Tag: tips to improve leadership skills

Empowering Leadership Growth: A Holistic Approach to Advancing Your Leadership Journey

Are you looking to empower and equip your senior-level managers to become effective leaders able to guide their teams toward success? Leadership development plays an essential role in the growth of organizations as it enables them to evolve, learn new strategies, and innovate. The journey of becoming a successful leader is complex but not impossible with the right guidance. 

As HR leaders, you are responsible for helping develop strong leadership skills within your organization that will lead to long-lasting success. That’s why we have developed this detailed approach focused on growing leadership–one designed exclusively with you in mind. Read on for more insight into our comprehensive approach, which will help equip and empower your team members so they can drive excellence throughout your entire organization!

What are Leadership Skills?

Leadership skills are a set of abilities and qualities that enable individuals to guide, inspire, and influence others effectively. These skills encompass effective communication, decision-making, strategic thinking, and the capacity to motivate and empower team members toward achieving shared objectives.

Successful leaders must embody a versatile skill set that includes resilience, effective communication, innovative thinking, consistency, strong decision-making abilities, and a steadfast commitment to personal accountability. Instead of relying on a single trait, adept leaders skillfully combine multiple abilities to navigate the intricacies of leading teams. The adaptability of leadership skills lies in their capacity to flexibly adjust one’s leadership style according to the situation, effectively addressing a diverse range of challenges.

Importance of Leadership Skills

HR leadership strategies
 

The power of excellent leadership lies in its ability to inspire, guide, and teach others. Good leaders inspire others to join them in achieving a goal or supporting a cause important to the organization. So, before discussing how to create a leadership growth plan, let’s first understand its importance.

  • Reduces Burnout

Leaders in business who struggle to adeptly manage time, people, and projects often face burnout. Leadership qualities such as empathy, delegation, and efficient time management play a pivotal role in mitigating burnout and enhancing overall workplace well-being. Moreover, fostering these leadership abilities within the workforce empowers employees to take ownership of their roles within the organization.

  • Builds Favorable Relations

Emotional intelligence stands out as a crucial quality for successful leaders, particularly when navigating challenging circumstances. Leaders who resort to yelling or displaying anger risk creating a toxic work environment. On the contrary, maintaining composure, seeking solutions, and avoiding the blame game contribute to improved workplace relationships.

Prioritizing the cultivation of a positive work environment should be a perpetual goal for any company. Attaining this objective not only nurtures positive relationships but also facilitates seamless coordination and teamwork among employees.

  • Empowers People

Supporting and enabling others to realize their potential and assisting people in getting through their fears and obstacles are where leadership skills help. It is your responsibility as a leader to make your team members rise above their insecurities and encourage, direct, and persuade them that they are capable of achieving incredible things.

The dividends of leadership become exponential when you instill unwavering faith in your team, granting them the autonomy to explore creativity and innovation. To encourage and empower your team, you must excel at communication, inspiring and influencing others, and developing a mentoring approach to leadership.

  • Provides Guidance and Support

True leadership goes beyond just giving orders; it’s about guiding and supporting your team every step of the way. Great leaders understand the importance of providing instruction and assistance when needed, helping their employees navigate the challenges of their roles. But it doesn’t stop there. 

Exceptional leaders also have the power to delve deeper, helping individuals grasp their own motivations and align them with the organization’s objectives. With their unique abilities, these leaders unlock the full potential of their team by articulating the vision and goals of the organization, creating a shared sense of purpose and achievement.

  • Builds Strategic Partnerships

In today’s competitive business landscape, effective leadership is crucial for making impactful decisions that drive growth. As a savvy leader, your ability to consider all variables and circumstances is key to helping your organization achieve its objectives.

Decisions hold the power to shape a company’s personnel and its present and future standing. That’s why strategic partnerships are vital for expanding and reaching milestones. As a leader, it is your responsibility to identify the most promising collaboration opportunities and pursue them relentlessly—a task made possible through strong leadership skills.

Also read: How to Align Human Resources With Business Goals

How to Improve Leadership Skills in the Workplace?

Strong leadership is essential because it helps create a corporate culture that encourages employees to perform their jobs effectively. Use the following tips to improve your leadership skills, decide on a strategy, create goals, and monitor progress.

