What Actually Makes a Good Team Leader?
So what actually makes a good team leader?
Is it their confidence, ability to communicate effectively, or their ability to handle pressure without cracking?
Think about the best leader you’ve ever worked with.
What made them stand out?
Was it their ability to bring people together, how they handled tough situations, or their genuine care for the team’s success?
Being a good team leader isn’t about having all the answers or being the loudest in the room.
It’s about knowing how to communicate with clarity, make decisions, and support your team so they can do their best work.
In this blog, we’ll look at the key traits that define being a good team leader and share practical ways to improve.
Plus, if you want a simple way to check where you stand, we’ve put together a FREE Downloadable Team Leader Self-Assessment Checklist to help you measure your strengths and spot areas for growth.
Contents
10 Key Characteristics of a Good Team Leader
- Emotional Intelligence
- Clear Communication
- Support Team Wellbeing
- Embrace Empathy
- Coaching and Mentorship
- Accountability and Leading by Example
- Adaptability
- Be Decisive
- Humility
- Empowering Others
How to Improve as a Team Leader
FREE Team Leader Self-Assessment Checklist
10 Key Characteristics of a Good Team Leader
Being a great team leader is about the positive impact you have on your team.
The best leaders don’t just focus on results, they create an environment where people feel motivated, supported, and able to work their best.
Here are 10 key characteristics that set strong team leaders apart and practical ways to develop them.
1. Emotional Intelligence
Great leaders don’t just focus on performance, they do their best to understand their team members.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise and regulate emotions in yourself and others.
A leader with high emotional intelligence builds trust, handles challenges with composure, and builds a positive team culture.
Here’s how to improve your emotional intelligence:
Practice active listening – Pay full attention when team members speak, reflect on their words, and ask thoughtful questions.
Manage emotional triggers – Notice what situations cause frustration and develop strategies to stay composed.
Improve self-awareness – Regularly reflect on how your emotions impact decision-making and communication.
Leaders who develop emotional intelligence create stronger connections and a more motivated team.
Why not check out our blog on “10 Self- Awareness Examples for Personal Growth”
2. Clear Communication
A team leader’s words can either create clarity and motivation or confusion and frustration.
Strong and clear communication ensures expectations are clear, feedback is constructive, and everyone feels heard.
Good leaders simplify complex ideas, adapt their message to different audiences, and encourage open discussion.
Here’s how to improve your communication:
Be direct and specific – Avoid vague instructions. Instead of “Please improve that piece of work,” provide clear instructions on how to improve it.
For example, “Please improve that piece of work by doing…” (Fill in what’s relevant for you)
Use active listening techniques – After explaining something, ask the listener to summarise it in their own words what you’ve just said to confirm everything is understood.
Encourage two-way communication – Make space for team input and ensure people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feedback with you.
When communication is clear, teams work more efficiently, avoid misunderstandings, and stay aligned on the workplace goals.
3. Support Team Wellbeing
A good team leader doesn’t just focus on deadlines and performance, they also prioritise the wellbeing of their team.
When employees feel supported, they’re more engaged, productive, and resilient.
Leaders who promote wellbeing, create a culture where people can do their best work without feeling overwhelmed or burning out.
Here’s how to support team wellbeing:
Check in regularly – Go beyond work discussions and ask, “How are you managing your workload?” or “Is there anything I can do to support you?”
Organise team wellbeing activities – Whether it’s a wellbeing workshop or additional breaks with on-site chair massage, organise activities that support employee wellbeing.
Encourage breaks and balance – Set the example by taking breaks yourself and respecting boundaries outside of work hours.
Create a culture of recognition – Acknowledge individual and team contributions to boost morale and motivation. A great way to do this is with a gratitude workshop.
Leaders who genuinely care about their team’s wellbeing see stronger performance, lower turnover, and a more positive working culture.
4. Embrace Empathy
A great leader works hard to understand their team.
Empathy is the ability to recognise and respect different perspectives, making team members feel valued and supported.
Leaders who embrace empathy build trust, improve collaboration, and create a more engaged and connected team.
