forward-looking innovator. But just as that, it can also reveal your inability to be reliable and ensure a smooth transition – so make sure to plan it carefully.

Losing the audience you worked hard to build is a natural concern when rebranding. But it can be prevented by making sure communication channels stay open so that your customers can always reach out. Anywhere your partners, customers, or vendors might interact with your brand needs to provide all of the right information – this means paying close attention to email signatures, website communications, and one-to-one communications with customers.

You should also ensure that old website and email domains redirect to new ones, social media and contact information is updated, your branded stationery is redesigned, all employees have clear guidance, and that there won’t be any confusion or billing errors.

Asking yourself these five questions will help you guide your rebranding process, but remember that rebranding is not a science – and it shouldn’t be. While careful planning is necessary, we found out that it always comes down to having a good feeling about the change… so if you draft a new brand and say: “Yes, this is us,” then you’re on the right path.

 

Founder and President of UpstartWorks, Rohan Thambrahalli has made it his goal to develop a culture that embodies the builder who delivers best-in-class value to customers and partners. UpstartWorks is Rohan’s greatest personal and professional achievement, it was his vision from the beginning to start a company that could provide vendors the reach, technology, scale, and capabilities to compete with the best brands in the world.

The post 5 Questions We Asked Ourselves Before Rebranding Our Business appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/2Sc0dlA via website design phoenix

WOW Your Anxious Employees By Showing Them You Care (Here Are Nine Ways To Do So)

by Deb Boelkes, author of “The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture“

As the pandemic churns on, your employees may be getting somewhat settled into their strange new routines. But don’t be fooled: Even as they get acclimated with Zoom meetings or working in masks, their anxiety hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s just gone underground. That’s why it’s up to you as the leader to remind them just how much you care, even as you engage, inspire, and challenge them.

Heartfelt leadership is needed more than ever in times of great fear. And the good news is that striving to be this kind of leader is nothing new. Best-ever bosses have always sought to WOW employees by showing them authentic love.

Of course, love is only part of the story. Leadership actions that create Best Places to Work include things like sharing pride in your mission, products, and services; empowering workers to feel they have a career instead of a job; challenging them; teaching skills that help them succeed; and helping them feel happy, fulfilled, and successful in their lives by fostering friendship, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging.

Employees still need all of these things. The pandemic hasn’t changed that. And the good news is, none of them are mutually exclusive. In fact, all the things you do to create a WOW culture automatically show employees you care.

Here are my tips:

1. Build trust by keeping team members informed.

Whatever it takes, find ways to inform team members about what is going on, what’s expected of them, and what they can expect of you. This builds trust. Pick up the phone, make a call, or send emails or an occasional text to keep team members updated in real time. Be transparent. Share what you know. The more they know about what’s going on, the more connected, comfortable, and assured they will feel.

Tell your team members you want to be kept informed by them, too. Eagerly encourage them to contact you, at their convenience rather than yours, to ask questions, express their feedback about what’s working or not working, and share their concerns. Let them know your ‘virtual door’ is always open.

2. Pay attention to those who don’t do well working alone.

Some people feel isolated, depressed, and unproductive when working alone. These are the team members at greatest risk of becoming disengaged. If you have the chance to do so — and if your situation allows — encourage these people to volunteer to be part of small groups that rotate into the office or warehouse every few days. It will give them something to look forward to, help them stay productive, and bolster their sense of self-worth, well-being, and belonging.

3. Be especially considerate and forgiving of those with family issues.

Some people may find it difficult to work from home even under normal circumstances. But now, with most schools and daycare centers being closed, working from home can be especially challenging for those who must now also perform duties they usually pay others to perform. Be mindful that some workers may struggle with weaving their business responsibilities around additional responsibilities of homeschooling and childcare.

Single parents may be particularly overwhelmed by managing both work and family duties, especially if they have infants or toddlers and no one else to rely on for assistance. You as the leader might even be struggling with these things yourself. Offer team members the option to change their work schedules to best coordinate the sharing of responsibilities for homeschooling, fit in nap times when infants are napping, and so forth.

4. Offer creative options to ease their burden at home.

Anticipate that for most everyone, regardless of whether they must now work from home or are still on the job in the workplace with added workload, work-life balance will be a greater challenge than usual. Offer the option for team members to select from a list of home-delivery services, to be funded by the organization, to help reduce the stress and ease the burden in unique ways.

