Leadership skills are some of the most in-demand soft skills. So, what does it take to be a great leader in the workplace?
Before we go any further, let’s clarify what we mean by “leadership” in the workplace.
What is Leadership?
A common perception is, when we discuss leadership, the first leaders that come to our mind are company founders, business executives or directors.
However, leaders aren’t some rare strata of people who occupy the elite positions in a company. Leaders are all employees that occupy supervisory positions in an organization. They are at all levels, and they manage teams or even entire business units.
In fact, employees who may not even occupy supervisory positions, can potentially have influential leadership roles. With the right set of skills, they can inspire, motivate, and challenge their colleagues at all levels of the organization.
The Truth About Leadership
The truth is – there’s no manual or guide that will give you all the tricks to become a great leader. What is certain is that leadership involves mastering a range of soft skills.
These soft skills have a direct impact on employees’ motivation, morale, productivity and ultimately, on employee engagement.
10 Examples of In-Demand Leadership Skills
1. Active Listening
Active listening requires a leader to attentively to a speaker, understand what they’re saying, respond and reflect on what’s being said, and retain the information for later. This keeps both listener and speaker actively engaged in the conversation.
1. Active Listening
Active listening requires a leader to attentively to a speaker, understand what they’re saying, respond and reflect on what’s being said, and retain the information for later. This keeps both listener and speaker actively engaged in the conversation.
2. Empathy
Empathy is the ability to recognize emotions in others, and to understand other people’s perspectives on a situation. At its most developed, empathy enables leaders to use that insight to guide them through any situation.
3. Strategic Thinking Skills
This is a skill set that enables leaders to use critical thinking to solve complex problems and plan for the future. These skills are essential to accomplish business objectives, overcome obstacles, and address challenges – and do so on timescales that can often span months or years.
4. Creativity
This is one of the most abstract, yet important skills. A leader needs to have a collection of competencies that support their ability to look at things differently. Part of creative skills is creative thinking, which calls upon imagination to develop unique ideas or concepts.
5. The Ability to Inspire Others
Inspiring a person or team means persuading individuals to do or create something special. It requires infusing in the minds of others, a creative idea or the urge to participate in an extraordinary activity.
6. Flexibility
This skill has become more important than ever, as market and economic conditions can change rapidly. Being flexible in business means that a leader can change plans and adapt to new situations easily.
7. Time Management
Time management refers to a set of skills that work together. Usually, it involves – goal-setting, prioritizing, scheduling, delegating, as well as assessment and evaluation of the activities. Good time management means a leader will never be a bottleneck in decision-making and execution of tasks.
8. The Ability to Build Trust
Trust is only built over time. This requires long-term vision and thinking. A leader needs to acknowledge wins and losses, not just outcomes that make them look good. When these actions are combined with effective communications, a leader clearly shows that they care about people and the company – ultimately leading employees to trust them.
8. Strong Communication Skills
Communication skills involve both verbal and non-verbal aspects of how a leader interacts with other people. Good listening, emotional control, consistency in how they speak and respect for individuals all combine to create an effective communicator.
9. Positivity
Positivity is not just about cheering on a team or showing everyone an upbeat demeanor. It starts from inside. A positive leader must believe in themselves first. Without that foundation, they will not be able to consistently communicate in a positive and progressive way.
Greatness Often Comes from Inside the Organization
A company has a strong strategic advantage when it can foster leaders from within the organization. This is exceptionally clear from these problematic statistics:
Employees who have exceptional leadership skills do not automatically evolve into leaders within their organizations. They need to be inspired, encouraged and supported by their supervisors and systems within the organization itself.
Companies need systems that foster new leaders from within, so that these individuals can actively translate the company’s vision into reality through their experience with the company’s business strategies.
Tim Cook of Apple painted a picture of great leadership when he said:
““As a leader, a lot of your job is to make those people successful. It’s less about trying to be successful (yourself), and more about making sure you have good people, and your work is to remove that barrier, remove roadblocks for them so that they can be successful in what they do. So that’s how I’ve always thought about it.”
