How to acquire leadership skills

How to Improve Your Leadership Skills

Yarilet Perez is an experienced multimedia journalist and fact-checker with a Master of Science in Journalism. She has worked in multiple cities covering breaking news, politics, education, and more. Her expertise is in personal finance and investing, and real estate.

Leadership skills can play a large role in a person’s career development. Technical skills and a college degree may only take you so far. To be an effective leader and help move your career forward, you’ll also need soft skills, such as the ability to be a good listener and communicator.

There are several core leadership skills that are considered important traits to help you become a more effective leader. Whether it’s taking the initiative, developing critical thinking skills, or learning how to motivate and empower those around you, you must constantly be challenging yourself to enhance your leadership capabilities.

By showing that you have what it takes to be a leader, you can fast-track your career. If you’re looking for a new job or promotion, you’re more likely to get where you want to go if you have a steady track record of being successful in leadership roles in your professional and personal life.

There are many different types of leaders, but very few people are natural, born leaders. Most of us need to learn, develop, and improve on how to be a good leader. Leadership development involves identifying and mastering the key skills and characteristics that are required to become a successful leader.

Key Takeaways

Taking Initiative

Most bosses will only assign employees tasks they know they can do. That’s why it’s important to volunteer to take on more responsibilities while going above and beyond at your current position. Focus on learning competencies that fall outside your primary knowledge area.

Don’t be complacent. Step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to improve. Remember, the more work you do, the more you are learning. Learning more and taking on more responsibility will eventually help move you into a leadership role at your workplace. Also, others will more easily accept you as a leader when that day comes, because you will have established a track record of taking the initiative, being a student of learning, and using that newfound knowledge for making improvements.

Critical Thinking

To be hired for a high-profile job, you will need to be a critical thinker. Good leaders can foresee potential problems before they happen. They can also develop ways to prevent problems from happening.

Good leaders are also aware of potential opportunities and take advantage of them to benefit the company and employees. In other words, be proactive. Don’t wait for things to happen; instead, anticipate them, and help the team be ready in case something goes wrong. If you’re a leader and an employee brings a problem to your attention, help them determine the cause and put preventive measures in place to ensure it doesn’t negatively impact the employees, the company, and the customers.

How To Improve Your Leadership Skills

Listening Effectively

Communication skills are critical to being an effective leader, whether it’s presenting in front of the team, creating and writing a business strategy, or communicating to employees and clients. One of the most important communication skills for a leader is listening. Without listening skills, you are not able to get feedback from others and get a sense of what team members like about the projects they work on.

Oftentimes, managers and leaders must hire people who specialize in certain tasks or specialties. Listening to your team of experts will help you understand what can and can’t be done. Let them have a private discussion with you one-on-one if necessary, to voice any concerns so that you can move forward with everyone on the same page.

Feedback is key. To listen effectively, you need to maintain eye contact, avoid distractions, and respond appropriately. Keep in mind that communication is not just about verbal communication. Be aware of body language and gestures to determine what people are really saying.

Motivate Others

A true leader should positively influence people. When employees or coworkers lose their ambitions and passions, a true leader can energize and motivate them. How do leaders motivate people? First, they know what people need and want. For example, if an employee loses motivation because they think their hard work is not being recognized, a good leader will talk to that person and offer the recognition that is deserved.

Sometimes, people lose their motivation because they are facing difficulties, are tired of doing the same repetitive tasks, or are disappointed they are not being asked to get involved. A good leader should seek out team members to see how they’re doing, listen attentively, and empower them to be more involved in the process.

Creating a positive work environment is also a key motivating factor. Establish positive rewards for hitting benchmarks, such as a weekly new client goal or an error-free work week for a production area. Reward them with a Friday lunch or an afternoon of snacks and treats to help people decompress and know that they’re appreciated.

Discipline

Discipline is required in order to execute the goal. Even if you have a vision or a good idea, it’s useless without discipline. If you want to execute effectively, you need discipline.

For example, say you and your team wanted to create a business plan to attract investors. You had lots of ideas for the business plan, but there was no discipline in place to ensure the presentation was rehearsed. When it came time to present the proposal, you were not able to properly communicate your objective to the investors. This outcome resulted in the investors declining your proposal.

To be a good leader, you need to be self-disciplined, and make sure others on your team are disciplined.

Constant Learning

«Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,» said John F. Kennedy. When things are changing rapidly, it is important to constantly learn and challenge yourself. Study other leaders and their qualities, mannerisms, and the way they communicate. Although you don’t have to copy another leader, incorporate some of their traits into your style.

Know-How to Delegate

According to Theodore Roosevelt, «The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.»

A successful leader won’t micromanage. Delegate work to your employees and let them feel empowered. If you do this, they will feel more involved and have more opportunities to develop new skills. Delegating will allow you to concentrate on the goals you need to achieve yourself. If you are a project leader, you are still responsible for the work in the end. This is why it is important to oversee the project when delegating and be sure to assign tasks to those who have the skills to complete them. Establishing clarity of roles, responsibilities, and deadlines is critical to delegating and getting a project completed.

Handling Conflicts

Leaders have to know how to handle difficult people and resolve conflicts. If an employee doesn’t work to the best of their ability and brings a negative attitude to work, leaders have to step up and talk to that person in private.

