20 Indispensable Leadership Skills Wouldn't you love to be a great leader? Would you like to know good a leader you are now? Wouldn't you love to better yourself? If the answer to these questions is "yes", then you have come to the right place. Here is a check list of 20 indispensable leadership skills for you. Compare yourself honestly to each skill given here, and see whether you feel it rings true in your case. The more of these you have, the better your leadership skills are are. And even if you may not have many of these qualities, improving your leadership skills is just a matter of adding all these skills to your arsenal, and constantly polishing them.
1. Ethics and Values: Being a great leader involves having great ethics and values.
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Respect and Trust: People are only naturally drawn to leaders who they trust and respect. Fear and control based leadership could get you some followers in the short-term, but loyalty wouldn't be their top quality. To build a loyal team, be someone who can be trusted and respected.
3. Confidence: Self-confidence and assertiveness attract people like a magnet. Develop your self confidence and assertiveness, and you can be a leader.
4. Decisiveness: Leaders need to make tough decisions in tough times. Hone your decision-making skills. Learn to be calm under pressure. People will naturally look up to you and want to be led by you.
5. Delegation: You cannot do everything just because you are a leader. You need to delegate tasks effectively. Know your team. Know each member's strengths and weaknesses and delegate responsibilities accordingly. This will make your team members feel appreciated and recognized.
6. Communication skills: Improve your communication skills. Always communicate your vision, goals, plans, strategies, potential problems and expectations to the team members. Get input from your team. Listen, ask suggestions, convey, involve, co-operate. There is no need to be a know-it-all; be open to
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Knowledge: A great leader has a good deal of knowledge about the task at hand. S/he continuously educates herself/himself, and is always aware of the goings-on. It is not necessary to know everything (although that helps ;)) but a good working knowledge is essential. You cannot expect to lead a team of chefs if you cannot tell one vegetable from the other.
14. Admit mistakes: Everyone makes mistakes. That is probably the oldest cliché there is, but is true nonetheless. If you made a move and it turned out to be a disaster, then admit it. People generally forgive mistakes, but not cover-ups. Learn from your mistakes and move on.
15. Self-improvement: A real leader constantly commits himself/herself to self improvement. It is journey you must take pride in, and feel good about. Make sure that each day the world sees you a little better than the previous day.
16. Team player: A great leader is also a great team player. S/he always puts the team's interest before her/his own. S/he is willing to forego personal accomplishments for the benefit of the team.
17. Positivity: A leader should be very positive and should be able to convey it to the team. His/her statements should reflect optimism and positivity, both in good times and, perhaps even more importantly, in bad