Running head: TRAIT AND SKILLS APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP 1

Trait and Skills Approach to Leadership

Chase Blackwood
Arizona State University
OGL: 300
May 31, 2020
TRAIT AND SKILLS APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP 2

Trait and Skills Approach to Leadership

Part One:

Over many decades, scholars have conducted vast amounts of research, in order to

answer one simple question. What makes a leader, a good leader? There are two there are two

common approaches used today to help answer this simple question, the trait approach to

leadership and the skills approach to leadership. In this paper, I will compare and contrast the

trait and skills approach to leadership and explain why these two approaches are useful in

helping us understand leadership today; then I will discuss my personal experiences with both

approaches and provide an example of a leader who fits the traits approach and a leader who fits

the skills approach.

For many years, people have always had an interest in identifying the unique traits a good

leader possesses. The traits approach to leadership was developed in the early 20th century in

order to determine what makes certain people great leaders (Northouse 2016, pg. 19). In the early

stages of the trait approach, research primarily focused on what characteristics separated the

leaders from the followers (Northouse 2016, pg. 19). Over the years, the trait approach has

gained new interest due to emphasis on visionary and charismatic leadership (Northouse 2016,

pg. 20). Many scholars agree that there are five major leadership traits amongst effective leaders:

intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Northouse 2016, pg. 23).

Most research supports the hypothesis that leaders are more intelligent than their

followers (Northouse 2016, pg. 23). Intelligence is linked to strong verbal skills, perceptual

ability, and reasoning, which makes for a better leader (Northouse 2016, pg. 24). Though high

intelligence is a great thing, if a leader has too high of intelligence it can actually act as a barrier

between leader and follower (Northouse 2016, pg. 24). If there is too much of an intellectual gab

between leader and follower, it can cause communication issues and ultimately be
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counterproductive (Northouse 2016, pg. 24). The next major leadership trait that will be

discussed is self-confidence.

Self-confidence is a trait that can be beneficial for leaders and followers and is a trait that

everyone should aspire to have. But from the leadership perspective, self-confidence consists of

a leader’s ability to have confidence in their competencies and skills (Northouse 2016, pg. 24).

Self-esteem and self-assurance are two benefactors which are also included in self-confidence

(Northouse 2016, pg. 24). Because leadership involves influencing others, a leader needs to feel

condiment in their ability to influence a group of individuals (Northouse 2016, pg. 24).

Determination is the next major leadership trait that will be discussed.

Many leader’s express their determination by having the desire to get jobs done, such as

initiative, perseverance, dominance, and drive (Northouse 2016, pg. 25). Leaders who possess

determination are usually willing to behave confidently, are proactive, and have the ability to

prissiest when faced with adversity (Northouse 2016, pg. 25). Finally, a person who is

determined will show their dominance at times when its needed (Northouse 2016, ph. 25). The

fourth leadership major leadership trait is integrity.

Integrity is a characteristic that followers look for amongst their leaders. Integrity is the

ability for a leader to be honest and trustworthy (Northouse 2016, pg. 25). When individuals

exhibit integrity, their followers feel confident in them because the leaders have been proven to

be trusted in what they say and do (Northouse, 2016 pg. 25). Integrity makes a leader believable

and worthy of their followers’ trust because they are loyal, dependable, and not deceptive

(Northouse 2016, pg. 25). Finally, the last major trait that will be discussed is sociability.

Everyone wants to work for a leader who is outgoing and seeks to have a good

relationship with everyone on the team. A leader who is friendly, outgoing, courteous, tactful,
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and diplomatic is a leader who expresses sociability (Northouse 2016, pg. 26). A leader who is

social, has good interpersonal skills and can create cooperative relationships with others because

they are sensitive to the needs of others and are concerned for their well-being (Northouse 2016,

pg. 26). A leader should always strive to be a leader with high levels of sociability.

The trait approach to leadership has many strengths. First, the trait approach fits with

what society believes leaders should be; leaders leading the way in society (Northouse 2016, pg.

30). Second, the strength approach has over a century of scholarly research to support the theory,

which gives the theory credibility (Northouse 2016, pg. 30). Third, the leadership approach has

been able to provide a deeper understanding of how the leader and their traits are related to the

process of leadership (Northouse 2016, p. 30).