Here’s how to embrace empathy:
Listen with intent – Focus fully on the speaker, ask follow-up questions, and acknowledge their feelings. Listen to understand, not to reply.
Put yourself in their shoes – Before making decisions, consider how they will impact your team members.
Respond, don’t react – Instead of dismissing concerns, take a moment to understand where they’re coming from. Approach conversations with curiosity.
An empathetic leader builds stronger relationships, improves team morale, and creates a team where people feel heard and respected.
Check out our “Embracing Empathy” workshop, which can be delivered in person or virtually for you and your team.
5. Coaching and Mentorship
Strong leaders help to develop their team members.
Coaching and mentorship help team members grow, improve their skills, and work toward reaching their full potential.
Leaders who invest in their team’s development create a culture of continuous learning and higher team engagement.
How to coach and mentor your team:
Ask, don’t just tell – Instead of giving answers immediately, ask guiding questions to help team members think critically and come up with solutions to problems on their own.
Provide regular constructive feedback – Give timely, specific feedback focused on growth, rather than just performance.
Support career development – Encourage learning opportunities, whether through courses, leadership workshops, or workplace tasks.
When leaders take the time to coach and mentor their team members, it helps to strengthen their team, increase retention, and build future leaders.
6. Accountability and Leading by Example
A leader’s behaviour directly shapes how a team operates.
True accountability isn’t just about results, it’s about standing behind choices, openly addressing mistakes, and keeping promises without excuses.
By demonstrating these qualities consistently, leaders create environments where trust and ethical practices thrive.
Here’s how to keep your team accountable and lead by example:
Embrace transparency with errors – When plans derail, name the issue quickly and shift energy to fixing it rather than justifying failures.
Prioritise reliability – Treat commitments as binding agreements. Consistency in action builds team confidence.
Live the expectations – Demonstrate the attitude, effort, and standards you want to see mirrored by your team.
Teams mirror leaders who take ownership, which strengthens collaboration, boosts collective responsibility, and makes workplaces more productive.
Ultimately, responsibility starts at the top but grows through everyday choices everyone can observe and adopt.
7. Adaptability
Exceptional leaders anchor their teams during turbulent times while staying nimble enough to pivot when needed.
Adaptability isn’t just about reacting to change, it’s anticipating shifts and knowing when to shift tactics or revise plans.
All while steering your team with calmness and clarity.
Leaders who lean into uncertainty rather than resist it cultivate teams that bend without breaking and spot opportunities where others see chaos.
Here’s how to stay adaptable:
Treat plans as evolving drafts – Create space for team input and pivot when evidence suggests a smarter path.
Anchor discussions in solutions – Separate noise from actionable factors, then channel energy into fixable and practical next steps.
Frame obstacles as skill-building moments – Publicly dissect setbacks to highlight lessons over losses.
Teams mirror this mindset, staying energised by progress rather than paralysed by imperfection.
Leaders who adapt proactively turn challenges into momentum.
This helps their teams learn to weather storms, reframe challenges, and measure growth through forward motion.
8. Be Decisive
Strong leaders strike a balance between thoughtful pauses and reckless speed.
Decisiveness isn’t about perfection, it’s making calls backed by facts but unafraid of calculated risks.
Skilled leaders collect critical insights, map trade-offs, and then act before hesitation drains the team’s momentum.
Here’s how to be a more decisive team leader:
Aim for “enough” intel – Pull the trigger on choices once you’ve got the core risks/benefits understood.
Set deadlines for deliberation – Assign hard cut-off times to prevent endless “what-if” loops that stall progress.
Commit visibly, adjust quietly – Announce choices with conviction, but quietly refine course if new data emerges.
No ego, just progress.
Teams thrive under leaders who replace waffling with productive momentum.
Clear decisions, even imperfect ones, help to build psychological safety.
People stop second-guessing and start executing, knowing their leader won’t freeze or flip-flop.
This creates a culture where action beats stagnation, and progress outweighs perfection.
9. Humility
Truly effective leaders ditch the “know-it-all” act.
