Top 8 Leadership Skills that sets apart exceptional leaders from ordinary leaders

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

?—John Maxwell

In its simplest form, a leader is not only leading her/his life but also influencing other people to follow. Therefore, a leader has to possess many skills, and these are just a few of them.?

1)Agility and Improvisation

Today’s leaders must think quickly and make sound decisions in response to a rapidly changing environment. Remaining open and receptive to new information, even if significant resources have been invested in your current course of action, helps foster agility. And it assures an organization is able to adapt, thrive, and evolve over time.

Being agile sometimes requires leaders to make decisions with incomplete information or in situations that may be ambiguous and uncertain. Acting despite the unknowns can provide new and useful information while failing to act can lead to missed opportunities, a culture of indecision, and acute risk aversion. Beta tests, pilot studies, and rapid prototyping are approaches that organizations use to quickly learn and adapt prior to committing resources for broad-based changes.

2)Data-driven decision-making

Data is the new oil! The 21st century is an era of data so, no one can afford to miss any data either in decision-making or production. Modern leaders must also rely on internal data to make key decisions. As a result, being data savvy is the new skill all leaders are expected to master. They must be able to analyze data from many different sources and draw key insights from this information. Today’s leaders are expected to implement data-driven decisions and shouldn’t operate in the dark.

3)Become a constant learner driven by curiosity

Technology is changing rapidly and every leader must continuously learn and adapt and be on their toes for new updates. They should nurture their curiosity by carving out time to learn and consider taking even online courses, depending on their business, leaders should dip their toes into new skills relevant to their business & for leading and guiding team. Leaders should understand the capabilities of the new technologies, even if they aren’t using them directly. And it’s not enough to just read. Leaders need to actually do or touch things like get into the front-end processes, even for a day is ok, or dive into the company’s back-end database. For Millennial leaders, the pace of innovation is only going to pick up speed during their lifetime. To succeed, this next generation of leaders will need to become constant learners.

4)Green Leadership?

In this Anthropocene epoch, green leadership is the need of the hour. Green leadership is required to lead organizations in more sustainable way. Leaders should be in constant quest to find greener & sustainable option for conventional products and energy. A good leader will not only adapt them aptly but also help society to discover, innovate & accept environmentally conscious products.

Leaders even can go for collaboration with other organisations and governments for a faster and better outcome.

5)Emotional intelligence?

Good leaders always have higher influence but how do they increase their influence on the point where people accept what they say. They do this by connecting with people emotionally.

With emotional intelligence, leaders can control their emotions, which prevents negative emotions from influencing their decision-making skills. As a result, they are less likely to make hasty decisions. Moreover, emotionally intelligent leaders are great at understanding the emotions and care about the feelings of others.

6)Resilience?

Resilience refers to both the process and the outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences

It’s your ability to withstand adversity and bounce back and grow despite life’s downturns.

It’s important to note that being resilient requires a skill set that you can work on and grow over time. Building resilience takes time, strength, and help from people around you. Hence, resilience becomes one of the essential skills for great leaders.

7)Adaptability?

Adaptability is a soft skill that means you easily adjust to changing circumstances. A combination of?adaptable leader & adaptable team in the workplace can keep up with moving priorities, projects, clients, and?technology.

Constructive criticism, unexpected changes, and worst-case scenarios happen in any work environment. That's precisely why adaptability is important. It aids your decision-making and helps you decide how to set goals. If you’re adaptable, you can continue moving forward instead of dwelling on the issues you face.

8)Transparency?

Transparency in leadership means keeping your employees in the loop, sharing the good and the bad, and welcoming honest feedback from the members of your team.

Transparency creates an open, honest culture that benefits everyone involved.

Withholding information often leads to misunderstandings and unmet expectations. Leading with transparency helps you ensure that both employee and employer expectations are appropriately set and fulfilled.

"Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position."- Brian Tracy?

Leadership is not just knowing these skills but follow them and make people follow it fully to achieve highest possible outcome.

Leaders are not born, they are made throughout time and leadership is not an easy task. It cannot be done by people who allow themselves to drive away from purpose. Great leader posses great qualities but these are few qualities which will be great to have in coming decades.?

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.“

—Peter Drucker