The skills approach has been studied for multiple years Different from the traits

approach, the skills approach shifts the focus from personality traits to an emphasis on skills and

abilities that can be learned and developed over time (Northouse 2016, pg. 43). The skills

approach suggests that to be an effective leader, one must have a certain level of knowledge and

abilities (Northouse 2016, pg. 43). One of the most widely accepted approaches to leadership is

the skills model; otherwise known as the capability model, because it focuses on how the

leader’s knowledge and skills affect their performance (Northouse 2016, pg. 47). The skills-

based model of leadership focuses on five key components: competencies, individual attributes,

leadership outcomes, career experiences, and environmental influences (Northouse 2016, pg.

47).

At one point or another, everyone has heard someone say a leader needs have

competence, but what does that mean? Within the competency skill, there are three sets of skills

that are necessary for a leader to be competent: problem-solving skills, social judgement skills,
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and knowledge (Northouse 2016, pg.48). Problems-solving skills are the leader’s ability to solve

organizational issues that do not occur on a daily basis (Northouse 2016, pg. 48). Problem-

solving requires a leader to define problems, gather information about the problem, and create a

plan of attack to solve the problem (Northouse 2016, pg. 48). The next topic that will be

discussed is social judgment skills and why they are necessary.

Social judgement skills require leaders to be capable in understanding different people

and the social systems in which they fit (Northouse 2016, pg. 49). Social judgment skills provide

leaders with the encouragement and skills to work with other individuals on solving a common

problem; an organization cannot solve problems (big or small) if their leader does not have the

proper social judgement skills (Northouse 2016, pg. 49). There are four skills within social

judgment skills that a leader needs to focus on if they are going to have good social judgment

skills: preceptive talking, social perceptiveness, behavioral flexibility, and social performance

(Northouse 2016, pg. 49). Perceptive talking requires one to be sensitive to other people’s

viewpoints on different issues and their goals (Northouse 2016, pg. 49). Social perceptiveness

requires the leader’s to be aware of what motivates their team, what is important to their team,

what problems they face and how they react to change (Northouse 2016, pg. 50). When a leader

is socially preceptive, they are aware of how they followers are feeling at all times (Northouse

2016, pg. 50). For a leader to be behavioral flexible, they must be open and willing to change

(Northouse 2016, pg. 50). Social performance requires a vast array of skills including a leader’s

ability to persuade and communicate with their followers (Northouse 2016, pg. 50). A leader

must also coach, direct, and support their followers (Northouse 2016, pg. 50). Social judgement

skills are all about a leader being able to be sensitive to other’s ideas. Along with social

judgment, a good leader needs to have knowledge skills.

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Knowledge is something that almost everyone believes a good leader needs to possess.

Knowledge looks at how a leader applies and implements their problem-solving skills.

Knowledge is related to how a leader defines organizational problems and their ability to solve

them (Northouse 2016, pg. 51). Knowledge has a positive influence on how leaders engage in

problem-solving; without knowledge, a leader would not have the expertise to identify possible

issues to solve complex problems (Northouse 2016 pg. 51). Now that the attributes within

competency have been discusses, now the focus will be shifted to the second characteristic in the

skills model, individual attributes.

As individuals work their way up within an organization into a leadership role, the

problems they have to solve become more and more complex and require more cognitive ability.

Within individual attributes, there is general cognitive ability, crystalized cognitive ability,

motivation, and personality. General cognitive ability includes perceptual processing,

information processing, general reasoning skills, creative and divergent thinking, and memory

skills (Northouse 2016, pg. 52). General cognitive ability is biological and usually grows and

expands up to early adulthood and then declines with age (Northouse 2016, pg. 52). Crystalized

cognitive ability is just the opposite of general cognitive ability. Crystalized cognitive ability is

an intellectual ability that can be learned throughout time; it is also the knowledge acquired

though experience (Northouse 2016, pg. 52). Crystalized cognitive ability does not diminish over

time because it used fairly evenly throughout the years (Northouse 1016, pg. 52). Motivation is

the third individual attribute in the skills model (Northouse 2016, pg. 52). Motivation is essential

to leadership because leaders must be willing to tackle problems faced by the organization;

leaders must we willing to exert their dominance; leaders must be motivated to commit to the

social good of the organization and take responsibility for enhancing the moral and value of the
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organization (Northouse 2016, pg. 52- 53). Finally, personality is the fourth is the fourth attribute

because a leader’s personality impacts the development of their leadership skills (Northouse

2016, pg. 53). The next individual attribute that will be discussed is leadership outcomes.

