What Skills Do you Need to be a Leader?

Important: GDPR Email Preferences

As you may already know, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be coming into effect on 25th May 2018. We take your privacy seriously and we are working hard to ensure we comply with the new data protection laws. You can find out more about how we're doing this in our privacy policy on our website.

We want to make sure you continue to receive the latest newsletters, blogs, special offers and more.

As someone who has opted-in to receive our emails in the past, we’d like to give you this opportunity to confirm what you wish to receive:

Just so you know, if you don’t let us know what kinds of emails you want to receive from us, we’ll stop emailing you on the 24th May 2018 - you'll be missing out!

You are of course free to change your mind at any time – just follow the link at the bottom of any of our emails.

What skills do you need to be a leader?

The top ten skills required by leaders, are the ability to:

1. Set a long-range optimistic vision for a better future and to be willing to commit to it for years.
2. Communicate the Vision to others, in such a way that they feel inspired to commit.
3. Build practical plans that show how the Vision may be achieved.
4. Organise resources and people, so that the plans are effectively implemented.
5. Maintain good order within the team, so that the individual members work in a cooperative and supportive manner.
6. Notice immediately which parts of the plan are working, and which parts are not working.
7. Be willing to adapt and change the plan, based upon the recent results.
8. Inspire others to accept change and keep going, despite the inevitable setbacks and difficulties.
9. To always be positive, but never over-confident.
10. To always be happy, but never satisfied.

1. Set a long-range optimistic Vision for a better future and to be willing to commit to it for years.

It takes years to accomplish anything of real value. Average people want instant gratification.

Leaders on the other hand, are long range thinkers. They think in terms of years, not days. Leaders think strategically.

If you want to be a leader, set big goals and be prepared to commit to them for years.

2. Communicate the Vision to others, in such a way that they feel inspired to commit.

Leaders are often great communicators, who inspire others to share the vision.

Leaders need at least one follower, and preferably many more than one. Therefore, a leader must communicate effectively.

If you want to be a leader, improve your personal communication skills.

3. Build practical plans that show how the Vision may be achieved.

Visions of a better future remain ephemeral dreams, unless they are translated into reality by practical plans.

Every vision needs detailed, written practical plans, that describe how the vision is to be translated into reality.

If you want to be a leader, then improve your planning skills.

4. Organise resources and people so that the plans are effectively implemented.

A plan needs to be implemented effectively. Therefore, a leader needs to keep an eye on the implementation of the plan. This introduces the concept of management, into the concept of leadership.

If you want to be a great leader, then improve your management skills.

5. Maintain good order within the team, so that the individual members work in a cooperative and collaborative manner.

Since the team has many different types of people, the chances are there will be the occasional conflict within the team. A leader must maintain good relationships between the various competing forces within the team.

A divided team fails.

If you want to be a good leader, improve your conflict management and negotiation skills.

6. Notice immediately which parts of the plan are working, and which parts are not working.

Success is not usually experienced as a steady stream of victories.

Success is usually the result of overcoming many setbacks and defeats.

It is vital that a leader is constantly aware of the feedback results, their current actions are producing.

Don't evade unpleasant truths.

If you want to be a leader, then you need to be honest about what is not going well.

7. Be willing to adapt and change the plan based upon the recent results.

When things are not going well, it is time to change the plan and adapt to current circumstances. This does NOT mean give up on the goal. It means change the plan.

If you want to be a great leader, stay committed to the goal, but be flexible in your methods.

8. Inspire others to accept change and keep going, despite the inevitable setbacks and difficulties.

Leaders embrace change, but many non-leaders hate change. You will have to use all your leadership skills to help others in your team to accept the necessity for change.

If you want to be a good leader, improve your ability to manage change and teach others to do the same.

9. To always be positive, but never over-confident.

Leaders are always positive because they keep the vision of a better future always in mind, but they are never over-confident, because they know the vision has to be paid for by proper planning, intelligent action, adaptation and change.

If you want to be a leader, develop a positive mental attitude.

10. To always be happy, but never satisfied.

Leaders are always happy because they know they are on their way to better times, but they are never satisfied, as they know that perfection is never quite achieved, and there is always more to do.

If you want to be a leader, discover the art of being happy but never satisfied, since improvement is always possible.

Attend our Two-Day Leadership Course

Our inspirational two-day Leadership Course is based on the above ten points and will enable you to improve your management skills and make you a better leader.

Blogs by Email

Do you want to receive an email whenever we post a new blog? The blogs contain article 5-10 minutes long - ideal for reading during your coffee break!

Your Comments

Further Reading in Leadership and Management

• Where can I find a good team leadership management training course?
  Where can I find a good team leadership and management training course? Are you on line today, trying to find a good team leadership and management training course? Good team leadership training courses are hard to find. There are so many choose from. But how can you tell which are the...
  Read Article >
• Good training for leaders and managers
  Good training for leaders and managers Good training for leaders and managers is important because your leader-managers are important people in your organisation. If they do a good job, then the whole of the organisation will function better. But, if your leader managers are not working well, then the whole organisation...
  Read Article >
• Habits of highly effective leaders
  The habits of highly effective leaders We tend to be creatures of habit. Habits are automatized actions. We all tend to have habitual ways of doing things. Your habits allow you to do many complex things, without really thinking about them. Habits allow you to do things on "automatic pilot". You...
  Read Article >
• PMA Training
  Fortune favours the prepared mind. In other words a Positive Mental Attitude will help you overcome any challenges you encounter and you are more likely to succeed.
  Read Article >
• Where are the best management training courses?
  Where are the best management training courses? Are you searching for the best management training course for yourself, or a colleague? There are numerous types of management training courses; and the different types vary in their training style and approach. The worst kind of management training courses are geared more towards...
  Read Article >