Leaders have to be honest and straightforward. This requires a lot of courage. It is not easy to point out a problem or fire someone, so remember to always listen to the employee’s side of the story before you reach a conclusion and take action.

Be a Follower

Leaders should learn to recognize the value of team members, learn from them, and encourage other team members to learn from them. Learn things that you didn’t know from a person who specializes in a particular area. If an employee has a new idea, encourage it, and see where it goes. Be one of their biggest fans. Help them to step out of their comfort zone and by believing in them; you’ll instill confidence. Recognize when one of your employees is taking the type of initiative that you took when you were just starting out, building your skillset, and honing your leadership skills.

The Bottom Line

Good leadership skills are essential to career development. If you want to improve your leadership skills, think about what actions you can take to be more influential. If you are already a leader, think about how you can influence others.

30 Leadership Skills to become an Effective Leader

September 1, 2021 By Hitesh Bhasin Tagged With: Leadership

Leadership skills are the abilities and the capabilities that an individual demonstrates while leading a team, a situation, or life. These skills help them supervise processes, guide initiatives, and help their employees achieve their goals.

Such skills are essential abilities, especially in higher-level executives, to make mindful decisions. The presence of such skills helps a person delegate, motivate, and communicate effectively. A good leader can influence a group towards the effective fulfillment of an organization’s vision, mission, and objectives.

Table of Contents

What are Leadership Skills?

Definition – Leadership skills are defined as the skills that empower an individual to lead successfully and constructively. These skills help professionals advance in all aspects of their careers. It refers to the umbrella of skills that are expected in a good leader.

If an individual possesses such soft skills, they are more likely to get hired or promoted. It does not matter if you are a company leader, a team, a department, or simply a member of such a team. Possessing such skills is something everyone should aspire and work towards.

What makes a Great Leader?

A comprehensive range of effective leadership skillsets is the foundation of a great leader. The core competencies of such leaders rely upon their ability to communicate well, delegate responsibility, motivate the team, incorporate adaptability, listen to feedback, organize the team, have the power of acceptance and emotional intelligence to accomplish associated goals in ever-changing circumstances.

A great leader builds strong teams in an organization to perform different tasks, jobs, projects, initiatives, etc of the corporate world to optimize the chances of getting favorable results and making personal as well as a team and organizational growth.

Good leaders are quite effective in-

Importance of having the right leadership skills

Leadership skills are not only important for people who are senior positions, but it is also important for every professional to have these skills, to be productive and fully contributing member of the team.

Being an effective leader is a very difficult task but yields the rewards that are worth putting in the efforts. To emerge as a good leader, you need to master over the skills mentioned above, which helps to increase the scope of your knowledge.

These skills help to create an encouraging and productive work environment, command love and respect and devotion from the team members and achieve great success.

The importance of these skills cannot be emphasized enough. It forms a strong foundation for your career graph as well as the success of an organization.

Great organizations require great leaders, and the best organizations understand that cultivating leadership skills should be intentional and not left to chance.

To be effective, you continue to develop, adapt, and strengthen them throughout your career. As you gain skill in one area, you’ll find there’s more to learn and practice in taking on new challenges and larger roles.

30 Effective Leadership Skills you need to be an Effective Leader

1. Decisiveness

A good leader can make decisions efficiently and effectively promptly. This is seen as a valuable leadership skill as it can help ensure that a project gets completed faster and efficiently by making the right decision at every step of the way. A decisive person takes the initiative and evaluates their actions regularly.

2. Integrity

Integrity does not simply mean that a person is honest or truthful. It also implies that a person has strong moral values. In the workplace, it means that a person makes ethical choices and ensures that a company’s reputation is maintained. Such leaders are fair, professional, and confident. There are diplomatic yet decisive and create a just environment in the workplace.

3. Relationship building and management

A good leader can create, build, and maintain a cohesive, strong, and collaborative team of individuals who achieve the same goal. Relationship building requires leaders to possess interpersonal skills that help them actively listen and help others through their queries and problems.

4. Problem-solving

A good leader must be analytical and skilled at facing problem-solving issues. Practical problem solving requires a person to maintain a level head and create a step-by-step solution to their problem. They need to do their research and be good at tackling any obstacle they face, which makes hurdles in their path of achieving their goals.

5. Accountability and Dependability

One of the essential leadership skills employers look for in a person is dependability. A dependable person is reliable and follows through their promises. Responsible leaders have a positive relationship with their teams. The team members, as well as superiors, can rely on such a leader. They meet deadlines and take accountability for their actions.

6. Ability to teach

Good leaders should have the ability to teach and mentor their team members. They can effectively coach their colleagues and help them grow while fulfilling the organization’s objectives. They are helpful and use positive reinforcement to help guide their team members and reward them for their achievements. They work towards making their team as a whole successful rather than focusing on their success or the organization’s success.

7. Effective Communication

Leaders should convey and explain what they expect from their employees. They should be experts at all forms of communication like one-on-one discussions, departmental, and full-staff conversations. A significant part of good communication is to be able to listen effectively. A leader must be articulate and concise in their communications.

8. Delegating

No person, however able, can do all the tasks on their own and often needs a little help. As a result, a good leader knows that delegating may be the best way to optimize their performance. It also helps them prioritize their tasks and empower their colleagues. Effective delegation needs a leader to be a good judge of other skills.

