What are several ways to develop leadership skills?

To unlock your full potential as a leader, you have to commit to growth and development. No matter where you are in your leadership journey, there’s always room to grow.

I spoke with executive coach and CEO of Janson Associates, Dr. Kim Janson, about the best ways to unlock leaders’ full potential and how to help people become more effective in their roles. Janson shared the top lessons she’s learned from her experience working at and coaching leaders from Fortune 100 companies:

Be willing to learn.

 “Just because you're successful in one role doesn't immediately give you the knowledge, skills and subject matter expertise in the other,” explains Janson. It’s clear that the capabilities are there because you’ve been promoted, but there’s always room for growth and development.

Have a plan for personal growth and development.

To grow as a leader, you have to make learning a priority and have a plan for your professional development. No matter how busy you are, there’s always time to learn. Replace 10 minutes of aimless phone scrolling and instead read a book,  read articles or watch a video on leadership. Better yet, schedule time for learning onto your calendar. Janson lives by the rule “plan the work and work the plan.” When you create a plan for your development, you’re more likely to stick with it.

Master the three key components of successful leadership.

The three key components of leadership are leading yourself, leading a team, and leading the business. The best leaders show mastery of all three components.

Leading yourself: The best leaders are self-aware. They understand their strengths and their weaknesses, and actively work to improve any skill gaps they might have. They’re also able to translate that learning into becoming a better and more effective leader.

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Leading a team: To successfully lead a team, leaders need to understand how to motivate, engage, and manage their employees. They must be able to give honest feedback, have difficult conversations, and provide support when employees need it. As Janson says, “leadership is about leading from behind, enabling people’s success.”

Leading the business: Leaders are responsible for producing results. To be able to produce those results, leaders need to be comfortable with strategy and change management and understand how to take calculated risks.

Companies need to take an active approach to leadership development.

When employees are promoted into leadership roles, they don’t often receive leadership training, or the training they do receive is focused on processes and procedures. Leadership training is always a good investment, as more effective leaders create more effective teams and employees. Good leadership has a trickledown effect, just like poor leadership does.

Companies also need to identify talent and create a leadership pipeline, so that people are ready when opportunities for promotion come up. People can plateau at certain points in their leadership journey, especially when it comes to moving up into executive roles. Janson explains, “you've got to be quite intentional about diagnosing and assessing where [leaders] are, and then figure out the gaps.” From there, learning can be targeted to strengthening those specific areas, better preparing leaders for their future roles.

Ultimately, the best way to unlock your full leadership potential is to invest in yourself. Be hungry to learn, challenge yourself, and strive to learn something new every day.

Most of us have often come across people who are referred to as “born leaders.” But are leadership skills always inherent or can they be acquired too? For those who wish to land a leadership role, there will definitely be a need to sharpen their leadership skills.

While some may have leadership skills and the tact to make others tick instantly, other leaders may struggle with their leadership skills. This is because leadership often connects with our soft skills. If you are someone who falls in the latter category, there is no cause to worry. With the multiple leadership courses available today, it is possible to hone yourself into the leader you have always wanted to become. Let us first understand how a person can improve his/her leadership skills.

How to Improve Leadership Skills?

There are different types of leadership and all of them require a diversified skill set, which can be honed by improving leadership skills. A few of you may ask – how to improve leadership skills? Follow these nine steps to find the answer –

• Select one from the different types of leadership you want to follow
• Start reading
• Join a good leadership development program
• Gain mastery over soft skills.
• Set clear goals and track progress.
• Take responsibility and volunteer
• Network with leaders and find a mentor

Why Are Leadership Skills Important in the Workplace?

Relevant leadership and management skills are very important in the workplace as these skills help in making your teams stay on track, meeting objectives, and ensuring that the business is profitable. Moreover, when a person is transitioning to a higher role, then leadership and management skills are the first things that will enable them to scale the wall with ease. Apart from obvious promotions, leadership development will also earn a person more respect from colleagues and therefore, lead to better working relationships and increased job satisfaction. In fact, the benefits can stretch to a person’s personal life as well.

How to Develop Leadership Qualities?

There are some sure-shot ways of developing leadership qualities. Continue reading for some excellent tips.

Follow your passion

Leaders are passionate and therefore, can motivate others to succeed as well. It is possible to differentiate between a person who is working only for money and someone who is passionate about what they do. When a person is passionate, they will inherently develop leadership qualities to ensure that work is done right.

Enrol in a leadership development programme

As we mentioned earlier, most leaders need to possess soft skills. For example, problem-solving is a soft skill. It is possible to inculcate some other soft skills through a structured approach and this is why aspiring leaders must enrol in a leadership programme. A leadership programme can also bring awareness about different leadership styles.

Grab opportunities

Hone your skills and look for opportunities to do so. It could be through public speaking or leading a team of people for a project, etc. Even by becoming more aware of your day-to-day social interactions, you can develop the skills required of a leader.

Do not forget to hone your hard skills

While soft skills are imperative for leaders, hard skills should not be ignored either. Whenever there is a task at hand that is difficult or some situation that cannot be handled, a team naturally looks up to their leader for advice. This is why excellent hard skills and knowledge matter for leaders. When leaders have great hard skills, their team’s confidence in them increases.

Introspect

One day of every week should be about personal reflection. This is something that every leader must incorporate into their routine. Going back to situations and the way they were handled, or figuring out what could have been done better, can improve things the next time something similar comes up. Only through this process can leaders be better prepared.

Find a mentor

Every aspiring leader needs a mentor. This will help them gain leadership skills and receive feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.

What Elements Are Important in a Leadership Development Programme?

An effective leadership development programme or leadership course must have participants, instructors, high-quality content, and executive buy-in as the four critical elements. The program may not be able to fulfil its purpose even if one of these is missing. This is why leadership courses must be chosen with great consideration and thought.

Importance of Leadership Development Programmes

Leadership development programmes enable leaders to acquire leadership skills and attributes. They also help individuals in developing communication and decision-making skills as well as accountability. There are several online leadership courses offered by Emeritus India that budding leaders or existing ones can undertake to understand what outcome they want to achieve.

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