  • Work on More Projects

Developing diverse leadership abilities can become a challenge when you’re focused on one client or confined to the same job scope for an extended period of time. In order to expand your skillset, it’s crucial to take on various roles and projects that allow you to learn new hard and soft skills.

By researching, working, mentoring, and achieving successful outcomes in different areas, you’ll become adept at finding strategic solutions and leading teams. These achievements will not only demonstrate your capabilities but also catch the attention of upper management, making them consider you for premium assignments and future leadership roles.

  • Discipline Is the Key

Cultivating leadership requires discipline, which is vital for success. You can develop discipline by establishing rules for your thoughts, actions, and practices. Even when you don’t feel like it, showing discipline means fulfilling your obligations.

Furthermore, your discipline can serve as an inspiration for others to follow. At work, you can showcase good discipline habits by punctually attending meetings, respecting deadlines, and completing tasks promptly. Similarly, at home, you can practice discipline by starting your day early, engaging in meditation, and prioritizing daily exercise. By incorporating discipline into your life, you can pave the way for personal growth and achievement.

  • Take Leadership Courses

Online or offline leadership courses offer a valuable opportunity to enhance your leadership abilities and gain a comprehensive understanding of effective leadership. These courses, whether taken in-person or through virtual platforms, provide essential knowledge and skills to lead groups and organizations confidently.

By enrolling in leadership courses, you can embark on a journey of self-discovery and skill development. Platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning are renowned for their diverse selection of online courses, taught by successful industry leaders, directors, and founders who possess extensive experience in leading teams across various organizations.

Also read: 6 Leadership Challenges In The Workplace & How To Overcome Them

  • Consult a Mentor

For any entrepreneur, business owner, or leader, a mentoring relationship may be a potent tool to speed up learning and improve leadership abilities. An excellent mentor broadens your perspective, inspires and supports your decisions, and helps you discover your hidden strengths. Your mentor may be an experienced co-worker, a lecturer, a prominent figure in the sector, or an acquaintance.

A mentor, an experienced professional in your field, can advise you on developing your talents, what areas need work, and how to show leadership. Even if your mentor works for a different organization or sector, they can train you on important leadership qualities and work tactics.

  • Assess Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Understanding that your contributions to the organization are based on your strengths is important. You must understand which physical and mental abilities make you excel at tasks and which traits hold you back. Then, you must polish your strengths and improve your weaknesses. It involves concentrating on tasks that allow you to prove your worth.  A researcher from HBR found that  combining skills (often a weakness with a strength) produces highly effective leadership.

Moreover, engaging in extracurricular activities like public speaking sessions, industry networking events, mentoring subordinates, and devising innovative solutions can highlight your diverse strengths, positioning you as a well-rounded professional prepared for leadership roles.

Also read: 10 Best Personal Development Goals For Leaders

Summing Up

Business leadership development and management play a pivotal role in shaping the organizational culture and guiding the actions of team members. In the face of evolving needs and shifts in the corporate landscape, continual adaptation becomes imperative. With the right type of leadership and effective leadership abilities, nothing is beyond reach. A strong leader can motivate team members to give their very best. You may gain much more from people if you motivate them and provide a thriving environment.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is a comprehensive leadership approach?

A comprehensive leadership approach refers to a leader’s behavioral strategy to influence, inspire, and instruct subordinates. It affects plans and strategies to achieve certain goals while considering stakeholders’ needs and the team’s health and well-being.

  • How to create a leadership growth plan?

To create a leadership growth plan, write down your leadership development goals, examine the leadership traits you admire, revise your leadership development, and review the progress with your coach or mentor. The process involves creating an action plan to improve leadership skills.

  • Why do we need to have leadership skills?

Leadership skills are important because they help you motivate others, organize and nurture their potential, create a vision, and empower teams for organizational success.

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Effective Strategies on How to Develop Leaders in the Workplace

Leadership is a pursuit to steer, influence, or guide people, teams, or entire organizations. Simon Sinek’s TED talk speech discusses what all excellent leaders have in common: they start with their ‘whys’. A leader has values and principles. When others can relate to those same values, they become followers. They get inspired by their leaders and are engaged. But can leadership qualities be developed in individuals? There has to be few qualities in an ideal leader like being proactive, empathic, innovative, and so on and so forth. If any individual shows promise, it is totally possible to develop leaders in the workplace with a few effective strategies.

Why should companies invest in developing leadership skills? 

