Many people want to progress higher up the career ladder in a place where they enjoy working. One of the most common progression routes is leadership. That’s when you might manage people, run a department, be responsible for leading a project. To be an effective leader workplace, you need to possess specific leadership skills. Whether you’re new to leadership, you’re chasing a promotion or you’re an experienced leader, here are some important leadership skills for workplace success.
1 – Communication
Communication is the most important leadership skill you need to develop. Employees will naturally turn to you, so you need be able to communicate clearly. Also, keep in mind different people communicate in different ways.
How frequently you talk to your team matters. Keep people in the know and not make them feel like they’re out of the loop. Whether it’s high-level topics such as profit and loss or project status, it’s critical you have an open-door policy where two-way communication is encouraged.
Some of the communication skills you’ll need to master as a leader include:
- Active listening
- Clarity
- Confidence
- Nonverbal communication
- Public speaking
- Written and verbal communication
https://blog.vanhack.com/blog/english-for-devs-communication-in-a-multicultural-environment/
2 – Motivation
Another important leadership skill is the ability to transfer your motivation to the team. The only way your team can be motivated is if they have a motivated leader to look up to. Whether you realize it or not, you’re an inspiration to them and the more motivated you are and the more you care about your team, the more they’ll be willing to go the extra mile for you and the business.
Today, it goes beyond salary. While a healthy bank balance is important, so are things like employee perks, a healthy work-life balance and rewards that encourage outstanding, consistent performance.
To strengthen this leadership skill, you’ll need to identify what motivates your team. The challenge is adopting multiple motivation techniques, as what motivates one colleague might differ from another. For example, salary might be a crucial motivator for somebody, whereas another needs a reliable mentor and to be publicly recognized for good work.
The more you motivate your team, the more they’ll be invested in the organization for the long term.
https://blog.vanhack.com/blog/important-leadership-skills-for-workplace-success/
3 – Positivity
Positivity goes a long way to creating a joyful and enthusiastic work environment. To be a successful leader, you need to do your part to add to that positive environment so colleagues know that even in stressful moments, the workplace is one they should enjoy coming to.
If it’s a hostile environment, you’ll find teammates won’t be engaged and won’t enjoy working for the company. A positive environment helps achieve more buy-in — but it always starts with the leaders highlighting that positive culture.
Show that you’re caring, show your humorous side, be empathetic, friendly and have regular work socials. This skill will not only impact how your employees feel but also how you feel in the workplace.
https://blog.vanhack.com/blog/soft-skills-tech-talents-are-important/
4 – Flexibility
Leaders that don’t offer flexibility tend not to achieve team-wide buy-in from their colleagues. Last-minute changes and emergencies are rife in the world of work. As a leader, you need to understand that and be flexible with your team’s needs.
If you can show you’re flexible, employees will appreciate you a lot more. However, this goes beyond simply meeting change requests or changing locations. You need to be open to suggestions — that also shows you’re flexible to change.
Maybe it’s changing the processes, switching project management systems or restructuring teams. Showing you’re adaptable and can improvise is a good sign of being a flexible leader.
https://blog.vanhack.com/blog/perfectionism-holds-women-back/
5 – Responsibility
Although delegating a task might mean you aren’t 100% responsible for a potential failure, a successful leader will always hold their hands up when things don’t go to plan. You can’t be the type of leader that only shouts about the successes but sweeps the errors under the rug. If something goes wrong, you need to be willing to accept some of the blame.
The reason for this is your actions will rub off on others. The more they see you pointing the finger at someone else, the more this type of behavior is encouraged. In the end, nobody in the team will ever assume responsibility and will constantly shift the blame to somebody else.
Shifting the blame will also make colleagues lose respect for you. They want a leader that can take it on the chin and then devise a plan to ensure everyone learns from these mistakes. So, acknowledge what went wrong, be open to feedback, consider multiple solutions and be as transparent as possible.
https://blog.vanhack.com/blog/what-does-a-senior-developer-actually-mean/
Final thoughts
If you aren’t formally a leader yet in your organization, don’t let this list of essential leadership skills for workplace success put you off. You don’t need to have a leadership label to work on these skills. Take the initiative, ask for more responsibility and pinpoint the leadership skills you want to work on.
Over time, you’ll become stronger in the areas you selected and that will put you in a better position to become an official leader or senior figure within your business. If you feel you’re already skilled in some of them, go ahead and list them in your resume and cover letter, along with specific examples to strengthen your case.
You can do the same in your interviews, too. As long as you provide examples of when you used these leadership skills, you’ll stand out from the crowd.
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