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Leadership with respect to Five Big Personality Traits
Introduction:
A process whereby an individual, is able to influence others to internalize a collective vision
and mobilize them toward attaining that vision is called leadership. Effective leadership
converts people’s goals and ambitions, even their identities, and replaces their self-oriented
behavior with group-oriented behavior. Leadership is basically the capacity to translate vision
into reality, and it is generally a responsibility of a leader to develop a vision for the people
and institutions they direct. Leader’s also need to effectively communicate their priorities to
others and inspire them to commit to those goals as well.
The main objective of leaders is to provide knowledge, support and assistance to their
subordinates in carrying out their job duties in a well-ordered and achieving the desired goals
and objectives. When the leaders are performing their job duties or are working with other
individuals, they need to promote the traits of morality and ethics. Furthermore, the leaders
need to be well-aware in terms of measures and approaches to cope with changes and ensure
that they prove to be effective, and useful to the members and the organization as a whole.
The role of the leaders is not limited to formation of a friendly and pleasing environment
within the workplace and in directing the workforce in the right direction towards the
fulfillment of organizational goals, but the roles of the leaders is extended to other areas as
well. The leaders listen to the problems of the employees and give them certain suggestions.
The Five Big Personality Traits with respect to Leadership:
When considering the Five Factor Model of Personality, each individual’s personality can be
determined according to five factors. Each factor plays a role in a good leader.
These Big five factors are:
1. Openness
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism
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1. Openness:
People who are high on the trait of openness are more willing to accept new things, fresh
ideas, and new experiences. They are open-minded and approach new things with great
interest and tend to seek out creativity. They tend to follow new adventures, experiences, and
creative ventures. They are also very good at thinking about and making links between
different convictions. Effective leaders are high in this trait; they are more likely to seek out
new experiences. They enjoy things that are different, new, and extraordinary. They are also
more likely to pay attention to their feelings and inner experiences.
People who are high in openness tend to have many of the following characteristics:
Creative
Intelligent and knowledgeable
Give great attention to mental imagery
Interested in new things
Enjoys hearing new ideas
Usually more liberal and open to diversity
Adventurous
Openness is key to building strong connections with your teams. The stronger the
connections, the more engaged and committed your teams will be, towards achieving the
goals and objectives. Openness make you hospitable as a leader, which give people the
passion that they are working with you and not for you. Openness builds trust in the leader,
and help you appear as unassertive. I’ve heard that many leaders say that they have an open
door policy, but having an open door policy is not the same as being actually open.
As a person, if you are not open then people will not feel comfortable about walking through
your open door, nevertheless of any policy you may say you have. Finally, people who
have openness to experience have ability to emerge as leaders and they tend to be effective as
leaders.
2. Conscientiousness:
Conscientiousness, one of the leadership traits, reflects the degree to which a person is
dependable, responsible, perseveres and is achievement oriented. In addition,
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conscientiousness shows itself in concern for following the rules established by the
organization. Highly conscientious people tend to be organized. They plan ahead, think about
how their behavior affects others, and are aware of deadlines.
Leaders who show a high degree of conscientiousness in their leadership traits tend to:
Be highly dedicated to their work
They are highly concerned for legal and rules issues
They are ethical and hold their teams to high ethical standards
Have a strong sense of control over the environment in their team
These positive contributions are valuable in any organization. These leaders can often see
more efficient work processes that will increase effectiveness in the workplace.
Conscientious people are organized, they take initiative, and demonstrate persistence in their
effort. Conscientious people are more likely to become leaders and be effective as leaders.
The conscientious leader works hard to achieve everything required by the organization and
almost never give up. The conscientious leader behaves ethically and they expect the same
behavior from others as well. Conscientious leaders would never compromise over ethical,
legal and safety standards. Holding the team and the organization answerable for maintaining
high standards in their work is one of the strong contribution.
3. Extraversion:
Extraversion is related to leadership. Extraverts are sociable, assertive, and energetic people.
Extraverts enjoy interacting with other people in their environment and they demonstrate self-
confidence. Because they are highly dominant and sociable in their environment, they emerge
as leaders in a wide variety of situations. Out of all personality traits, extraversion has the
strongest relationship with both leader emergence and leader effectiveness. It doesn’t mean
that all effective leaders are extraverts, but it’s more likely to find extraverts in leadership
positions.
Extraversion is characterized by talkativeness, excitability, sociability, assertiveness and high
amounts of emotional expressiveness. People who are high in extraversion are outgoing and
being surrounded by other people helps them to feel energized and excited. Extraverted
leaders tend to be more successful for several reasons. They talk more and take more air time
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in team discussions, they are more forceful in their opinion, and they tend to develop a higher
number of relationships. Each relationship can serve as a resource for them when needed.
4. Agreeableness:
An agreeable leader forms trust more easily and teams who have confidence and on their
leaders, have a higher chance of performing more effectively. Agreeableness is also related
with raising morale, motivating teams and inspiring subordinates towards successful
outcomes. Agreeableness is the personal warmth, cooperation, trust and acceptance of others.
Agreeableness might seem like a uniformly good thing, but however, some circumstances
demands an assertive and competitive approach that might be difficult and uncomfortable for
an agreeable leader.
Agreeableness is a positive trait when:
Consensus is important
Compatible decentralized teams are part of the culture
Shared decision making is rewarded
The right team is in place
Agreeableness generally interpret as likeability. In general, people probably work harder for
someone they like. Liking makes the workday more pleasant and cordial. Liked leaders often
get helping behaviors from their employees that results in increased productivity. Agreeable
leaders have ability to seek and drive consensus within a team based culture. This can create
a positive energy and sense of meaningful contribution in the workplace. These positive
aspects of agreeableness have a strong contribution toward harmony in the workplace.
5. Neuroticism:
Neuroticism is the tendency of a person to experience negative emotions such as anxiety,
anger and depression. People high in this trait are vulnerable to stress, they usually
experience emotional instability. They are often in a bad mood. Neuroticism is moderately
and negatively related to leadership. They have a very low ability to cope with other people’s
stress, which leaders have to do daily. We all have some amount of neuroticism. Effective
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leaders need to exhibit less neuroticism and more emotional stability than the people they
direct. Leaders must have the ability to face stress without becoming upset.
Narcissists actively pursue leadership positions and are likely to be selected for them by
others, but at the same time, they tend to act in their own best interest, while putting the
interests and needs of others at risk. The two sides of narcissism are; a bright and a dark one.
The bright side happens when narcissists are at their best, the dark side when they are at their
worst.
In the narcissistic leadership style, leaders are interested only in themselves and they give
priority to their own interests over others. Narcissistic behavior involves arrogance,
dominance and hostility. This leadership style would be destructive when it is driven by the
person’s need for power, admiration and approval from others. However, healthy narcissistic
behavior may also have good leadership qualities.