Home-delivery service options might include a month of laundry service; a “meal-in-a-box” dinner service (such as Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Sun Basket, etc.); provide a replacement for regularly subsidized school and/or workplace lunches by having lunch delivered daily (such as pizza, salad, soup, and/or sandwich); a short-term subscription to online yoga classes… and send the gift of a yoga mat via an online or local retailer.

5. Understand what makes employees tick and why they work there.

Don’t underestimate the importance of having regular performance reviews and professional development one-on-ones, especially during times like these, even if such meetings must be held online. Just because jobs are no longer as plentiful as they were just a short time ago, never assume your best team members won’t jump ship. Ask them, “What keeps you at our company?”

If you haven’t done it in a while, ask about their career goals. Make sure they know they have your support in working toward achieving their dreams and desires. Determine how, in the current situation, they can best align their unique strengths, evolving professional objectives, and personal needs to best support the organization’s new objectives.

6. Foster networking between team members.

Help every member of the team and beyond to build and maintain meaningful relationships while working apart. Create online task forces, as needed, to solve new problems that may now come up. Ask for volunteers from different departments, from key customer accounts, and/or from suppliers to keep ideas flowing and everyone engaged (both in and outside the company) and working together to achieve common goals.

7. Schedule plenty of “fun” breaks.

Encourage team members to periodically get away from the computer, especially if working from home. Suggest they take advantage of scheduled break times to do things they normally may not be able to do when working from the office, such as spend time with the kids or their life partner, take a walk or bike ride for a change of scene, or just take a nap. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to work from home.

Further, help keep team members connected through online all-hands team chats at the beginning of each week or each morning. Consider hosting an online “happy hour” once or twice a week, or an online coffee break at some point during the day to let team members share ideas and catch up informally. Encourage team members to display their special talents, such as singing or playing a musical instrument, during an online team meeting. Have fun and enjoy the chance to build a new sense of belonging and family in entirely new ways.

8. Allow for more flexible scheduling.

If this is your industry’s busy season, allow team members to take comp time at their preferred times. Rather than mandate work schedules, allow team members to work out their own work schedules with each other, if possible. Likewise, if possible, give team members the option to work non-traditional shifts, perhaps three or four days per week, or a different number of days or hours on/off shift to best coordinate with their life partner’s schedule, child rearing demands, etc.

9. Do what it takes to make team members feel appreciated.

People will do anything for leaders who praise their efforts and are appreciative, especially in times of struggle. Be especially forthcoming with good news and praises for jobs well done.

Job satisfaction surveys prove again and again that simply appreciating someone’s work can be more important than any other factor in employee engagement. The recipients of your appreciation will most likely be inspired to put forth an even greater effort to ensure they will be thanked again. That’s why the military gives ribbons and awards to soldiers. It keeps their hearts and minds in the battle, especially when the going gets tough.

Your team needs all the support you can muster right now. Everyone is doing their best to adapt to the situation and keep business moving, but we still have a long way to go before things return to normal. If you lead with all the generosity and love that’s in your heart, you will empower everyone to show up each day ready to be their best.

 

Deb Boelkes is not just a role model heartfelt leader; she’s the ultimate authority on creating best places to work, with 25+ years in Fortune 150 high-tech firms, leading superstar business development and professional services teams. As an entrepreneur, she has accelerated advancement for women to senior leadership. Deb has delighted and inspired over 1,000 audiences across North America. She is author of “The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture“.

The post WOW Your Anxious Employees By Showing Them You Care (Here Are Nine Ways To Do So) appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/2yOc4Q8 via website design phoenix

Three Things That You Can Do To Improve Your Studies When You Are In College

When you are in college there are more than a hundred different things that you have to think of. There are deadlines at every corner, and it is not always easy to remember the different formalia and rules for every paper that has to be turned in before sunday midnight. Therefore it is a good idea that you armour yourself with good tips and advice, so that you have the best chance of being successful in your classes and in your studies in general.

If you are unable to do certain things in your day to day life at campus or if you have an immobility that makes you unable to keep up with the rest of the class, you might benefit from welfare technologies in smart design. This type of design that can help you in your everyday life can make you work smarter, not harder. 

The virtual calendar is your best friend.