Humility isn’t weakness, it’s the quiet strength to say “I messed up,” and that’s okay as long as I learn from it.
It’s also to grow from your team’s wisdom and to care more about collective wins than personal glory.
Leaders who drop the ego trips build amazing teams.
Teams where people speak up freely, share ideas boldly, and trust that growth matters more than looking perfect.
How to be a humble team leader:
Turn errors into teachable moments – Publicly name missteps and mistakes, then immediately pivot to “Here’s how we’ll fix it.” No sugar-coating, no blame-shifting, just acknowledgment and action.
Treat your team as co-pilots – Actively ask for their insights with questions like “What’s the flaw in my thinking here?”.
Then, actually adapt based on their answers.
Redirect the spotlight – Celebrate wins by naming specific contributors.
Make “we” your default language, not “I.”
It’s about the team, not you!
Teams led this way don’t just collaborate, they commit.
When humility is shown, it becomes contagious.
People take risks without fear of shame, admit gaps without defensiveness, and invest in the work, not office politics.
This creates a team that solves problems together, not a team leader chasing applause.
10. Empowering Others
Exceptional leaders ditch the clipboard mentality and fuel their team’s potential through trust, not control.
Empowerment isn’t about handing off tasks, it’s creating a space where people work with both support and freedom.
Teams thrive when leaders step back enough to let their talent shine but stay close enough to remove roadblocks.
Here’s how to empower your team:
Delegate like a coach, not a critic – Match responsibilities to individual superpowers, then let them run the play their way. Mistakes are a part of the learning curve. Allow team members to learn from them.
Allow teams to problem solve – Replace “Here’s how to do it” with “How would you tackle this?” Watch creativity spike.
Grow team member strengths – Spot superpowers, not just skills.
Then, give people stretch assignments that turn “good” into “unstoppable.”
Teams treated this way stop waiting for permission.
They start owning outcomes, debating ideas constructively, and pushing boundaries because they know leadership has their back.
Micromanagement kills momentum.
Empowerment builds amazing teams where everyone’s invested in the win.
Check out our blog on “10 Ideas to Empower Employees”
How to Improve as a Team Leader
Leadership isn’t a “you either have it or you don’t” trait.
Becoming a better leader is less about innate talent and more about consistent, intentional practice.
Being a better team leader is about shifting your mindset, refining your approach, and continuously learning from your experiences.
Here’s how to take your leadership to the next level.
1. Identify Your Leadership Strengths and Weaknesses
Self-aware leaders don’t guess, they dig in.
Growth starts with ruthless clarity.
What fuels your team, and what accidentally drains their momentum?
Try This:
Spot patterns, not just moments – Use our free leadership self-assessment checklist to uncover hidden strengths and recurring hiccup areas.
Ask bluntly, listen bravely – Pose specific questions to peers: “What’s one habit of mine that slows us down?” (Then thank them, don’t defend.)
Replay your highlights and challenges – Keep a leadership journal tracking wins and difficult moments.
What trends emerge?
Being self-aware is your roadmap to being a better team leader.
2. Learn from Other Leaders
Good leaders copy what works.
They cherry-pick tactics from mentors and remix ideas into their own unique style.
Everyone learns from somewhere, and the best team leaders keep on learning.
Try these:
Talk to inspiring leaders – Find someone whose leadership feels right to you. Ask: “What’s your secret sauce for X?” Use their frameworks, but put your take on it.
Read books by other leaders – Hunt books for actionable tips from other leaders.
Study stories that helped them empower their teams and use the knowledge to your advantage.
Reverse-engineer greatness – Watch other leaders in action.
Note their tone, timing, and how they pivot. Ask: “What can I adapt, not copy?”
Assess what went well and what didn’t, and use this to support your leadership style.
3. Develop a Team Leadership Growth Plan
Growth doesn’t happen on its own.
Treat leadership like a project, with deadlines, metrics, and a no-excuses mindset.
Design Your Plan:
Create focused goals – Swap “be better” for “Host fortnightly one-to-ones with my team for 90 days to boost trust.” Being specific helps to achieve results.
