Some great leaders are born and it is their destiny to lead. On the other hand, there are other great leaders who made the time and effort to become one and you can to.

If you think you're not quite the finished article as a leader, then this article is for you.

Here the 8 character traits that all great leaders possess.

1. Trust & Respect

If you lead you don't need to be liked on a personal level (although most good leaders are)

You simply need to have the characteristics that make you trusted and respected in the leadership role that have assumed.

There is a key difference between generating respect and trust and being liked personally.

People don't have to like you to trust and respect you.

Many people who know nothing about leadership try to hard to be liked on a personal level and this leads to ineffective leadership as their goal of being liked interferes and weakens their role as leader.

2. Communication

Leading on from the above you need to be able to communicate with your team and treat them with respect, encourage and be firm when needed.

A good leader tries to get the best out of their team by being understanding them, inspiring them and rewarding effort. A good leader never rules by fear.

A good leader however needs to firm and stop anyone from upsetting the team reaching its ultimate goal and take swift decisive action when it does.

3. Enthusiastic

Good leaders always have the character trait of enthusiasm about getting the job done.

People will respect a person who shows hard work, passion and dedication.

Leaders are there to motivate and inspire and people will respond to these character traits.

Although the roles of a leader may be different, the leader is the leader of the team and the team will only get behind someone they see as ?one of them? and able to muck in with the them.

4. Confidence.

If you are not confident you wont get anywhere as a leader.

Rock solid confidence in your ability is a must to inspire dedication, trust and hard work from your team.

Confidence should not be confused with arrogance.

Arrogance shows a non team player and will cause resentment.

Most great leaders have a combination of confidence and humility.

5. A Cool Head

When things are going wrong you look for a leader to take control of the situation.

They need to show confidence, but do so in a cool, calm collected manner with the aim to putting things right or getting the job done.

No matter what the situation a good leader never loses his cool and this is critical to maintaining team confidence when the chips are down.

6. Focus on Key Elements

A good leader thinks analytically and can view the overall goal or aim, but also break down the sub elements of what needs to be done to reach the goal.

They organize, prioritize and workout the smaller parts into a logical pattern to reach the ultimate goal in the best possible manner.

7. Motivation & Innovation

A good leader is always looking to improve and to innovate to get better results even when things are going well a true leader is looking to take himself and his team to the next level.

8. Improve Their Skills

Leading on from the above, a good leader will know they are not perfect (no one is) and they will be constantly trying to improve their skills and look at their past results no matter how good they were and see how they could have done better.

The above character traits are ones that all great leaders have and you can to if you dedicate yourself to becoming a leader ? You never know you may even become a great one.