9. Creativity

Out-of-the-box thinking may be a necessity during certain situations. As a result, employers want to hire creative individuals in leadership positions. Such people are curious and innovative. They can make abstract connections are open to trying new things and experiment.

10. Strategic Thinking and Planning

One skill that distinguishes leaders from managers is their ability to think and plan upcoming events strategically. They can see the bigger picture and focus on prospects rather than minor issues. They create and chase their vision in line with the organization’s ethics. They are highly analytical and utilize the wide range of resources at their disposal to fulfill the organization’s goals.

11. Persuasion and Influencing Skills

Leaders should motivate their colleagues and subordinates effectively. They help their team members overcome resistance to change and help them implement it. They are good at persuading others to behave in the desired way.

12. Conflict Management

Conflicts are part and parcel of any organization, and a leader has to resolve them. A good leader should be able to identify a conflict early on. This gives them enough time to come up with solutions. They need to be analytical and level-headed.

13. Negotiating Skills

Negotiation is referred to the process wherein two parties with different opinions get together and come up with a mutually beneficial solution. A good leader should be well versed in negotiation strategies and persuasive to make things go their way. It also helps them build better relationships with others.

14. Time- Management

Time management is an essential skill in anyone and, if mastered, increases overall productivity. Leaders need to prioritize, delegate, set attainable goals, multitask, and focus on the essential aspects of their work. They set SMART goals for themselves and the organization and others in the organization and achieve them effectively.

15. Agility and Adaptability

Research suggests that adaptability is among the top three leadership qualities, especially in a business environment. Agile Leadership is a leadership style wherein the leader can lead others through a wide range of varied circumstances, especially new and changing solutions with unclear solutions. This is a desirable skill in people in leadership positions.

16. Patience

Good leaders are patient even in high tension situations. They are calm and levelheaded and think carefully about a situation before making any judgment or decision. A leader can show respect for others by being patient. It even increases the productivity of others and fosters patience in others.

17. Empathy

An empathic leader understands even the depths of a situation and can effectively find the right solution for it. This allows them even to help employees excel and improve their performance. They can recognize if anyone is overworked as this can hurt that individual’s performance and motivation.

18. Active Listening

Active listening is an important skill in a leader as it allows them to gain insights into others’ opinions and help form sound decisions. This improves their communication skills as well. It makes others feel appreciated and heard, which improves the leader-member relationship. Listening actively helps a leader gain multiple perspectives on any matter.

19. Optimistic

Optimistic leaders can better envision the future and create an attainable vision for the organization. They can inspire others by their nature and help them through tough times and reduce the burden of failure. Such leaders value collaboration and improve team spirit and work ethic.

20. Feedback

Leaders that ask for feedback give them insight into their behavior, performance, and leadership style. This allows them to evaluate their behavior and performance objectively. A leader should ask various people for feedback, including their network, their subordinates, and their superiors, to gain a holistic view of their performance. Receiving feedback allows them to revise and renew their approach.

21. Risk-Taking

Great leaders are risk-takers and have a futuristic approach. They keep others as well as the organization in mind while assessing the risk. They decide the acceptable level of risk to find the best payoff they can receive. Such leaders need to be empathetic as well to take risks that do not negatively affect others. Taking risks is at times unavoidable, but good leaders ensure that the risks they take have no harm to others.

22. Build Trust

Building trust in themselves and with their team members is vital for a leader to lead others successfully. It creates an environment of mutual trust, respect, and loyalty. It proves that they are credible, dependable, and others can rely on them. They create a fair and just organizational environment.

23. Recruiting Skills

A good leader can recognize talented individuals that deserve to be a part of the organization. They set the tone of efficiency they expect out of others and only look to hire people that fit into their organization’s culture or can be nurtured to fit into the same. As a result, they are good at recruiting unique and talented individuals that add substantial value to the organization.

24. Strong Leadership Vision

Remarkable leaders are visionary individuals that are passionate about their work and can effectively communicate the vision they see for the organization with others. It gives them a sense of direction and helps them take steps to achieve their goals and objectives. They set the vision that others in the organization follow, which improves the overall productivity of the organization.

25. Employee Motivation

Remarkable leaders inspire others to strive to be like them. They motivate others by just being themselves apart from taking active steps to do so. They inspire people to be as determines, hardworking, and resilient as they are. Their success is well earned, and it makes others want to work hard to reach their level of success.

26. Committed

Great leaders are committed individuals that are extremely passionate about their work and loyal to their organization. They work tirelessly towards achieving their personal and professional objectives by using creative strategies. Their work ethic is commendable. They do not compromise on their morals or take shortcuts to success in life.

27. Self-Aware

A good leader is aware of their abilities, competence, and emotions. As a result, they can rely on their judgment and be calm while making difficult decisions. They know their strengths and weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths and work hard to eliminate their weaknesses.

28. Consistency

Consistency matters a lot in leadership and can determine their success as well. It makes them reliable and predictable. It makes them more focused and goal-oriented.

29. Team building

The ability to build a team is one of the key leadership skills which is integral to different sorts of leadership roles. Building and maintaining a collaborative team whose members work towards a common goal need specific skills of team building such as collaboration, interpersonal, teamwork, management, social, active listening, etc.