As college begins you might soon realise that you have much more work to do than you first anticipated. There are deadlines everywhere and it is not always easy to remember, when everything has to be turned in, and when you have applications to fill before a certain date. The best thing you can do is therefore to make your virtual calendar in your phone and meke your laptop your best friend. A good advice is to take a minimum of ten minutes everyday at night to go through the next few days to make sure that you are up to date with everything. This is also the time to update the different dates that you have deadlines, so that you do not miss to turn in your work. 

Make sure that you are not overbooked.

As already mentioned a few times in this article, being a college student is not always a piece of cake. It can be challenging to find time for everything that you want to, and it can quickly become a stressful situation, if you do know how to manage your time appropriately. Take time once in a while to make sure that your everyday life is not overbooked with things that makes you unable to focus on your studies. It will show in your finals and in you papers if you have taken the time to learn the things that you were given by your professor, and it is better to learn soon rather than later that the best thing you can do for yourself during your time in college is to make sure that you know how to manage your own time. 

Find the best study-buddy possible.

If you want to succeed in college, then you have to embrace that you will need a study-buddy. This is an excellent idea to make sure that you have someone to discuss your ideas, your papers and difficult tasks in general. The best advice here is to find someone that you know has your back. Therefore find only one or maybe two study-buddies. This way you are sure that you have a person that knows your study habits, your schedule and your classes. 

 

*This content is sponsored

The post Three Things That You Can Do To Improve Your Studies When You Are In College appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/3bKY2x4 via website design phoenix

Denmark Make Changes In Their Help To Entrepreneurs

Denmark is known for its good conditions, when it comes to entrepreneurs. Currently Denmark holds one of the top spots when it comes to the best countries to start a new company in. That is because the shifting Danish government always have collaborated closely with companies and entrepreneurs to make sure they have the best conditions to drive business and create jobs. Now Denmark is taking action towars their aid to entrepreneurs and are now launching new initiatives to futher strengthen the conditions for entrepreneurs in Denmark. One of the changes that are being made is the endeavour to create the best growth potential for start-up companies. Formerly, a company form called “Iværksætterselskab”, (which translates into Entrepreneurial Company form) is being shutdown and replaced by a lower capital requirement to create an “ApS”, which is the most normal company form in Denmark.

Entrepreneurs owning an “IVS” are now being told to convert ivs to aps. While this may seem like a bad thing it can actually be good for a lot of entrepreneurs in Denmark – and in this article we will enlighten you on why that is the case. 

Shutdown of IVS and reducing capital requirements in the ApS.

While it may seem like a bad idea to shut down the entrepreneurial company form (IVS), this is actually not the case. Beforehand it was possible to start a company using the IVS with a capital requirement of 1 DKK. However this was never actually the case, as it obviously requires more capital to start up and run a company. Furthermore it was also seen, that the company form was exploited to avoid paying debt, company taxes and more. The Danish government has therefore decided to shut down the IVS and instead offer a lower capital requirement on the ApS of 40,000 DKK. 

Will help start-ups sustain in the longer run.

By making use of this administrative changes it may actually be the case, that these changes will aid entrepreneurs in the long run. With these changes it is possible to sort out the bad from the good, so only entrepreneurs with the required will be able to create ApS companies.  This way the options when creating a company are streamlined into the range of company forms that were the case before the IVS was introduced almost ten years ago.

 

*this content is sponsored

The post Denmark Make Changes In Their Help To Entrepreneurs appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/2VIT2Dz via website design phoenix

Leading The Way: 10 Essential Qualities Of An Effective Leader

The iconic football coach Vince Lombardi once famously said, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

Although leadership may be attainable through dint of hard work, it’s also true that some of us might be more naturally suited to leadership than others, simply because of certain qualities that we possess — although we can certainly strive to improve ourselves in those areas, as well.

Let’s take a closer look!

1. Integrity.

Having the courage of your convictions, a strong moral compass, and a never-failing belief that doing good is the right thing to do all demonstrate the importance of integrity. It is difficult to lead others when your own path is crooked.

2. Confidence.

No one wants to put themselves in the hand of a doubter, a waffler, or a nervous Nellie. Even if your confidence starts out as skin-deep, it is imperative to project a self-assured facade. This is one area in which the old adage “fake it ‘til you make it” is not dishonest, but rather very good advice. As you continue to make forward progress (note that we didn’t say “succeed”!), your confidence will grow.