Leadership outcomes focuses on two key components, effective problem solving and

performance (Northouse 2016, pg. 53). Effective problem solving is fundamental in the skills

approach and problem-solving skills in competencies lead to effective problem solving as a

leadership outcome (Northouse 2016, pg. 53). For a leader have effective problem solving as a

leadership outcome they must have logical, effective, and unique answers to complex

organizational problems (Northouse 2016, pg. 53). Performance measures how well a leader has

accomplished their job (Northouse 2016, pg. 53). Effective problem solving and performance are

two ways to measure a leader’s effectiveness, using the skills model (Northouse 2016, pg. 54).

Next in the skills model, career experiences will be discussed.

Many people would agree that their career experiences have impacted the way they lead.

Career experiences over a period of time can impact a leader’s knowledge and skills to get the

job done (Northouse 2016, pg. 54). Career experiences can positively affect a leader’s motivation

and intellectual ability (Northouse 2016, pg. 54). Finally, the last component in the skills model

that will be discussed is environmental influences.

Environmental influences are outside the leader’s competencies, characteristics, and

experiences (Northouse 2016, pg. 55). There are environmental influences that can affect a

leader’s ability to lead, these factors include: technology, facility, followers’ expertise, and

communication (Northouse 2016, pg. 55). External environmental factors include factors outside

of the organization such as: economic, political, and social policies as well as natural disasters

(Northouse 2016, pg. 55). The skills model focuses on five key components to describe a
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leader’s performance: competencies, individual attributes, leadership outcomes, career

experiences, and environmental influences.

Like the traits approach, the skills approach has many strengths. First, the leader is

working with a model that emphasizes a particular set of strength (Northouse 2016, pg. 58).

Second, unlike the traits approach, the skills approach focuses on skills that can be developed

rather than personality traits that cannot be learned or acquired over time (Northouse 2016, pg.

58). Third, the skills approach provides and in-depth look into leadership by developing each

component into sub-components, in order to provide a bigger picture (Northouse 2016, pg. 58).

Lastly, the skills approach goes hand-in-hand with a lot of curriculum about leadership

(Northouse 2016, pg. 58).

While thinking of leaders I have had in the past, one leader came to mind is my former

supervisor, Louis. He was an extremely intelligent individual, but he had the emotional

intelligence to realize that he had an IQ that was higher than most people. When he

communicated with his followers, he spoke in a certain way so his followers could understand.

Louis was also a leader that possessed a lot of self-confidence; he would also make sure to talk in

a way that would boost his follower’s self-confidence as well. When Louis would speak in

meetings about things the team needed to get accomplished, he spoke with such convection and

certainty that we as a team believed and wanted to accomplish those things. Determination was

another quality that louis possessed, when he set goals for us as a team or us individually, he was

there every step of the encouraging us because he determined for us as a whole or individually to

get the job done. Next, Louis was the type of leader who held himself to a high degree of

integrity. Louis was responsible, honest, and held himself accountable at all times. I specifically

remember, one time he was late for the morning meeting which he always stressed everyone
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being to the morning meeting on time; Louis not only apologize to everyone because he was late,

he also showed up the thirty minutes early the following day. Lastly, Louis had such charisma,

he had such an agreeableness about him. I do not know one person in the office who did not get

along with Louis, even when reprimanded someone he did it in such a way that you always knew

he still respected you. I would say I had a great leader that mentor the skills model for me.

My mother-in-law is in a leadership position, she is the Chief Nursing Officer and the

Chief Operations Officer at a hospital in Medford, Oregon. I spoke with my mother-in-law prior

to writing this paper, so I can gain some insight on her leadership style. My mother-in-law did

not start off with all of these great skills, in fact she started off in the same position as a lot of her

followers, a nurse. She was able to become a leader because of all the knowledge and insight that

she acquired throughout the years. My mother-in-law is what she claims, “there to put out fires”.

She is able to clearly define what the problem or problems are within the organization, then she

and her team are able to come up with a solution that best fits the problem. My mother-in-law is

able to work with many different types of individuals in many different areas of work; she is able

to remain openminded in order to find solutions that best fix the problem within the organization.

Because my mother-in-law has been a nurse for twenty years and in administration for ten, she is

able to ask all right questions and gather a lot of information, in order for her to create a well

thought out solution. My mother-in-law has great individual attributes, she has great intellectual

ability, which helps her solve the difficult complex

The who approaches to leadership are the traits approach and the skills approach. The

traits approach focuses on biological characteristics such as intelligence, self-confidence,

determination, integrity, and sociability. The skills approach focuses on skills that are acquired

and learned over time such as competencies, individual attributes, leadership outcomes, career
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experiences, and environmental influences. Part two of this paper will apply the trait and skills

approach to leadership to two case studies.

