What Skills Do you Need to be a Great Leader

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The Skills You Need to be a Great Leader

There are seven major skill sets you need to be a great leader. These are:

1. A "Compelling Vision". (A good C.V.)
2. A convincing and persuasive communication style.
3. Good strategic and tactical plans.
4. An effective delegator (the right tasks to the right people).
5. Conflict manager and negotiator.
6. A high degree of self-confidence.
7. The ability to inspire in others.

Take our free leadership skills quiz.

Discover your leadership strengths and weaknesses.

1. A good leader needs a Compelling Vision. (A good C.V.)

If you look at the world's greatest leaders, you will notice that they share a common attribute. They all have a compelling vision. All leaders have Compelling visions.

For example, Joan of Arc (1412-1431) said she had vision of the Saints who inspired her to defeat the English.

Richard Branson's Virgin Group's vision statement is "changing business for good". ...

If you want to be a leader, you need to develop your own compelling vision for a better future.

2. Convincing and persuasive communication style.

All visions need to be communicated. A leader needs to gain the willing cooperation of the group. Leaders gain the cooperation by communicating the vision in a convincing and persuasive manner.

All great leaders are good with language. If you want to be a great leader, study language.

It was said of Winston Churchill that he was able to "mobilize the English language, and send it into battle"

If you want to improve your leadership skills, improve your use of language. Study grammar, rhetoric and logic.

3. A good strategic and tactical plan

All visions need a plan to put them into practice. There are two types of plans, strategic plans and tactical plans.

• Strategic plans are the broad objectives and may contain a list of the major steps.
• Tactical plans are the details of how the major steps will be implemented in practice.

Some leaders are good at one, and bad at the other.

For example, Napoleon was a great tactician, but his strategy was always over-ambitions. So, it ended in failure.

To succeed, you need to be good at both strategy and tactics.

• What are your strategic objectives?
• Where are your detailed, written, tactical plans?

4. Effective delegator.

In order to implement the tactical plan, you will need to delegate. Delegating is the art of entrusting the right task, to the right person.

All great leaders are good delegators.

In relation to delegation, General George Patton said the following, "Don't tell your people how to do things, only tell them WHAT to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

5. Conflict manager and negotiator.

The sad truth is that, when any group of people come together for an extended time, then conflict is inevitable. People disagree.

Which would be okay except that: Too much internal conflict can destroy the effectiveness of a team.

Therefore, a great leader is able to bring people together; and quickly resolve internal disputes and conflicts.

Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

If you would be a great leader, learn to settle divisions within the group.

In order to resolve conflict, you need to find the common ground between three fields.

A What you want.

B What the others want.

C What is logically possible.

The intersection between these three fields is where you will find your solution.

6. High degree of self-confidence.

All great leaders need a high degree of self-confidence because they expect to be able to make their vision a reality. They expect other people to follow them. They have faith in their ability to write good plans. Therefore, self-confidence is a key attribute of a great leader.

If you would be a great leader, then every day, work on your ability to think well of yourself.

In relation to self-confidence, Donald Trump says "Confidence can get you where you want to go. It's so much easier when you feel good about yourself"

7. The ability to inspire others.

It is not enough to feel good about yourself. You need to help others to feel good about themselves. Many people feel unsure about the future and themselves. A great leader makes others feel stronger. They do that by continually saying things designed to make other people feel good about the future and feel good about themselves.

Tell people that they are what you want them to be. For example:

1. Tell your kids they are great kids.
2. Tell your colleagues they are true professionals.
3. Tell others they can achieve any goal they set their minds to.

Remember the following

1. People act in accordance with what they THINK they are.
2. If they think they're winners, they will act like winners.
3. People are strongly affected by words.
4. Carefully choose your words: use them to achieve your goals.

Take our free leadership skills quiz.

Discover your leadership strengths and weaknesses.

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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Further Reading in Leadership and Management

• What is the RACI Matrix?
  Learn more about the RACI Matrix, a model for clarifying responsibilities in a project, in this article from expert management trainer Chris Farmer.
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• Effective Leadership Management Training
  We identify the four mistakes which are the root cause of all the other management mistakes. Rectify these and the pay off would be huge.
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• How to be a Better Leader
  In order to be a good leader you must be able to get the best performance from others; but first you must be able to get the best performance from yourself.
  Read Article >
• What is Human Nature?
  Human nature is what makes us uniquely human. Humans are social animals and our lives depend on our relationship with other people. Having a insight into human nature will enable you to achieve better relationships, self-improvement and success.
  Read Article >
• How can I better lead and motivate the team?
  Your success in life is related to the degree to which you are able to gain the willing cooperative assistance of others.
  Read Article >

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