DiBona & Associates
DiBona & Associates

Do You Have The Traits of a Top Ten Percent Team Leader?

09.12.22 09:22 PM By Noel DiBona

Your teammates expect you, as their leader, to wear different hats. It’s extremely important that you are able to adapt your management style to certain situations.

Here are some examples that show the breadth of what is expected of team leaders:
  • Providing guidance on business strategy and execution.
  • Tracking project progress and keeping members informed.
  • Facilitating open team communication to build relationships.
  • Inspiring people to reach their individual and team milestones and goals.
  • Removing obstacles for your teammates to get them back on track when plans go astray.
  • Raise your teammates up when their morale is low.

Team leaders are responsible for many aspects of the business. Project manager, motivator, mentor, role model, liaison. It can be difficult to juggle all of these roles and remain effective.

Regardless of your specific role in your current organization, Top Ten Percent Leaders all have the same essential characteristics.


These are the traits of The Top Ten Percent Leaders:

1. Visionary

Top Ten Percent Leaders are able to inspire others to help them turn their vision into reality. These leaders create a vision, they share it with their teammates, and inspires other teammates to even create their own vision.

Top Ten Percent Leaders not only carry out their company’s vision, but they also help their team envision their specific goals and clearly communicate the impact and importance to the team’s daily work.

Top Ten Percent Leaders find ways to align their team with the company’s business strategy and vision. As a result, Top Ten Percent Leaders are able to increase the engagement of their teams, so their teammates have a more positive experience at work. This sets the stage for Top Ten Percent Leaders to tap into their teammates discretionary work effort.

2. Decisive

Top Ten Percent Leaders have confidence in making timely decisions and do not let difficult issues fester. Their teammates have strong clarity of the boundaries they operate within. These team members have a role model that demonstrates the importance of leaders making decisions and eliminating uncertainty.

Uncertainty on a team is like a poison and fuels negative emotions.

Top Ten Percent Team Leaders don’t waste the time of the teams by stalling on making decisions even if those decisions are difficult and unpopular.

3. Influential

Top Ten Percent Leaders proactively communicate to expand their sphere of influence throughout the organization. They find ways to provide value in everything they do. In any organization, there are opportunities at the intersections of critical teams. These leaders understand that and take on difficult issues to improve the overall company. This is how they become more influential and provide huge amounts of value. Top Ten Percent Leaders expand their sphere of influence daily.

In addition, Top Ten Percent Leaders inspire their team members to act without micromanaging them. This allows them to build a more collaborative work environment. Respect is earned; you will not gain the respect of your team just because of your title.

Top Ten Percent Leaders also have the ability to deeply connect with their team by understanding each of their teammate’s needs and drives. This builds a much stronger connection and make teammates feel important while they also enjoy a certain degree of autonomy.

4. Humble

When leaders demonstrate their vulnerability, they allow their teammates to be more open, more frank about issues. In general, this builds trust.

Top Ten Percent Leaders are confident and are able to show their vulnerability to their team.

When the team feels that the team leader is always right and defends poor decisions, or makes people feel like they don’t measure up, your teammates will not volunteer important information.

Top Ten Percent Leaders are able to gain useful insights from teammates because their teammates are not afraid to speak up. There is a foundation of trust throughout the team.

According to the Harvard Business Review, self-aware leaders see and uplift the value in their team members because they see them as assets, not threats.

5. Risk-oriented

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Top Ten Percent Leaders are willing to take risks to achieve their goals. These courageous leaders inspire their teams to think about problems differently; try new things; produce different ideas – create your own art. Top Ten Percent Leaders make it happen while their counterparts are unable to muster the confidence and fortitude to take calculated risk.

On the other hand, Top Ten Percent Leaders also know when it’s time not to take on inordinate risks.

6. Passionate

Top Ten Percent Leaders demonstrate passion; they don’t say, “It’s just a job.” Top Ten Percent Leaders deeply care about the work, their organization, and their teams. And their teammates know this.


One of the most important investments, leaders can make in their careers is to better understand their own self-awareness so they can continually refine their leadership and better model these top traits.

Top Ten Percent leaders continually strive to become more self-aware.