In huge companies, most employees have minimal interaction with the senior management of their organization. They mostly get their work and motivation from their managers, whom they report to daily. These managers have a significant impact on the morale, productivity, and tenure of the employees.

All of these factors have a significant impact on the company’s bottom line. However, many managers do not obtain their positions through formal leadership development and training programs. They get it through promotions after an outstanding performance in individual contributor roles.

Independent research through the Conference Board, Bersin by Deloitte and HR analytics professionals McBassi & Company attained the identical conclusion: Leadership improvement and development is the need of the hour in most of the companies these days. It surveyed greater than 5,000 members across the world — in addition to 8,765 of their colleagues- 99% of the members who responded to the poll said they had succeeded in achieving their goals in relation to communication, self-awareness, enforcing change, and other areas.

In fact, according to a LinkedIn Learning report, 61% of companies don’t offer leadership training. Without proper preparation, new managers can struggle in their role, leading to turnover, employee performance issues, and more. Giving these managers the support and resources they need not only improves their performance but also helps them make their teams stronger, more engaged, and more effective.

Also Read: How Inclusive Leadership Boosts Employee Engagement And Performance

Why do companies need good leaders?

Effective leaders

Leadership effectiveness and its importance have received plenty of attention in recent years. This is not surprising as the leadership team has the potential to build the organizational culture and promote success.

General notion is that effective leaders are the ones who get more work done by their teams. But leadership goes above and beyond that. People like to and will only follow leaders who are sure of their goals, have values and principles, and are fair.

Leadership is how well a pacesetter leads, influences, manages, guides, and develops team members.

Businesses with greater “management maturity” are eleven times more likely to have an abundance of leaders who can develop expertise for competitive advantage, according to Bersin through Deloitte’s study High-Impact Leadership Development. Additionally, they have a seven times greater chance of having a large number of leaders who can persuade others to follow them. Businesses incur extraordinary costs when they see bright individuals walk out the door, including fees for morale, advertising, recruitment, and relocation as well as time spent training new staff.

Four reasons to invest in developing effective leaders

Reasons to invest in developing leaders

  • Improving the company’s ROI
  • Attracting, developing, and retaining talent
  • Operating and executing business strategies
  • Adapting to change with success

Seven strategies to develop effective leaders

Ensuring clarity and visibility of goals

Encourage your leaders, managers, and executives to have clarity and visibility of goals. First, the goals should be perfectly clear. Having ambiguous goals that stretch for years on end is not a smart move. To develop leaders and foster leadership in the team, set up an OKR process that is effective.

Second, the goals should be communicated to any or all for complete visibility. Everyone in the organization should have complete visibility, idea, and ownership of the set goals. Then only people will be able to strive toward achieving it.

Being accountable and responsible

A major role that a leader plays is imbibing the sense of ownership in the team. That can only happen by setting an example. If leaders have an acute sense of responsibility and ownership, then only the team would follow in their stride. Encourage your leaders to be responsible and liable for their actions. Allow them to have a positive and productive influence on the team. Develop leaders with emotional intelligence and empathy.

Creating a culture of feedback

It’s important to share feedback with employees on their performance to help them improve and grow. This directly impacts business goals and objectives.

Encourage managers to be open to employee feedback as well. This helps you identify and understand leadership style gaps that can hinder your effectiveness as a leader.

Strategies to develop effective leaders

Fostering a culture of trust and transparency

For leaders to be ready to influence, guide, and drive their teams toward success, there must be trust and transparency. To create trust, transparency, and credibility, encourage your team leaders to bond with their teams and build a rapport. Everyone on the team should be treated fairly and without bias or prejudice.

Showing empathy

Management is focused on empathy, especially during times of crisis. Leaders need to demonstrate genuine expertise in the issues that their team has faced. CEOs desire to be grounded in their own humanity, according to a key research from Korn Ferry that presented the interviews of over 300 firms with a combined $6.7 billion in sales. According to the research, “[humanity] requires courage, intellect, grace, sincerity, and self-recognition as they simultaneously drive outcomes and execute strategy.

It necessitates the qualities associated with emotional intelligence, such as openness, vulnerability, and teamwork. In other words, true empathy needs both introspective thought and external knowledge of what lies ahead.

Respecting different views and promoting involvement

Each team has members coming from diverse backgrounds, having different views, concepts, and opinions. An efficient leader truly respects and sees the value in diversity. To build a team of great leaders, build a culture of inclusion.