30. Decision Making

Decision making is again one of the most crucial leadership skills that help experienced as well as new leaders to gather information, assess different solutions, and identify a result-driven decision. Decision making is one of the important skills to make thoughtful and deliberate decisions by defining available alternatives and organizing relevant info.

Examples of Leadership Skills at the Workplaces

Companies expect their employees and managers to incorporate some specific leadership skills based upon their roles. To ensure this, they conduct different development and training programs to effectively empower their employees with below given leadership skills-

5 Tips to Develop your Leadership Skills

Some of the key tips that will help you optimize the leadership skills that can assist you in leading your team and fulfilling related responsibilities are-

How to Identify your Leadership Style?

A leader or a manager should always be aware of his or her leadership style to hone their leadership skills. Below given steps will help you find out your style of leadership that you may later improve by following the aforementioned tips-

Going through these steps will help you identify your style of leading the team, plus it will also help you in improving your leadership styles.

Ways to Showcase your Leadership Skills

You might highlight your leadership skills in your resume and cover letter. You can mention some of your skills by giving some examples that can demonstrate your ability to lead successfully.

In your resume, you can mention that how you had led, delegated, mentored, and managed a team to accomplish a goal. You may also just add ‘leadership’ in the skills section of your resume along with other skills like communication, conflict resolution, mentoring, etc. ‘Achievements’ section is also a good place in a resume to mention some instances when you demonstrated leadership traits at work.

In your cover letter, you can share one or two instances where you used leadership skills to get favorable outcomes. For example, an HR manager might share how she recruited employees to accomplish specific goals by further adding a metric in support of her claim.

You may also share your leadership examples while facing a job interview.

Conclusion

We all know that leadership skills are the most inevitable factor of career growth for workers, executives, managers, or leaders in different industries.

People also value those leaders who can have good leadership skills and like to work for them enthusiastically. Therefore, incorporating the aforementioned skills is mandatory for any leader.

What Are Leadership Skills?

So if you’re relatively new to leadership then you’re probably asking the question what are leadership skills? Well leadership skills are the capabilities and behaviors that a person needs in order to be able to effectively lead.

And if you’re wondering what leadership itself is then its mainly about influencing one of more individuals to achieve a common goal. Click here for other definitions of leadership.

(Photo Credit: Bunches and Bits – Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

This sounds simple, but in reality it can be quite complex as it includes motivating, coaching, mentoring and directing others. It’s also about building strong relationships with the individuals who you are leading. Try and think of a time where you’ve been led by someone. Were they a good leader? How did they make you feel?

People will do super human things for other people, but only if they respect, trust and agree with the individual that is leading them and if they agree that what is being done is the right thing to do. Doing things for others is rarely about the money. It’s about people who see others for who they are.

Leadership is about seeing people as individuals and being respectful to those individuals. Respect brings out the best in people.

It is often thought that the best leaders are the ones that enable others to be successful.

Are You Born A Leader?

While it’s true that many people seem to be born with natural leadership skills. Take for example Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher. All who were great leaders. It is not true that you have to be born a leader. Leadership skills can be learned.

What Are Leadership Skills?

If you now take those leaders listed in the section above or alternatively if you think of someone you know and respect as a leader use them instead and start thinking about what skills and qualities they have that makes them such a great leader.

You will probably come up with skills and qualities such as:

All the above are of course leadership skills. And obviously this is not an exhaustive list. On another page on this site I have attempted to list as many leadership skills as I possibly can. Click here to view the list. As you read through them if you think of any others that I may have missed then please add them to the comments section at the bottom of the page an I will do my best to get them added.

How To Acquire Leadership Skills

You can acquire leadership skills yourself. There are two ways to acquire leadership skills either by one taking a course or reading a book and actively learning about them or by two learning them by experience from undertaking a leadership role.

To gain experience in a leadership role you don’t necessarily have to be a leader for a large organisation. You can lead a project for your local church or voluntary group. Or you could gain experience by volunteering to lead something for your local school or community center.

Developing leadership skills

The top areas of improvement for leaders and how to develop them

What are leadership skills?

A broad definition of leadership focuses on the ability to inspire and organize other people to achieve a shared goal, typically on a schedule. Leadership skills are important in any organization, since they facilitate strong teams and the ability to get tasks done efficiently. Since this is an all-encompassing definition, your leadership skill set might differ from your colleague’s. You might demonstrate “soft” leadership skills like patience, empathy and deep listening while your colleague demonstrates strengths in risk-taking and decision-making. Whatever your natural strengths are, developing leadership skills that align with those aptitudes is your ticket to greater effectiveness on the job.

Why is developing leadership skills important?

Finding areas of improvement for leaders

Step one: Determine your leadership style

Step two: Honestly assess yourself

When you know what your weaknesses are, you know how to start addressing them. But to pinpoint your weak spots, you must be honest in your self-examination. You may even want to ask others you can trust to give you their opinions on your leadership skills. Areas of improvement for leaders include:

How to improve leadership skills

The following examples of leadership skills encapsulate outcomes that will help you become the most effective leader you can be.

1. Make a plan

2. Be passionate

No one wants to seek counsel from someone who doesn’t care about the topic as much or more than they do. Passion is effort; passion is exertion. Passion is never giving up. Without it, you cease innovating and stagnate. When you display authentic enthusiasm and passion for the end result, your people will keep working to achieve their goals.

