Leadership strengths are crucial for anyone in a leadership position since they will contribute to someone being able to lead, motivate, and inspire others. There are key leadership strengths you will need to develop and master to have a successful career. This article will take you through some of the strengths you need to focus on developing so you can take your career to the next level.
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the ability to monitor your own emotions and reactions. It is a key leadership strength that must be developed by people in management positions. Practicing self-awareness as a leader allows you to better react to situations or people who may trigger you, especially at your workplace. This will help you avoid unnecessary conflict and be a good example to your colleagues. If you do not practice self-awareness as a leader, you will often appear as arrogant or entitled and it will be difficult to connect with and build meaningful relationships with your team. Self-awareness will also enable you to adapt your leadership style to the needs of your team. You will know how to provide the support and encouragement that your team needs. To become more self-aware as a leader, stay focused, practice self-discipline, keep an open mind, know your emotional triggers, and seek feedback from your team.
The Ability to Teach
Being able to teach others or explain complex ideas in simple ways is one crucial leadership strength. Teaching your team members shows that you are personally invested in their individual success and their contribution towards the success of the team. You can also diversify your teaching skills by learning from your team members. You can do this by letting others take on leadership positions and observing their teaching methods.
Excellent Communication Skills
Leadership is all about excellent communication. Effective leadership requires effective communication. Leaders need to be skilled communicators at many levels with a wide range of different audiences. Knowing when, what, and exactly how to communicate is an art that every leader should master as it helps you effectively communicate your expectations and listen to the needs of others. To be an effective communicator, you will need to be authentic, listen carefully and intently, be visible, encourage input, and affirm with actions.
Confidence
The people you lead will trust your judgement and leadership when you show them that you believe in yourself. Being confident helps you make decisions and convince other people to support the choices you make. Confidence is not always a natural strength. You can work to become confident over time by sharing your ideas more often, speaking up in meetings, and using positive language when discussing your actions and accomplishments.
Situational Awareness
As a great leader, you should always be aware of what is happening around you. Situational awareness is more a mindset than a hard skill and developing it is very important. A leader will require outward focus so he/she is able to listen, observe, and consider the dynamics of a situation to make decisions. Good situational awareness will also allow you to predict potential problems and opportunities before they may arise. It will give you the ability to plan ahead and be prepared for anything that comes your way. To become more situationally aware as a leader, you will need to connect regularly with peers and colleagues, elevate your attitude, and give yourself enough time for reflection.
Effective Negotiation Skills
Leaders need to have effective negotiation skills to cope with a variety of different situations. During negotiations, a leader will look to understand the needs and interests of those they lead and work to satisfy those needs. As an effective negotiator, you will find common ground where all parties will feel satisfied about a decision made. Effective negotiation skills will also help in managing and resolving conflict. Different situations or environments will need you to put into use negotiation skills that match that particular environment. For example, the type of negotiation skills you use while dealing with your direct reports will be different from those you use while engaging with members of the executive management. The ability to negotiate business terms while keeping your viewpoints open and keeping emotions in check throughout any negotiation is essential to any organization as it brings about desired outcomes. As a good negotiator, you will need to communicate openly, honor your commitments, never be the first to make an offer, and be emotionally adept and open.
Collaboration Skills and Intercultural Sensitivity
A good leader will adopt a collaborative leadership style that encourages wider access to information, different perspectives, and a shared responsibility amongst teams. It also encourages commitment and engagement. When employees know that their leader is invested in them, they feel cared for and valued. This in turn encourages them to work smarter and eventually achieve greater results. It is important that you understand and appreciate the differences between people, have he ability to listen to others, communicate clearly, and negotiate compromise when necessary.
Intercultural sensitivity refers to the ability to see the world from another person’s perspective. A leader will build teams that are diverse in background and viewpoints. A more collaborative leader will avoid silos, use failure as lessons, communicate openly, listen to and encourage feedback, and encourage speaking up.
Dedication
Excellent leaders tend to have dedication and commitment as some of their core strengths. With this strength, you will be able to follow through on all of your actions. Also, you will stay focused on your team’s mission and long-term vision. To develop dedication as a strength, start by prioritizing your own performance and setting goals to track your progress at the workplace. Monitoring your productivity and the effort you put into each task at your workplace can help improve your dedication.
Conflict Resolution Skills
Conflict is inevitable in any organization. As such, the means and how the conflict is handled will determine whether it is productive or debilitating. A leader with good conflict resolution skills will navigate the intricacies of conflict management to ensure that the conflict does not escalate. Your ability to listen attentively to both parties and identify the cause of the problem at hand to come up with an acceptable solution will place you as a great leader. To develop conflict resolution skills, you will need to be receptive, learn to listen, be mindful of biases, and allow all parties to share their opinions.
Empathy
Empathy is a top leadership strength as it enables you to understand the values of other people, their motivations, and feelings. Your ability to relate to others on an emotional level can help you find the best way to align your values with the goals of the team. If you are empathetic, you will be able to approach situations based on how others feel and think, which in turn promotes a cohesive and respectful team environment. Some of the ways you can develop and show empathy at your workplace is by asking questions to understand, working on your listening skills, promoting collaboration, offering to help with projects, and validating how the other person is feeling.
Final Thoughts on Key Leadership Strengths and How to Develop Them
Excellent leadership is a journey and is something you will have to work at regularly throughout your career, regardless of what level you are at. In most cases, people are not born leaders, they are made leaders. As such, continued study, experience, intentional effort and adaptation will mold you into a great leader as long as you are open to growth.