3. Charisma.

You have no doubt heard the phrase “charismatic leader” but what is charisma, anyway? Well, for starters, it’s a difficult characteristic to pin down. It involves attracting other people to you but it’s not to be confused with beauty or physical appeal. Charisma is charm, likability, that certain je ne sais quoi that makes others want to sit next to you, make your acquaintance, do business with you, or even emulate you.

So can charisma be taught or developed? This quality might seem like it falls squarely on the side of “nature” but in fact, you can nurture it.

4. Passion.

Can someone lead a team when they aren’t passionate about the destination, let alone the journey? Technically, it is possible — but it will be harder and it won’t reap the same results. Note that passion isn’t necessarily directed at the subject itself, but often to the human component in any equation.

Take, for example, a company that sells used office furniture. There isn’t much to get passionate about when it comes to gunmetal gray desks, beige cubicle walls, and utilitarian rolling chairs. However, that company’s leader can feel passionate about what that furniture does for the workers who use it. It can make them more comfortable and more productive. It can save them money, to help them provide for their family. It may give them a sense of pride, since buying used furniture keeps these items out of the landfill.

5. Accountability.

A great leader never tries to shift blame or point fingers. Even if an error or flub-up is clearly attributable to someone else, she will acknowledge her responsibility — perhaps she didn’t communicate effectively or provide the proper oversight.

When she is in the wrong, a leader doesn’t make excuses, get defensive, or go into hiding until the storm blows over. She owns her mistakes and actively tries to learn from them. Humility is another quality that leaders require, and it goes hand-in-hand with being accountable.

6. Creative Problem Solving.

Making mistakes is a surefire way to improve, if you can avoid the pitfalls of pride and pessimism in the wake of a poor decision. Great leaders know that a fundamental key to leadership development is learning how to “fail up.” They also recognize that good ideas can spring from some truly unusual circumstances. Creative problem solving often involves risk, daring, and persisting in the face of possible failure.

7. The Ability to Delegate.

While we think of followers as being dependent on leaders, the opposite is also true. To lead effectively, one must be receptive to, and place value in, the contributions of everyone on the team. Soliciting ideas from team members is one way to problem solve, but it’s equally important to delegate tasks and responsibilities to them.

Leaders can’t lead if they’re up to their neck in paperwork, decision making, and details. And followers don’t have a chance to shine unless they are given the opportunity to spread their wings and take over new duties. Control freaks aren’t often good leaders because to lead others, it’s essential to let go and to cultivate trust.

8. Compassion.

Leadership will fall flat and fail to get off the ground if the would-be leader is cold and clinical rather than compassionate. In order to motivate others, get their buy-in on projects, and build a cohesive team, the leader must understand what makes its members tick. What’s more, they must empathize. This is the stuff of standard behavioral psychology; to effect change in another person, it’s necessary to walk the proverbial mile in his shoes.

9. Communication Skills.

Great leaders recognize that compassion and communication are two sides of the same coin. Without compassion, communication is hollow and meaningless. Without communication, compassion doesn’t do anyone any good.

In addition, the ability to communicate effectively is useful in every single facet of our work and, indeed, our daily lives. It can smooth rough paths, inspire action, encourage empathy, create emotional bonds, engender loyalty. In short, it can move mountains.

10. Selflessness.

The business world — heck, the world in general — can seem pretty cutthroat at times. Everyone else appears to be working solely in their own best interests, or at the very least, taking action only if the results will benefit them at some later date, so why shouldn’t you? If you’re a leader or inspire to be one, you cannot be selfish or self-centered, greedy or attention-grubbing.

Those who lead effectively learn to celebrate others’ successes. They focus on the overall project or goal, but also acknowledge the individual contributions that made it possible. They will sacrifice recognition or praise from higher-ups to gain the trust and respect of their direct reports and others. Their own needs or desires? Well, those come last. If they are fulfilled, great; if not, that is the nature of the leadership beast.

How Many of These Qualities Do You Possess?

Do you think you are a good leader? Have you ever had the privilege of working with or for someone whose leadership qualities were inspiring? On the flip side, what about negative experiences with people who were in a position of power but terrible leaders? Have your say by connecting with us on Facebook or Twitter!

The post Leading The Way: 10 Essential Qualities Of An Effective Leader appeared first on Young Upstarts.

from Young Upstarts https://ift.tt/2xaYWUy via website design phoenix