3. Model great leadership for others

One of the most powerful examples of leadership skills is showing those around you exactly what you’d like to see them do. Don’t waver on this. The strongest message you can send to your team is to model the behaviors you’d like to see. “If they can do this,” your team will think, “So can I.”

4. Don’t ignore your strengths

Are there areas where you feel strong and can use those strengths in a new way? If you’re an excellent speaker, give presentations on challenging topics or join a public speaking group to improve your skills even more. Remember that the areas of improvement for leaders are endless, including your strengths.

5. Set concrete goals and execute them

6. Admit when you fail and move on

What are leadership skills – does being an effective leader mean never making mistakes? Even the most powerful, inspiring leaders make mistakes. When you recognize an error, admit it openly and take action to correct it. Be open about your failures; discuss them with yourself and with your team. Learn from them. Ask yourself and your team, “How can I avoid making this mistake in the future?”

Learning from your failures sends a powerful message to those around you. They understand that you will lead well even when you make a mistake. Those wondering how to improve leadership skills need to learn how to recognize successes and failures.

7. Inspire others

If you’re complaining about every little detail and can only see the worst-case scenario at the end of every plan, you have little chance of inspiring others. Inspiration is an extension of belief ; if you say, “No, that won’t work” or “why bother?” to an employee, you’re signaling to them that you do not believe in their idea, in them or even in the business itself. An employee who feels you do not believe in them will not perform well, and this can even create a domino effect of poor morale across the business.

Instead, believe in others and what they are capable of. Inspire them to work harder and reach greater heights. Developing leadership skills throughout your business by generating and focusing positive energy, even when things aren’t going according to plan, is the secret to sustained growth.

8. Find your higher purpose

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Team Tony cultivates, curates and shares Tony Robbins’ stories and core principles, to help others achieve an extraordinary life.

25 Leadership Skills You Need To Learn Fast (Especially 1 to 7)

Anyone can be placed in a leadership role, but to be good and thrive in that position requires solid leadership skills. Good leadership skills are top of the list of competencies that recruiters need to focus on when hiring people or when managers promote leaders from within the organization.

The highest ranking companies hunt for people with well-honed leadership skills to fill their most sought after executive positions.

But questions still remains:

After ticking off all items outlined in this article (especially 1 to 7), you’ll have enough confidence to finally hand in your resume and apply for that job you’ve been working so hard for and become a great leader.

1. Relationship Building (The Foundation Of A High-Performing Team)

Some leaders will say they that they do not need to be loved in the workplace. This may be true, but to build a cohesive and more engaged team, great leaders need to learn the skills for building good working relationships in the workplace.

Good working relationships increase employee engagement and according to Gallup’s meta-analysis of employee engagement, business units with good employee engagement have 41% fewer quality defects and 37% less absenteeism. A 21% increase in productivity was also seen to result from higher employee engagement. So even if you think you don’t need to be loved in the workplace, you will definitely need to be skilled in building good relationships in order to be effective. If your team is highly engaged and happy in the workplace, you will likely be loved or at least well respected as a good leader.

Practical Tips:

Tip 1. Share More Of Yourself During Meetings.

Utilize meetings as a forum to let your team get to know you better. Allow them to learn from your stories, your experiences and the lessons you have learnt in your career.

Tip 2. Write Thank You Notes.

Let your employees know that you appreciate the work that they do, especially if they go above and beyond what’s expected of them. Send them ‘thank you’ notes, and make sure that their colleagues, peers, subordinates and even your leaders know the exemplary performance you are acknowledging them for.

Tip 3. Organize Team Building Activities.

You do not need an elaborately planned team building activity, a simple after office sport activity or a family day with your staff can be an effective way to connect with them. They will also get to appreciate that you are trying to support their work-life balance.

2. Agility & Adaptability (Stay On The Cutting Edge)

In a study conducted by Development Dimensions International in 2008, the top of the three most important leadership qualities, at 32%, is the ability to facilitate change. In 2018, adaptability is definitely one of the most important leadership skills as the business environment has changed so much and is continuously changing, faster than ever.

Application:

Be Accountable In Responding To Change.

You need to make sure that you have laid out a plan on how you should respond to organizational changes. Have a detailed outline of steps and an achievable timeline in tackling a policy change that you’re dealing with. Constantly check your progress on how well you are adapting to the change and how you are exemplifying this to your staff.

3. Innovation & Creativity (Push Your Boundaries)

What did it take for Apple to become a leader in the computer and mobile technology industry? They made innovations to products with users in mind, making their gadgets more user-friendly, as customers who wanted this feature were willing to pay for their pricier products.

Steve Jobs led the innovation and creativity for Apple Inc. by continuously forging ahead of the competition, and this probably made him one of the most influential leaders in the tech industry to date. In a global study on creativity, findings showed that unlocking creative potential is key to economic and societal growth. The increasing demand for creativity and innovation will continue to be a driving force for executives, who must harness their leadership skills in these areas to be effective and competitive.

Practical Tips:

Tip 1. Schedule Time To Think.

Find time in your schedule to sit down and think with no interruptions. This will help you organize your thoughts and set goals for yourself and your team. Use this time to think of new ideas or suggestions that can improve performance and productivity.