Peter Senge, senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and writer of the groundbreaking book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, wrote, “Collectively, we may be greater insightful, greater wise than we will probably be individual.”

Promoting a mindset of growth

Leaders need to have a growth outlook. They should have open and transparent communication with the team to enhance their career growth. With a growth outlook, leaders can make sure that they are leading effectively, strategically, and with the best manner attainable.

With all new things and processes, there will always be challenges in the way. Let us check out the types of issues one might face while trying to develop great leaders in the organization.

What are the challenges a company might face in leadership?

Communication challenges:

  • Keeping individuals on the same track
  • Having open and transparent communication

It’s important to celebrate your employees’ successes, whether big or little. Ensure that your team feels recognized and acknowledged.

Competency challenges:

  • Making strong decisions
  • Managing resources
  • Delegating tasks
  • Seeking Feedback

Other challenges:

How to deal with the challenges

  • Avoiding stress and burnout: Leading others will be difficult. There are times when leaders feel stressed out with such an immense responsibility. Keep yourself driven, manage the stress that comes with uncertainty, and avoid emotional exhaustion and burnout. Give yourself some time to relax and rejuvenate.
  • Focusing on your role: Make sure you and everyone on your team know and understand their roles. This helps in managing resources and ensuring you don’t stretch yourself and your team.
  • Being authentic: Develop your leadership skills by taking different approaches to things; however, don’t try to be something you’re not. Being an authentic leader is important.
  • Providing support: Coaching and mentoring will be useful for each new leader. 
  • Setting clear expectations: Set expectations with clear communication for each and every individual. This way they will be able to arrange their schedules, prioritize tasks, and manage different responsibilities.
Also Read: 5 Inspiring Examples of Coaching And Mentoring in the Workplace

Real examples of approaches that companies have taken to develop leaders

EY

EYnnovation program partners young potential leaders with young corporations. This helps young professionals develop their leadership styles while aiding businesses through their initial growth.

The initiative pushes kids out of their company setting and into the startup scene, where they need to connect with different EY colleagues and build their network.

After they are part of the program, every individual starts developing the technical skills required to become a specialist in their field. While working in startups, they additionally develop soft skills like networking, establishing client relationships, sales training, running conferences, and different leadership qualities.

UPWORK

The company runs on the idea that the best developers don’t always create the best leaders. They encourage folks in the corporate world to move around and take a look at new things.

Upwork’s team leads an educational program to assist new managers, powerfully counting on peer coaching and mentoring from a lot of senior-level leaders. This leadership development program lets potential new managers flourish and not be overstressed with too much work pressure.

ADOBE

Adobe prides itself on supporting recent graduates to plan their careers. They often attend school campuses and other organizations to recruit talent before they graduate.

Adobe offers these people opportunities and urges them to take the plunge into the corporate world. Once employed at Adobe, the staff has access to a library of data on the organization and ways in which to progress in their careers.

Their Accelerate Adobe Life program includes one-on-one conferences, coaching resources, and performance reviews. To continue supporting their advancement, Adobe offers leadership coaching programs.

Listen to our recent People + Strategy podcast on Changing the DNA of Leadership

https://engagedly.com/changing-the-dna-of-leadership-with-servicenows-kelly-steven-waiss-ep-18/

Final Thoughts

As a leader, you’ll face several challenges. A true leader is a quick decision-maker, who can deal with any crisis at the workplace with tact and empathy. Emotional intelligence and a fair, unbiased mind are the quintessential qualities that a leader must possess.

Good leaders display strength in hard times. As Jim Harter, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Workplace, for Gallup’s workplace management exercise defined throughout the COVID-19 catastrophe, “A make-or-ruin trait for corporations all through hard instances is resilience. This is especially real in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. People’s compounding concerns about their health, financial destiny, and disrupted lives make this the hardest time maximum people have ever experienced.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What are the six ways to develop leadership skills?

Ans: Listed here are six ways in which you can develop leadership skills:

  • Being goal-oriented
  • Being accountable and responsible
  • Sharing timely feedback
  • Displaying empathy
  • Having transparent communication channels
  • Fostering a mindset of growth

Q2. What are the four core traits of successful leaders?

Ans: Successful leaders need to have these four core traits:

  • Self-motivation
  • Empathy
  • Transparent communication
  • Adaptability to change