How to Develop Personal Leadership Qualities

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Leadership skills are in high demand in industries, that’s because these skills are hard to obtain and master. It takes time, experience, and dedication to develop industry-leading leadership skills so if you want to get ahead, start developing these right away and secure your future in your chosen industry. This article looks at some of the best ways to develop leadership skills.

Practice Self Discipline

Discipline is a key quality needed for leadership, when you don’t have discipline you might forget important items on the agenda, oversleep, or fail to keep appointments, all of which reflect badly on the company and the people around you. Perception is a valuable resource. 

In fact, perception is half the battle when it comes to leadership, so even if you are not the most disciplined person in the world you need to convey the impression that you are through dedication and hard work. To practice self-discipline, start with a small effort and keep it up. 

Take on Responsibility 

Everyone has heard the phrase “a big fish in a small pond”. What this essentially means is that someone has mastered a situation under particular circumstances, but has not gone beyond those circumstances and challenged themselves. This is necessary to be a strong leader. 

If you continue to take on the same tasks every day and week you will become an expert at them but you won’t grow and develop into an effective leader. For this to happen you need to take on other responsibilities, ones that are outside your comfort zone, so be brave and grow. 

Learn to Follow

The mark of a strong leader is the ability to follow as well as lead. Some of the best military generals in history were able to do this, they understood that they only had part of the picture themselves and that other people’s ideas could help to fill in the blanks improving the picture. 

If you want to be a strong and effective leader don’t dismiss other people’s ideas because they don’t conform with your own – this is an example of a dictatorship rather than leadership. So, keep an open mind with colleagues and offer merit when you see the value of contributions.   

Get Six Sigma Certification

Everyone loves a leader that knows how to make a business more efficient and effective but to have these abilities in your locker you need to train yourself in the methodology. One such methodology is the Six Sigma Method which has a proven record of making businesses better. 

The Six Sigma Method began in the early eighties with Motorola and has been subsequently used by major brands around the world such as Boeing and General Electric. Six Sigma Certification uses a process of goal setting to accelerate business efficiency, worth the training.  

Develop Awareness

A leadership role is synonymous with awareness in many ways, because, good leaders need to be aware of the people around them and the situations they find themselves in. Not only that, a leader needs to be aware of the potential situations that might occur and how things develop. 

Awareness is not an easy skill to develop, especially when you are working in remote teams, but it is possible to become more aware of what other colleagues and teams are working on. Developing awareness is a skill that can be cultivated by asking questions and by listening.  

Inspire Others 

Leaders are always aware of the situation, the goals, and the condition of their team members. Not only that, leaders need to be aware of when issues arise for individuals and are ready to step in and inspire them in the right ways This also requires a degree of emotional intelligence. 

If someone in your team is struggling with the task or with something in their personal life you need to be equipped with the right skill set to step in a inspire them or to listen tactfully. Some people have these core skills in abundance while others need to take training courses.   

Take Leadership Courses

One of the best ways to develop leadership qualities is to take leadership courses. No matter what industry you work in, training courses are necessary to build skills and learn theory. When it comes to leadership learning skills through courses and on the job is the best combination. 

On a leadership course, you will learn communication skills and skills for employee development, you will also get training in ethics, leadership, and mentoring. Sometimes, leadership courses are offered by companies, but you don’t have to wait around for that. 

Empower Teammates 

One of the hallmarks of a good leader is understanding that they are not the best at everything, good leadership is about identifying the good qualities of other people and recognizing where they can add value to a company or a situation, you can then delegate the tasks to others. 

Delegating tasks not only empowers others to take a leading role in a project, but it frees up time and opportunities for you to apply your skills in the right way. When you have everyone on the team working to the best of their abilities you stand the best chance of meeting targets. 

Resolve Conflicts 

Conflicts arise now and again and it’s the task of a leader to identify these conflicts and resolve them amicably. This can be achieved by speaking to individuals as a team and also one-to-one. If a conflict cannot be resolved, then reassure people that their working environment is safe. 

In the event that a conflict cannot be resolved, you have options such as changing the team members and reassigning tasks. As a leader you need to have a skillset for conflict resolution, you can equip yourself with these skills by taking training courses and attending retreats. 

Develop Listening Skills  

Strong leadership is not only about actions, it’s also about listening to others and making them feel heard. Again, there’s no point in listening to someone and not taking account of what they say, their comments need to be included in the flow of things or set aside with appreciation. 

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