Tip 2. Change Your Perspective.

Look out a window with a view instead of keeping yourself in a four cornered room. Do a ‘walking meeting’ in the fresh air with a few team members as you brainstorm; a relaxed environment may help your team come up with new ideas.

Tip 3. Keep The Focus On Others.

Make it a point to listen to each of your team’s ideas. One of the ideas thrown out may just be the one you are searching for. Listening to individual ideas will also allow you to identify those who do not share your goals. This can be a good opportunity to steer them in the right direction.

4. Employee Motivation (Improve Company’ Efficiency)

In close connection with relationship building, the ability to motivate your workforce is as important as keeping employee engagement high. One of the most effective leadership skills is knowing how to continuously motivate employees, regardless of their engagement level.

Greatify point to a study done by the firm Interact on 1000 employees in the US which cited that the number 1 complaint (63%) from employees concerning their managers is lack of appreciation, and, conversely, when managers appreciate their contribution, their engagement increases by 60%. In another study by Westminster College, it was found that boosting morale is the top (32%) motivational technique employees prefer. If employees are not motivated, the company is negatively affected (financially) with absenteeism, attrition and low productivity.

Practical Tip:

Announce Commendations.

Praise publicly but correct privately. Employees will definitely appreciate being acknowledged for the good work that they do, making your commendations public can boost employee engagement. This type of reward is sometimes preferred by some employees.

5. Decision-Making (Produce The Best Results)

A leader is tasked with making decisions all the time. To be an effective leader, those decision making skills need to be top notch. Critical decisions affecting your organization on a large scale need to be sound, rational and solid.

Practical Tips:

Tip 1. Define Your Values.

Identify your personal and organizational values. What work ethics do you live by? And what are the organization’s core values that convinced you to work for them?

Tip 2. Understand Your Organization’s Values.

Understand the values that your organization stands for. It is imperative that you accept them because the basis of all your business decisions should adhere to these values. Make sure that the values are represented in all aspects of the company.

Tip 3. Study Both Your Personal & Organizational Values Closely.

Look at your personal values alongside the organizational values. What are the similarities/differences? What adjustments do you need to make to your own values to be aligned with those of your organization? It will make your work-life much more comfortable the closer your values are aligned with that of your organization.

Tip 4. Apply Both Values In Your Decision Making Process.

Once you understand how your own values intertwine with your organization, you will be able to incorporate both sets of values in your decision making process. You will be better guided when high stress situations arise as you know what the non-negotiable items are for yourself and your organization.

6. Conflict Management (Be A Wise Counsel)

According to the American Management Association a manager spends an at least 24% of their time managing conflict. Conflict can happen in many areas of business. A conflict is considered to be any issue between two or more individuals that can potentially disrupt work. Conflict in business may go beyond the workplace as it can involve customers, suppliers and even competitors.

When a conflict arises, an effective leader should be able to jump in and resolve or at least mitigate the conflict before it affects the business negatively. When properly dealt with, a conflict may even turn out to be positive for your organization.

Effective leadership means you should be good at identifying conflict, and have foresight on how to resolve it. It is also essential to be very rational when faced with confrontation. Conflict management is no doubt one of the most important leadership competencies but Robyn Short cited a study that found 60% of U.S. employees have not received any conflict management skills training. Are you trained to face conflict in the workplace?

Application:

Understand One Another.

Know what each member’s personality is. How each is motivated or demotivated. What leadership style they respond to best in relation to their cultural and social backgrounds. Seek assistance from your human resources department to provide you with personality tests that will help you better understand your team.

7. Negotiation (Win The Game)

Negotiation is a process where two parties with different ideals get together and mutually agree on what an outcome should be. According to Skills You Need, the process of negotiation involves 6 stages: (1) Preparation, (2) Discussion, (3) Clarification of goals, (4) Negotiation towards a Win-Win outcome, (5) Agreement, (6) Implementation of a course of action. Good negotiations can be beneficial to an organization because they will build better relationships. They will also help find the best long-term solution by getting the most out of two different sides. An effective leader must be well versed in his negotiation style to move an organization forward.

Practical Tips:

Tip 1. Be The Leader They Can Trust.

Build trust among your team and be someone they know they can trust. Even when a negotiation does not turn out to be agreeable to one of the parties, if the parties involved trust the negotiator, it will be easier for them to accept the outcome whether it is in their favor or not.

Tip 2. Be Democratic.

Giving options to choose from makes it easier for your team members to make decisions. They will also feel empowered because they were given a choice and not just told what to do.

Tip 3. Be Silent About Your Sacrifices.

Don’t reveal that you have the weakest hand. Keep a straight face and show that you mean business. The other party will not be able to use your weakness to win the negotiation.

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8. Critical Thinking (Essential To Produce Desirable Outcome)

Leading a business towards success is unquestionably very challenging. To be successful, a leader must make a lot of difficult decisions. Brandon Hall Group shared a table which shows that critical thinking is the top most important skill required of leaders to successfully lead an organization.

Critical thinkers are intelligent decision makers, highly analytical and always rational. These attributes are essential to lead the organization towards achieving its goal. A leader must be able to firmly stand by his decisions. Because he is a critical thinker, it should be safe to assume that every decision he makes is well researched, objectively scrutinized and that all possible outcomes were assessed, and therefore, his final choice is the best course of action.

