Read: Five traits of successful entrepreneurial leaders

In the past, the business mindset was geared towards processes and systems, but with digital technology and globalization, things have changed to become more risk-oriented.

The new entrepreneurial leader should have a set of traits that can equip them to deal with the changes in a successful way. Although we tend to think that leaders are born, most of these skills can be taught. It is therefore imperative that skills be updated as the business develops and grows.

Here are five traits that each entrepreneurial leader should have and should continue to nurture:

Passion and a vision

An essential element needed for a successful entrepreneurial leader is passion. That inner passion will radiate and vibrate with the rest of the team, the company and even your clients. More so, your passion for your business will drive it; drive it from something small to something great.

Still, you need to channel that passion into an end goal. A vision could be critical. And a clear vision will not only make it crystal clear for yourself where you will be heading and the path that you will be taking but if you tell your workers then they will know as well.
It is that big picture, that vision that will drive your company. Indeed it is true that at times you might need to reset the vision as circumstances change. Then, when you make some alterations to your vision, you will need to communicate that with your team.

Communication skills

An essential skill that an entrepreneur needs to communicate effectively. To do that they need good communication skills. The reasons for this are that they do not misinform, or leave people with unclear instructions. Rather ensure the instructions are given clearly.

Supportiveness

Another important skill is how the leadership reacts and what type of support they provide their staff. But the leader should also drive change, and during that process, they need to support the staff to prepare them and educate them about the change that is planned.

As part of offering support, the leader should create a network by meeting up with other people or groups, building stronger relationships, and it is these type of relationships that can help to strengthen the quality of support that is given.

Being open-minded and willing to learn

Vital, but sometimes ignored is that an entrepreneur should remain open-minded and learn.

An entrepreneur that is closed off, and does not want to improve and learn, especially from their staff might not succeed as one that takes the time to learn and develop their own skills. But, these leaders should also update and expand the knowledge of their teams and create a learning environment.

Perhaps your braininess and your charm got you where you are, but irrespective of your fancy position and your ability to deal with difficult situations, being fast on your feet, and able to charm the investors, you need to share these skills.

It is as Milton Glaser once said, “The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.”

As coordinator of this process of expanding knowledge and skills, the leader should also encourage their teams to think outside of the box, so creative solutions can be found to solve problems. This, however, does not mean that creativity should be limited to the team. Rather, the leader should be the one that is creative. And here it means the creative use of resources, and to find new investors and clients for the company.

Living by the virtues of honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness

From a startup to a company that has been around for a while, there needs to be a healthy relationship with the different clients, but also within the team.
What is important here are the virtues of honesty, trustworthiness and integrity. These characteristics will not only allow you a better relationship with the clients, community, suppliers and within the team. Still, these characteristics are not unique to the world of entrepreneurship but have universal application in all other types of businesses.

The bottom-line

Naturally, there are important characteristics as well as behavioural qualities that an entrepreneurial leader should have. All of these relate to the ability to organized, mobilized, support and to lead in a strategic way.

Most of all, all of these skills can be learned, and further developed. Going on innovation and leadership training courses will help to develop these skills.

Ghostwriter of article. Published in thesouthafrican.com. [Text altered].