Document your progress – Keep note of things that go well and things that don’t go so well.
Create accountability – Tell a colleague your goals.
This will help to ensure you stick to the plan.
Their job is to ask, “Did you do the thing?” monthly.
Accountability is a major key to progressing with your team leadership goals.
4. Improve Your Decision-Making Process
Strong leaders don’t waffle, they decide.
But “confident” doesn’t mean rushing blindly.
It’s about building repeatable systems that help you reduce doubt and improve conviction.
Here are some tips to sharpen your process:
Build a decision filter – Before choosing, ask: “How urgent is this?
Who’s impacted? What’s the worst-case scenario?” Turn chaos into a checklist.
Set a non-negotiable deadline – Give yourself a strict timeline for specific decisions.
Ensure someone is holding you accountable with this, too.
Look back on previous decisions – Review past decisions monthly.
“What data did I ignore?”
“Did fear or facts drive me?”
“What can I do differently if I am faced with a similar situation in the future?”
5. Strengthen Your Leadership Presence
Leadership is more than just what you say, it’s how you show up, how you make others feel, and the confidence you project.
How to strengthen your presence:
Work on your executive presence – Be mindful of your body language, tone, and the energy you bring into a room.
Walk with confidence but not arrogance.
Practice public speaking – Strong communication is a major factor of great leadership.
Join a speaking group or practice delivering messages with clarity and confidence.
Even practice in front of the mirror if necessary.
Be visible and engaged – Leadership isn’t about sitting behind a desk.
Be present, approachable, and actively involved in team discussions.
6. Invest in Leadership Development
Leadership is a never-ending learning process, and even the best leaders continuously invest in their growth.
Here are a few things you can do:
Take leadership training or workshops – Courses tailored for team leaders can provide practical tools to refine your approach and support your leadership journey.
Join a leadership community – Engage with other leaders, whether through networking events, mastermind groups, or online forums.
Stay updated on leadership trends – The workplace is always evolving, so staying informed on new leadership methodologies is key.
For example, how is the world of AI impacting leadership at the moment?
7. Prioritise Team Development
Strong leaders don’t just focus on their own growth, they actively help their team grow, too.
Whether it’s through personal or professional growth, a leader’s team should have continuous opportunities to learn.
Here’s what to do:
Empower your team with development opportunities – Encourage learning through workshops, mentorship programs, or assignments that challenge them.
Delegate strategically – Instead of simply offloading tasks, give team members responsibilities that challenge and develop their skills.
Encourage a culture of learning – Encourage curiosity, experimentation, and a mindset that embraces growth over perfection.
8. Become More Resilient
Leadership comes with challenges, setbacks, and difficult moments.
Resilient leaders navigate these with focus and composure.
However, resilience isn’t about toughing it out, it’s learning to bend without breaking.
Here’s how to work towards becoming more resilient:
Reframe setbacks – When challenges occur, ask yourself, “What is this teaching me?” instead of “Why is this happening to me?”
Regulate your emotions – In pressure cooker moments, pause before reacting. Breathe for 10 seconds. Ask yourself, “Will this reaction help or haunt me?”
Allow yourself the opportunity to take action with calmness and clarity.
Develop healthy coping methods – Find ways to cope with your stress.
This could involve scheduled micro-stress resets, 5-minute breathing exercises, going to the gym, walking meetings, or whatever works for you.
Learn to use knowledge and resources to help you become more resilient.
Becoming a better team leader isn’t about an overnight transformation.
It’s about consistent effort, self-awareness, and a willingness to grow.
By focusing on intentional development, strengthening decision-making, and prioritising both your growth and your team’s, you create an environment where people succeed.
FREE Team Leader Self-Assessment Checklist
If you’re serious about taking your leadership skills to the next level, our wellbeing workshops and leadership workshops provide practical, research-backed strategies to help you build stronger, more motivated teams.
Let us help you continue to make a positive impact with your team!
Author
Tyler Lowe
Workshop Facilitator and Wellbeing Speaker