9. Focus & Results Orientation (The Road To Success)

In a high-pressure leadership role, many events may occur simultaneously, so it is important to develop the skill of focusing on what matters most and know what impact it has on your organization. In Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, he included “first things first” as the 3rd habit and explained that leadership starts with a personal vision and personal leadership.

You can use Covey’s time management quadrant (see figure #11 Time-Management skill) to help you prioritize tasks so you can focus on the important things first. The second habit he outlined is to “begin with the end in mind” therefore, a highly effective leader should be results-oriented. This habit is important because a leader needs to be able to envision the result he wants before starting work on it. When you are able to focus and orient yourself to the goal you want to achieve, the path you will lead your people on to get there will be much clearer.

10. Communication (Convey Information Effectively)

Businesses must invest in communication management skills training in order to give their staff the chance to advance in their organizations rather than exclusively hiring externally. Good communication leads to less conflict, better negotiation outcomes, and encourages the building of solid relationships within the organization.

11. Time-Management (Control Your Priorities)

With the fast-paced highly competitive nature of businesses, employers continue to look for strong time-management skills. Increasingly, time has a monetary value in today’s companies. Simply Productive says that an average manager gets interrupted every 3 minutes. Stephen Covey suggests the use of his time-management quadrant to organize and prioritize tasks to be more effective.

Workloads can easily pile up, and it can be daunting to think about how much time you will need to finish your work. A leader without the right time-management skills can be easily overwhelmed and eventually burn out.

12. Quick Feedback Ability (The Key To Staying On Track)

Part of having good communication skills is being able to give timely and appropriate feedback to your employees. One of the crucial leadership competencies required by firms today is the ability to give feedback to appreciate, recognize, correct or even reprimand employees.

Office vibe says that 39% of employees do not feel appreciated at work. This quickly turns into employee dissatisfaction and possibly high employee turnover. According to a survey by Globoforce, 93% of managers need training on coaching employees. It is said that people leave their bosses, not their jobs. On the other hand, when a leader receives appropriate leadership training on how to effectively give feedback, employees will feel connected and become more engaged in the workplace.

13. Cultural Intelligence (Be Ready For Business Globalization)

Wikipedia states that “Cultural Intelligence can be understood as the capability to relate and work effectively across cultures”. The emergence of the global economy makes cultural intelligence even more lucrative to employers. With the constant need to collaborate with peers from different parts of the globe, having this managerial skill is a must.

A lot of Western companies have now expanded into China, India and other parts of Asia, and these companies must now include cultural intelligence in their management skills training to equip their executives with this very important leadership competency, for the company to thrive and succeed in the global market.

14. Command Responsibility (Be The One In Charge)

Responsibility refers to the duty attached to your position. You show good and effective leadership skills if you take responsibility for your actions. The higher your position in an organization, the greater your responsibility. You become accountable for the actions of your subordinates.

The concept of “command responsibility” stems from legal military language used for hierarchical accountability in war crimes. General Tomoyuki Yamashita was prosecuted by the U.S. Supreme Court for war crimes committed by men under his command in the Philippines during World War 2. His crime was failing to fulfill his duty by allowing his men to commit those crimes. Corporations try their best to hire the best individuals who possess the ideal leadership competencies to avoid bottom-up failure.

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Developing your own leadership style

15. Commitment (Be The Leader Everyone Wants To Work For)

Without commitment, the Wright brothers would not have been successful in inventing the airplane. In an organization, both leaders and employees must have some level of commitment to their jobs for goals to be achieved. Simon Sinek said that leaders determine the workplace atmosphere and that the importance of having committed leaders cannot be underestimated, so that employees have someone to trust.

The engagement level of an organization is higher when employees trust their leaders. A committed leader exhibits stewardship. Bekele Geleta (Former Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent) said that effective leadership always involved stewardship and that it is a requirement for great leadership. However, stewardship does not happen without commitment.

16. Self-Awareness (Reach The Highest Pinnacle)

Effective leadership means being aware of your full potential as well as the areas you need to further develop. One of the leadership pit-falls is complacency or arrogance. A leader must accept that there are things he has yet to learn. It then becomes his responsibility to learn these things and develop his leadership skills further to benefit himself and his organization.

Anthony Tjan sums up self-awareness in a trinity: know thyself, improve thyself and complement thyself. This leadership skill however, is not only self-focused. The ‘complement thyself’ in the trinity involves other people. As a leader, this can be your team that is composed of different individuals with strengths that complement each other. You must be aware of what value each person in your team can bring to achieve the goals you envision. Enrolling in a team leadership program that leads you to realize your team’s and your own potential is a great way to fulfil your potential as a leader.

17. Delegation (Become A Mentor)

Delegation is an essential part of effective leadership. Delegation does not mean offloading work so you can have less stress as a leader. Effective delegation means you are building the leadership skills of those individuals who have the potential to become future leaders.

Delegating tasks means that you trust your team members to do more than what is expected of them. More importantly, delegation is one of the most important leadership competencies because it allows you to focus on more pressing issues. Through delegation, you are essentially mentoring your team members. It is a form of informal management skills training as they undertake tasks above their paygrade.

