Running a business is not easy. It requires time, energy, a dedicated team to drive and achieve objectives, and a leader to show the way. Leadership is a valuable trait that lies at the core of every successful project, event, and corporation. But great leaders are sometimes difficult to come by. This is because leaders are not born, they are made. In this article, we’ll show you how to improve leadership in an organisation.
How to improve leadership in an organisation
At a certain point in one’s career, you need to depend on more than hard skills and a desire to work hard to get ahead. These are great qualities to have but to take the next step in your role, you need to showcase a set of skills that will allow you to lead a team, department, or even your company in later years. the traits that get you here are leadership skills.
What are leadership skills?
Leadership skills are the traits and abilities an individual has that motivate, inspire, and direct others toward a certain outcome. It’s a set of skills that when developed, can move someone from being a team member to delegating, managing projects, and stepping out to charter a way forward.
What are the examples of leadership skills?
Leadership skills are not about possessing one skill but rather it’s having a combination of different skills that make you excel as a leader. Some examples of leadership skills are:
- Delegation: you can’t do it all as a leader. It’s more effective and efficient to delegate tasks to individuals to make the best use of the available resources and time available. This opens your time to focus on other tasks without spreading yourself thin and developing skills in others.
- Critical and strategic thinking: this helps you look at challenges with a wider lens and set priorities, make decisions, and allocate the necessary resources to deal with obstacles. You perform a SWOT analysis of the situation at hand and from the data, analyse, adapt, and resolve problems.
- Discipline: discipline is what will help you cross the finish line when motivation runs low. Leaders need to follow through on plans and promises and ensure that they and the team do what needs to be done to meet the set objectives.
- Communication: good leaders can communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively with others. This means not just speaking, but listening to opinions, views, and reading body language and other non-verbal cues. It’s about giving a voice to others and creating a safe space and platform for them to feel heard.
- Emotional intelligence: a healthy EQ makes for a good leader. You need to be able to feel and control your emotions without letting yourself be overcome by them or letting them get the better of you in trying situations. Your team will be looking to you for calm, direction, responses, and reactions.
- Interpersonal skills: as a leader, you will be required to build and maintain strong and healthy relationships. You need to be able to do this not only with your team but with other supervisors, stakeholders, business leaders, clients, and more. Alongside this, is being able to engage with people at different levels, conflict resolution, and a balance of negotiation skills and assertiveness.
- Integrity: integrity is not limited to doing the right thing when others see you. Instead, it’s about having a strong set of values and ideals and sticking by them even if no one is around and watching. Integrity is being honourable about whom you say you are and what you do.
- Creativity: a creative mindset lets you see a problem from different angles and come up with alternative solutions to overcome them. You think differently and approach issues in a way that others don’t but will achieve results.
What is the difference between leadership and management skills?
Leadership and management are terms that are used interchangeably at times. There is some overlap but it’s important to distinguish between the two skill sets. Leadership skills are more attuned to having a vision, mobilising, motivating, and inspiring others toward the goal and objective. Management skills are directed at coordinating, planning, and organising.
Why are leadership skills important in your day-to-day work?
As good as the leadership skills are to have, why and how are they important in your day-to-day tasks you may be asking? For one, and possibly the most important reason, they help drive an organisation closer to meeting and passing its goals. Secondly, they ensure each individual unearths and lives up to their fullest potential. When employees reach this point, there is fulfillment, meaning, and purpose to their days which will result in higher output and improved performance.
What are the challenges leaders and managers face every day?
Like any role, both leaders and managers have to face often overwhelming, challenging, and delicate tasks. This includes the operational issues and processes, strategic plans, and managing their team and themselves. The evolving markets, technological advances, competitor outputs, and the often-unstable economic landscape add to the mix of problems leaders and managers must weigh. They have to learn how to position themselves and the company they represent in the best possible light to stay operational and successful in turbulent times.
How to improve leadership skills in your company?
- Take management and leadership courses
- Learn to listen
- Take on more responsibility
- Take the initiative
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses in leadership skills in your business
- Empower your colleagues
- Be disciplined
- Brush up on your hard skills
- Mentorships
- Be open to feedback
Good leadership skills lead to satisfied employees and customers
Good leaders set the tone for the atmosphere of the team. It’s believed that high-quality leaders can influence their teams and thereby create a cohesive, productive, and happy workforce. Flowing this, employees extend better service to their customers by meeting their needs and creating memorable customer experiences.
How can Alison help your management improve leadership skills?
Alison’s free learning management system (LMS) is unlike other e-learning platforms. It has over 4000+ courses across a wide range of subjects and industries that you can register for. Here, businesses, schools, and philanthropic organisation can design customised learning paths based on their unique business and personnel needs.
- Unlimited number of team members
- Quick and easy set-up time and process
- Aggregate and individual reporting: set up your group’s training progress with a choice of daily, weekly, or monthly reports, you can keep track of the academic progress your team makes.
Everyone has the potential to lead. The market shifts and changing business and economic climates mean you need to get ahead of the curve and equip yourself, your team, and your business with the latest trends and developments. Upskill your team, nurture the leader in you, and watch your organisation flourish with the help of Alison’s LMS.
