Three Advanced Leadership Skills
Three Advanced Leadership Skills
If you want to advance your leadership skills to the highest level, then master the skills of:
- Utilisation: making use of whatever happens.
- Adaptability: changing yourself to benefit from a change in circumstances.
- Creativity: inventing new ways.
1. Utilisation: Making use of whatever happens.
Your plans are often thrown off-track by circumstances beyond your control.
When that happens, many people will rant about their rotten luck.
Leaders, however, strive to profit from whatever happens.
If it snows on Sunday, some people complain. Other people build a snowman.
If a heckler torments a public speaker, some speakers are rattled. Better speakers use the heckler as a foil with which to prove their point.
Whatever happens, ask yourself: how can we USE this to our advantage?
2. Adaptability: Changing yourself to survive a change in circumstances.
If you cannot bend the circumstances to fit you, then you may have to bend yourself to fit the circumstances.
Evolution is progress by adapting the existing model to fit the changing circumstances.
It is sometimes called "the survival of the fittest".
Those who adapt to the changing circumstances, live long and prosper. Those who don't, won't.
It pays to be adaptable.
3. Creativity: Inventing new ways to achieve your goals.
In the biological world, evolutionary adaptation takes millions of years.
In the economic world, you don't have that much time. You must adapt faster.
And that means you must be creative.
Harness the power of your creative brain to invent new ideas, new methods, new ways of doing business.
We know that change is the only constant, and so you must always be ready to abandon what you have done before and create new and better ways, to achieve the result you want.
Create your way out of trouble.
Hannibal said: We will either find a way; or create one!
The world belongs to creative minds.
Definition: Utilisation
Utilisation is a business leadership skill that lets a leader use any event, wanted or not, to move the team forward. The skill holds only when the leader: seeks value in each event; turns new facts into help not harm; decides quickly on new action; and refuses to waste time on blame or complaint.
Show CG4D Definition
- Looks for value in every event, good or bad.
- Turns surprise events into useful tools for progress.
- Acts fast to fit new facts into the plan.
- Avoids blame and complaint, stays forward-focused.
Article Summary
Great leaders rise when plans break; they use every event, adapt on the move, and create fresh answers, proving that advanced leadership skills turn change into gain.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions that frequently get asked about this topic during our training sessions.
What does utilisation mean in leadership?
How can I practise utilisation each day?
Why is adaptability a vital skill for leaders?
What simple actions help build the adaptability skill?
How does creativity help when plans go off track?
Which quick exercise can spark creative leadership thinking?
How do utilisation, adaptability and creativity work together?
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Did You Know: Key Statistics
76% of UK hiring leaders list the ability to adapt as a top-three leadership skill, according to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report 2024. Firms that promote creative thinking grow revenue 2.4 times faster than peers, reports McKinsey’s Global Innovation Survey 2023 (10% vs 4% yearly growth).About the Author: Chris Farmer
Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.
Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.
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