Leadership skills are essential for all industries and companies. Companies with managers that hold high-quality leadership qualities tend to make more money, get more done, and have happier employees. When you show off great leadership skills, you’re basically telling your team and your bosses, “I’ve got this!” without saying a word. People naturally trust and follow leaders who know their stuff, so let’s go through six action steps to strengthen your leadership skills.
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Disclaimer: AI tools, such as ChatGPT, assisted me with rewriting these tips, which are edited excerpts from our book She’s Meant to Lead. View the whole collection in our Amazon Bookstore!
Self-aware leaders are emotionally intelligent leaders. You can build emotional intelligence by regularly taking a good, honest look at your strengths, weaknesses, and slip-ups. For instance, if you spend a bit of time each day thinking about what you did right and what you could’ve done better, you’ll naturally get better at handling situations and managing your team. This makes for a smooth-running workplace where your employees feel valued, respected, and safe.
Reflecting on yourself helps boost your self-awareness. Knowing yourself means you understand what sets you off so you can better keep your cool at work. No one wants to work for a supervisor, manager, or boss who can’t control their emotions or make decisions because they’re too anxious or scared at the moment.
People work best for leaders who they trust. Your team will be better engaged at work when they feel they can trust you to make the right decisions and support them when they need it. When you build trust, you can forge deeper connections with your employees. Humans love to feel connected. It gives your employees renewed energy for work and reduces stress. You can build trust by engaging with your team on a personal level, for example, by asking them about their lives outside of work. Another way to build trust is to be open-minded, creating a happy environment where employees feel that they can talk to you about anything without judgment or blowback.
An effective leader knows how to make solid decisions. That doesn’t mean every call you make will be perfect, but your team needs to see that you can tackle tough problems and come up with a plan to move forward. It takes years to really sharpen those decision-making skills, but taking some online courses for leaders can help you get better at it too.
Communication is the central building block of any relationship, including that of a leader and their team members. You need to be able to communicate with your employees to give them the right tools and information to succeed. Bad communication will quickly destroy a team because no one will have a clue what the next steps are or what currently needs to be achieved or improved upon.
Regular check-ins and feedback are fantastic for building relationships with your team. They’re a common strategy in all kinds of relationships because they let you talk about what’s going well and what could be better. As a leader, having regular check-ins and using your emotional smarts to give constructive feedback in a way that’s easy for your team to handle will show that you’re a trustworthy leader.
A forward-thinking leader needs to keep learning, not just about making decisions, but in all areas of leadership. Regular training helps you pick up new techniques, tools, and skills that can make you a better leader for your team and your organization. Plus, it’s a great way to network with peers and get insights from different perspectives you might not encounter every day. This can really shape both your leadership and management styles, making you better at leading a diverse group of people. It’s an invaluable tool for growing professionally.
Being a great leader means constantly learning, self-reflecting, and connecting with your team. Whether it’s making solid decisions, handling feedback with emotional intelligence, or staying on top of new skills through regular training, there’s always room to grow.
Want to keep sharpening your leadership skills? Check out our Amazon Bookstore for more resources and tips to help you thrive in the workplace!
And whatever your career goals may be, let’s make it happen one story at a time!
Take care,
Kyndall Bennett from Kyrabe Stories
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