Not only intelligence quotient (IQ) makes a good teacher, but also there are other traits required by teachers for effective teaching. This present study aims to identify the effective critical traits of teachers in higher education institutions (HEIs) and intends to outline the framework for effective teaching. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of qualitative research methodology has been used in this research. In this research, teachers from HEIs have been selected as the respondents to understand the critical traits required for effective teaching. This research found that teachers' passion, self-efficacy, creativity, humour, paralanguage, and immediacy are critical traits for effective teaching. The teaching framework highlights that each critical trait has an impact in the classroom management and students' performance.