If you’ve ever described someone as a natural leader, you may believe some people are born with an innate ability to inspire others and make decisions. Research suggests that your genes can determine the personality traits that can help you be successful in leadership roles, but this research also supports the idea that leaders are made, not born [1]. This is good news if you see yourself working in a leadership position, as it means you can learn and develop practical leadership skills.
Think Critically
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.
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.
Be Disciplined
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.
Continue to Learning
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,” said John F. Kennedy.1 When things are changing rapidly, it is important to constantly learn and challenge yourself. Study other leaders and their qualities, mannerisms, and communication. Although you don’t have to copy another leader, incorporate some of their traits into your style. Different leadership styles can focus more on production or more on employees. These different styles can then be plotted on a leadership grid.
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.”2
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.
Handle 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.
Empower Your Team
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.
What makes an effective leader?
Influential leaders know how to inspire people and support them to work toward goals. Although they often have different leadership styles, they share some common characteristics. If you think about the best leaders you’ve ever worked with, you’ve likely noticed the following traits in them:
- Clear expectations
- Compassion
- Consistency
- Encouragement
- Organization
- Trust
- Vision
Successful leaders are resilient, have exceptional decision-making skills, and hold themselves accountable for their actions. Ultimately, the people they lead trust them to do the right thing for the good of the group.
Effective leadership: The fundamental 4
Fundamental 4 describes four essential skills for leaders: communication, influence, learning agility, and self-awareness. These skills span industries, locations, and positions, and most successful leaders know how to develop and leverage these skills in their daily work. Here’s a closer look at these core skills:
Communication
Successful leaders can express and explain ideas so that all team members know each project’s goals, expectations, and tasks. They are active listeners and know how to express themselves clearly when they speak or write. In many ways, communication skills lay the foundation for the rest of the core leadership skills and go a long way toward establishing and maintaining trust in the organization.
Influence
Effective leaders influence and motivate the people they work with to meet and exceed goals. Their ability to influence stems from the relationships they build with others. They take the time to understand the people they’re working with and what inspires them. With this knowledge, they can present rationales for their ideas and show team members how they stand to benefit from their work.
Learning agility
As a leader, you should continue seeking learning opportunities — even when you reach an executive position. Learning comes in many forms, including professional development courses, certificates, and degrees. However, leaders also look to their experiences — both successes and failures — as opportunities to examine their behavior, knowledge, and skills and adapt them as needed.
Self-awareness
Leaders take time to understand what motivates them to work in their field and pursue leadership roles. They know their strengths and weaknesses and spend time reflecting on their experiences in life and at work to help them learn their purpose. This self-awareness allows them to set goals and seek growth opportunities to improve their leadership skills.
How to develop yourself as a leader: 8 tips
No matter where you are in your leadership journey, you can challenge yourself to grow and hone your skills. Use the following tips to set goals, explore strategies, and evaluate your progress.
1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Understanding your leadership strengths and weaknesses can help you identify the leadership skills you want to develop and improve. Universities and organizations offer a variety of free and paid inventories that can help you figure out your leadership style, strengths, and areas of improvement. You can find many of these tools online.
2. Understand leadership styles.
Knowing your leadership style can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, which may be a good starting point when trying to figure them out. For example, if you have an authoritarian leadership style, you may find it easy to make decisions but may need to learn how to improve your listening skills. If you prefer a delegation style, you like giving your team plenty of freedom and may want to brush up on your decision-making or relationship-building skills.
3. Target specific skills.
After you identify your areas of strength and weakness, you can choose the specific leadership skills you want to target. With a particular skill in mind, you can set a goal, develop a plan to meet it, and monitor your progress. Here are some specific leadership skills to consider developing:
- Adaptability
- Communication
- Conflict management
- Creativity
- Critical thinking
- Decision making
- Motivation and influence
- Negotiation
- Relationship building
4. Expand your network.
Observation is a powerful tool for developing leadership skills. By expanding your network to create more opportunities to watch great leaders in action, you’ll be able to see how these leaders tackle challenges, make decisions, solve problems, and develop strategies to help their teams succeed. Start by connecting with leaders currently working in your organization and expand your network by attending industry events and interacting with leaders on social media sites.
5. Get a coach or mentor.
The world’s greatest athletes have coaches who help them train and achieve their goals, and a coaching relationship also works well in a business environment. Your coach can help you evaluate your leadership skills, plans, and goals. Coaches are often senior or retired staff members who understand your industry and have the expertise to guide your professional development. Some organizations have formal coaching programs specifically designed for developing leaders, but you also can meet informally with a mentor.
6. Read and research.
Effective leaders are lifelong learners who seek out learning opportunities and keep up with the latest industry research and trends. Read books. Sign up for seminars. Take online classes. In doing so, you’re investing in yourself. When starting out, look for broad leadership topics like communication or conflict resolution. Then you can explore more specialized areas like negotiating global contracts.
7. Take on leadership roles in your current position.
You can start practicing leadership skills before you have an official leadership role. Seek out opportunities to try out what you’re learning. This can be through a stretch assignment or a project that gets you out of your comfort zone. Other options are working in a new department or geographical location to practice using the new strategies you’re learning. Start small, reflect on your experiences, and identify which techniques are working and which you need to refine.
8. Practice.
Thinking like a scientist as you practice your newfound leadership skills may be helpful. Each time you try a new technique or strategy — whether it’s a big project or a small interaction with a coworker — pay attention to how well it works and how others respond. Over time, you’ll be more aware of what works best for you so you can add them to your leadership tool kit.
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