More Safety Leadership Traits

Knowledge:

Leaders must have credibility

• Understand and appropriately apply procedures, requirements, regulations and policies related to areas of expertise.

Leaders must possess external awareness

• Able to identify and remain up-to-date on key national and internal policies and economic and political and social trends that are critical to the "teachings" of the organization.

Leaders are politically savvy

• Ability to identify the internal and external politics that impact the USGS and formulate appropriate approaches to each problem situation.

Communication Skills:

Leaders must possess effective interpersonal skills.

• Consider and respond to the needs, feelings and capabilities of different people in different situations.
• Effectively communicate to all levels: managers, peers, and employees.
• Exercise effective listening skills, clarifying information as needed and facilitate an open exchange of ideas.
• Have the ability to effectively communicate both verbally and in writing-make clear, factual and organized verbal and written presentations to a variety of audiences.

Team-building/Teamwork:

Leaders must have the ability to consistently develop and sustain cooperative working relationships.

• Encourage and facilitate cooperation within their team environments and throughout the organization.
• Be able to build networks and alliances, engage in cross-functional activities and collaborate across boundaries; honor commitments, gain cooperation from others to obtain information and accomplish goals.
• Able to manage conflicts effectively.
• Respectfully confront issues and disagreements in a positive and constructive manner to minimize negative impact.

Personal Development:

Leaders must value continual learning.

• Have the ability to grasp the essence of new information, master new technical and business knowledge, recognize own strengths and weaknesses and pursue self-development.

Leaders must instill mutual trust and confidence.

• Create a culture that fosters high standards of ethics.
• Hold himself/herself accountable and reliable to ensure that projects within areas of responsibility are completed in a timely manner.
• Be open to feedback from others and use this feedback to make corrective changes as appropriate.
• Must be flexible and open to change.
• Have the ability to adapt behaviors and work methods in response to new information, changing conditions or unexpected obstacles.

Leaders must be resilient.

• Deal effectively with pressure, maintaining focus and intensity, and remain optimistic and persistent even under adversity.

Problem Solving/Critical Thinking:

Leaders must have the ability to identify and analyze problems.

• Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information to make logical decisions.
• Able to exercise good judgment by making timely and effective, well-informed decisions.
• Anticipate the impact and implications of their decisions.
• Apply creative solutions based on new insights to make organizational improvements.
• Able to deeply question and investigate the reasoning and logic of ideas and approaches.

Leaders must encourage thought-provoking curiosity, creativity, and analysis.

Strategic Thinking and Direction Setting:

Leaders must demonstrate the ability to take a long-term view and act as a catalyst for innovative organization changes.

• Build a shared vision with others.
• Influence others to translate vision into action.
• Determine objectives and set priorities.
• Anticipate issues and opportunities.

Customer Service:

Leaders must have the ability to create and sustain a team culture that encourages others to provide the quality of service essential to high performance.

• Enable others to acquire the tools and support they need to perform well.
• Influence others toward a spirit of service and meaningful contributions to accomplish mission.
• Balance interests of a variety of clients.
• Anticipate and meet the needs of clients.
• Achieve quality end-products and be committed to continuous improvement of services.

Business Management:

Leaders must acquire and administer human, financial, material, and information resources in a manner that instills public trust and accomplishes the USGS mission, and use new technology to enhance decision making.

• Assure that effective controls are developed and maintained to ensure the integrity of their charge.
• By applying merit principles, hold self and others accountable for rules and responsibilities.
• Ensure that projects are completed in a timely manner and within budget.
• Monitor and evaluate plans, focus on results and measurements.
• Manage financial resources and budgetary processes with efficient and cost-effective approaches.
• Ensure that team members are appropriately selected, developed, utilized, rewarded and recognized as well as take corrective action appropriately.
• Value cultural diversity and other individual differences in the workforce.
• Ensure people are treated fairly and equitably.

SOURCE: USGS

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