Part Two

Case Study One: 2.1

Based on the information provided in the case study, I would choose Thomas. I would

choose Thomas because not only does he have integrity, he obviously must have the cognitive

abilities to be in a leadership position because leadership consists with him about strategic

planning and corporate direction setting. Thomas must also be motivated and drive because he

has been involved with the development of three new product lines.

If all candidates look good on paper based off of their qualifications and skills, the traits

approach will help a manager choose the best leader based off of special characteristics that all

candidates may not possess.

Because there is not a definitive list of important characteristics, managers tend to choose

the characteristics that they value the most (Northouse 2016, pg. 31). If Sandra had a definitive

list of characteristics to look for, she would have been able to decipher who the best candidate

was.

Case Study Two: 3.1

Based on the skills approach, I would infer that Dr. Woods is not a good “team player”.

He unfortunately, is a who I believe has a higher IQ than a majority of his team, and he does not

know how to effectively communicate with individuals who are on a lower intellectual level.

Though he may be competent, he is not possessing good problem-solving and social judgement

skills. I predict that the project will be unsuccessful because if the effective problem solving was
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not use during the beginning stages of solving the problem, solving the problem will

unsuccessful (Northouse 2016, pg. 54).

No, Dr. Woods does not possess the skills necessary to be a good leader, but thankfully,

leadership skills, based on the skills approach, can be learned over time (Northouse 2016, pg.

43). Skills approach emphases anyone’s ability to “learn” to become a leader; Dr. Woods had a

rocky start, but over time he could learn the skills necessary to become a good leader (Burkus

2010, para. 4).

There are three competencies, problem-solving, social judgement, and knowledge

(Northouse 2016, pg. 48-51). If I were to coach Dr. Woods through competencies, I would first

have him focus on social judgment. I would ask him to be more sensitive to his team. I would

then ask him to dive a little deeper and ask what motivates and inspires each and every one of his

team members. Next, I would tell him he needs to be more flexible with, meaning he needs to

adapt his behavior to become more open minded to understand the stresses he is putting on his

team. Even if Dr. Woods worked on his social judgment skills, he may not be an effective leader

if because according to Burkus (2010), thee is little research that links a person’s competencies

to effective leadership (Para. 5).

In part three will discuss the leadership questionnaire in the chapter two of the textbook and how

it applies to my own leadership style

Part Three:
Questions/Names Mary John Marty Dan Connar Averag Myself
e
1: Articulate 4 4 3 5 5 4.2 4
2: Perceptive 5 4 4 3 5 4.2 4
3: Self-Confident 4 4 4 5 5 4.4 3
4: Self-Assured 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5: Persistent 5 5 5 5 4 4.8 5
6: Determined 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
7: Trustworthy 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
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8: Dependable 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
9: Friendly 4 4 3 4 4 3.8 3
10: Outgoing 4 3 3 3 4 3.4 3
11: Conscientious 4 5 5 4 5 4.6 4
12: Diligent 4 5 5 5 5 4.8 5
13: Sensitive 2 2 3 3 4 2.8 3
14: Empathetic 3 2 3 3 4 5 2

Looking back on my scores, I can definitely see that I need to focus on my sociability. I

am a person who likes my job, but I do not necessarily like being around a whole bunch of

people. I like my job because I get to solve problems, I get to figure out answers to questions like

why is production low this month, how much steam do we need to inject to increase production,

or how much of them chemical would help us ultimately have cleaner water. Since I want to

work up to a production supervisor, in the organization in which I currently work. I need to focus

on my sociability skills. I need to focus on being more outgoing, friendly, and build genuine

relationship with the people I currently work with. Once I do that, I think I will have a full traits

approach to leadership.

Conclusion

There are two main approaches to leadership, one approach is the traits approach which

looks at leadership as a set of qualities one is born with. The second approach to leadership is the

skills approach which looks at leadership as a set of skills that be developed and acquired over

time. This paper described the main focuses of the trait and skills approaches to leadership, as

well as the differences. Two case studies were discussed, one applied the traits approach to

leadership and the other applied the skills approach to leadership. Finally, I then described the

leadership traits questionnaire as it applies to my leadership style.

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References

Burkus, David. (2010). Skills Theory. Retrieved from: https://davidburkus.com/2010/02/skills-

theory/

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 7th Edition. Los Angeles: SAGE

Publications, Inc