18. Organization (Make It A Habit)

Organizational leadership involves setting goals, planning the execution, seeing the implementation through, and reviewing the outcome to identify improvement areas. It also involves returning to the drawing board and setting new goals. Even with all the technological advances at work, managers can find the workplace to be a stressful environment if it is not systematized. This is why organization skills are an important item on your checklist of leadership competencies that you need to learn to be an effective leader. Operational excellence teams also play a big role in helping managers learn organization management skills as they help make work flows leaner and identify defects to eliminate.

19. Consistency (Be Fair And Avoid Favoritism)

An article entitled the 10 golden rules of effective management listed consistency as the first rule. Every manager has their own management style but whatever style you use, you need to be consistent in treating each team member equally. Complete fairness in rewarding behaviors you want to encourage, and in giving feedback to behaviors that you want to discourage is essential.

Team members to managers are like children to their parents. They will want to work hard for your approval, but you should consistently treat everyone the same and always avoid favoritism. Effective leadership is being consistent in implementing your chosen management style and leadership values so your integrity as a leader remains solid.

20. Honesty (Keep Your Word)

Leaders need to be honest to earn the trust of their employees. This leadership skill is more natural than learned or trained. It is about ethics and integrity. The CEO magazine shared that 89% of 100,000 people surveyed say it is the most valued leadership quality. One may ask how this is a skill, but it can truly be one of the most effective leadership competencies, that will win your people’s trust and make them committed to their jobs. Teams become more engaged if they perceive that their leaders are honest and have integrity. Honesty makes you an effective leader by being consistent in keeping your word and following through with your promises to your team members.

21. Team Building (Unity Is Strength)

A successful organization must be cohesive. Only leaders with effective management skills can bring an organization towards success by putting to use all leadership skills training regarding people management. Bringing people from different backgrounds and ideals can be challenging. Team building can help you find common interests among your team members which will promote good teamwork. When a group works well together, productivity improves, goals are achieved faster, better ideas are generated, and there is less attrition, so talent within the organization is retained. Ultimately, when leaders of the organization have good team building skills, the business saves hiring and new employee training costs.

22. Emotional Intelligence (Know Thyself)

As previously outlined, self-awareness is a key skill, and emotional intelligence is closely tied-in with this skill. A leader who does not possess self-awareness as a management skill may also not possess the required emotional intelligence to lead his team effectively. Organizations that are more technical in nature should invest in management skills training that focuses on emotional intelligence to help advance their production line staff to supervisory roles.

The ability to empathize and listen to your peers and team members is part of being emotionally intelligent. To decipher a person’s emotion and know how best to deal with it professionally may not come instinctively to everyone so necessary leadership skills training needs to be implemented to develop or enhance emotional intelligence.

23. Ability To Train Other People (Develop Yourself First)

Statistics show that 93% of managers need training on coaching employees. The ability to train and coach other people is an essential management skill that requires a manager to teach as well as give constructive and timely feedback. The Harvard Business Review even published an online article entitled: “Managers aren’t doing enough to train employees for the future.”

Organizations should include how to train people in their leadership skills training programs. While online leadership trainings and formal leadership skills trainings given by the training department are common investments for organizations, successful organizations are full of managers who do on-the-job training and mentor their staff. Employees feel more connected to their managers in this set-up and collaboration is encouraged, resulting in increased engagement and higher productivity.

24. Ability To Go Above and Beyond (Expend More Effort Than the Minimum)

Every organization wants an employee who goes above and beyond what is expected. Accenture for example, evaluates employees on three areas and Value Creator is one of them. To be a value creator, means you are someone who goes above and beyond the minimum expectation. This effective leadership skill allows executives to drive people to do better each time. When you go above and beyond what’s necessary, you raise the bar and the standard becomes higher for the next one who will be doing the same task. So a process of continuous improvement is created and the outcome is better every time.

25. Confidence (No Place For Fear)

Confident leaders make the organization appear strong and solid to its external and internal customers. It is critical for leaders to appear confident to their team members who look up to them at all times. Leaders need to make confident decisions even when circumstances are difficult.

New leaders can benefit most from leadership training programs that help improve their communication skills, people management skills and even simple personal development trainings. For example, “dress for success” seminars can help boost confidence for new leaders. Seasoned leaders, on the other hand, continue to build confidence as they gain more leadership trainings and practical experiences in their fields.

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Leadership Skills & What It Means For Your Business

All of the above mentioned leadership and management skills make an effective leader who can help lead an organization to future success. But it is necessary for the organization to provide training programs to support their leaders in gaining those much-needed leadership competencies.

In Brandon Hall Group’s 2015 State of Leadership Development Study, 71% of organizations acknowledge that their leaders were “not ready to lead their organizations into the future”. The lack of confidence by organizations in their talent pool leads them to meet immediate employment needs by hiring externally.

Developing internal training programs can take time and be costly, but there are existing training programs that exist that are proven to be effective by distinguished companies. Explore IMD’s leadership training programs to learn the effective leadership skills your organization needs.

For seasoned managers who need more in-depth leadership training, discover how IMD’s High Performance Leadership program can help you be the effective leader your organization needs to bring them further into the future.

Join an information session and find out if a leadership program by IMD is what you are looking for and how it will give a boost to your career.