Lead with Skills

Lead with skills

#Leadership is essential for success in anything. Whether a single project or an entire organization, leadership sets the tone, the direction and the culture of the group or business that form the platform for achieving their goals. But what is leadership?

You will often find that leadership discussions tend to focus on the intangibles, attitude, presence and so on. This is partly true, you do need to have the confidence to take on a leadership challenge and have the right temperament to withstand the pressure, but in general, leadership is about skills. Skills that anyone can learn.

Here are some of the key skills you need to be a successful leader today.

Inspiring Trust

We talked about intangibles, and here is the most important one. All the #leadership skills in the world won’t help if you can’t get others to come with you on the strategy or plan you create. Your team need to #trust what you say, your decision making and more to invest in your vision, but is that just something you have, or can it be learned?

Building trust begins with being transparent, honest and explaining your #ideas with clarity. Keep your word even with the little things, you need to give people a reason to trust you.

Keep to your #values, stand for what you believe in, be exactly what you say you are. Your team will recognize this, and learn to trust your word, your guidance and your vision.

The Ability to Motivate those Around you

As with most of the most important #qualities, you can learn to motivate others. Make sure your team understand their importance, talk about what they do and its #impact on the overall #performance of the business, team or project. Make them feel valued, a part of the future.

When setting tasks, it is important to offer clarity of what an individual or team need to accomplish and why, but to build trust, give them the #responsibility for the how. Trust them to do things the best way, and they will be #motivated to repay that trust.

Knowing when to Hand Over Responsibility

Talk of #leadership will frequently refer to the responsibility a leader must take. But the most difficult thing is often giving that responsibility to others. For some, it is relinquishing control, for others it can be trusting the team or individual with that responsibility, but it can be a stumbling block.

Great leaders understand why giving others responsibility is important. Both from a motivational point of view and the practicalities of a project or initiative, allowing others some level of responsibility delivers improved performance.

Having the best people with the right #skills taking on a given task gives the best chance of success, allowing them to take responsibility for how things are accomplished builds trust and motivates them too. A #leader that spends their time micromanaging everything will not succeed long term.

Instead, allow some #flexibility. If you struggle with handing off responsibility, you can think about reporting processes. Timely, structured reporting from each team or individual allows them the flexibility to take responsibility but allows you to maintain oversight of the process.

Setting Goals

Following on from reporting structures, goal setting is crucial in maintaining momentum during a #project and keeping to the established schedule for the tasks required to meet the desired outcomes.

But setting goals and keeping the team moving is more than creating a Gant Chart or other #projectmanagement system. When you set goals as a leader, it can be a rigid system of requirements, or you could instead set objectives and define key results.

This sets the main objectives and expected results for the individual or team, but leaves them the flexibility to develop the approach they take to achieve that. As previously mentioned, this aids #motivation and builds trust, which is proven to improve overall performance. This of goal setting as defining a destination on a map, and maybe a timescale to get there, but letting the team choose the route itself.

Exchange of Feedback

In any project or #business, things go wrong. This is just an inevitability, just as sometimes things go better than you could hope for. In every situation, feedback is an essential part of the process, enabling us to learn from both success and failure.

However, it is how you give feedback, or respond to feedback yourself, that reveals the kind of leader you are. Giving and receiving #positive feedback is easy, everyone likes to be told that they have done well, but if things have not gone to plan, it can be easy for feedback to become blame and negativity.

Constructive feedback is key when dealing with failures, #focus on doing things differently next time, the lessons to learn from the issue rather than individual errors. Don’t fall into the trap of diluting that constructive feedback with praise though, lessons have to be learned from mistakes to avoid them in the future.

When giving or receiving feedback, always be specific, remove emotion and opinion from the #process and instead stick to detail and fact.

Bringing your Team Together

#Teambuilding not only creates the right culture to achieve your objectives, but helps you distribute talent where it is most effective, and can have a significant impact on overall performance. The key to team building is inclusivity, making all members feel they are making a valued #contribution.

There are a couple of #processes to achieve this, the first is to make sure that each individual is being utilized in the most effective way. Everyone has different skills and abilities, place them in positions that maximize those characteristics for each person. Not only does this ensure maximum #performance, but people who are using their best talents rather than struggling with something they are not suited to tend to be happier and more motivated too.

Individuals also work in different ways to, so avoid imposing rigid structures across the team. Instead, allow each person to find their own approach to reach the required objectives. Embrace the fact that your team are all unique individuals, and the result is a happier, motivated team that exceed expectations.

Leadership Wrap

In every more competitive markets, leadership is more important than ever. Great #leadership is not about imposing your will on others, but getting the best out of each individual or team. A flexible approach that gives space for talent to find their own way to required objectives delivers improved #performance, enhanced morale and increased trust in the leadership and process.