Guest Post: 7 Skills of Great Leaders

When it comes to getting your company or brand to the next level, excellent leadership is the basis of everything. By having a strong basis, you will have the liberty to make the choices and moves you want.

Leadership is what makes the entire vessel move, that allows goals to be accomplished. Without a strong leader, any company will be just a collection of separate skills and traits. Therefore, you should always take after history’s successful leaders and strengthen the bond between you and your team.

What exactly makes a great leader so great? We’ve selected 7 of the most important traits of a leader that should become your own.

1. Listening

Not everyone can listen. Listening is a formidable skill that’s closely connected to humility. Being the ultimate listener means accepting the fact that your solution might not be the best one.

If a leader is a good listener, he can connect with his or her team and show them that their work is important. By listening, you show people that their words matter and that they should express themselves.

Robert Garvey from EssayOnTime concurs and adds that listening is an investment in your team. Once people feel that they’re being listened to, they will be more motivated to share ideas and plans in the future.

As a direct result of this investment, there will be an atmosphere of equality, which will translate on everyone relying on each other and having each other’s backs. Leaders have to establish such a climate.

2. Critical thinking

To be a successful leader, you have to play the role of a judge on many occasions. Time and again, you will be presented with plans, proposals, ideas and everything else that comes to someone’s mind.

How will you be able to discern good from bad and make the right choice? Critical thinking is the key, and it always will be.

A critical-thinking leader can draw information from a multitude of sources, even if some of them are conflicting. Keep in mind that a critical thinker is also the owner of an open mind.

Even though you have to double check and question everything, don’t hesitate to use other people’s knowledge as an aid. Promote facts and scientific methods amongst your team, and you will be much more respected.

3. Giving feedback

While listening may be a paramount skill in today’s business world, giving feedback is also a skill that’s vital to quality leadership. By giving honest and useful feedback, the listener will also learn about your outlook on the situation.

With the critique added, they will be able to see what they can improve. Additionally, when they hear that they’ve performed well, they will be more motivated to continue in the same manner.

Hone the culture of giving feedback in your company. No matter the position or experience level, everyone should have the same right to voice their opinion.

If the feedback is negative, never end it on the same note. Emphasize that failure is just an indication that there is room for improvement. People will feel better about themselves as a result.

4. Time management

Even the greatest and most inspiring ideas have perished because of a lack of time management. Every goal and plan have to be dissected into smaller sections.

By inserting each of these sections in a corresponding period, you will be closer and closer to achieving that goal. Thus, it is your duty as a leader to allow your colleagues and associates to be precise and punctual.

Make to-do lists and have a big board or screen somewhere where everyone can see it. Even by casting a glance at the list, people will be reminded of their purpose.

Everything will be written down and managed, so they will feel more secure because they know what they have to do. Also, be sure to set an example of how to deal with unexpected occurrences and changes of plan.

5. Planning and implementing

Determining what you want and what should you do can sometimes be much harder than actually doing it. Plan together with your team. Have everyone give their opinion on what should be done tomorrow, next week or for the entire year.

A good leader always makes planning a collective activity, without much pressure on one single person.

By allowing your associates to participate in the implementation process, they will feel less of a burden. Different perspectives will yield a different result and thus result in a more efficient implementation of said ideas.

6. Organization

An organization is nothing more than practical use of knowledge. A great leader must know the individual traits, preferences and strong sides of every employee or associate.

With that knowledge, he can distribute every task accordingly, without worrying about something going wrong. Every part of the task will be executed by the person most fit to accomplish it.

In addition to giving out orders and distributing workforce and brainpower, a great leader knows how to distribute resources. To top it off, you have to implement written progress tracking, so that everyone is in sync.

7. Motivation

Everyone has bad days and doesn’t feel like doing something. No matter how discouraging this is, it doesn’t define anyone.

As a leader, it’s your role to remind people that you’re working with of what they’re worth and how valuable they are to you. Within your position, you have to display equal amounts of sturdiness and compassion.

Reward those around you and make them realize how much you value them. By providing clear purpose and an evident direction, you will be able to do great things and get the most out of everyone around you.

Concluding thoughts

Don’t look at leadership as a burden, but as a challenge. Look at that position as an ultimate form of gravity, the force that binds different people and different goals together. By functioning in sync, organizing and motivating your associates, everyone will flourish, and potential for further accomplishments will indubitably be infinite.

About the Author:

Serena Dorf is an enthusiastic content writer in Los Angeles. She is thirsty for knowledge and is always on the lookout for amazing writing tips to share with her readers.  In her free time, she is reading classic American literature and learning Swedish. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter.