Not all of us are natural born leaders and the majority of us have to work hard on our leadership skills in order to be a great leader. Leadership skills can help you in all walks of life and no matter whether you want to be a better supervisor, manager, CEO or even parent, there are ways in which you can greatly improve your leadership skills.
Today we had a chat with fashion industry leader Misha Kaura, who was not a natural born leader and had to work hard on her leadership skills in order to get to where she is today. If you want to increase your leadership ability, here are some tips on doing so.
Self Evaluate
One of the keys to increasing your leadership abilities is to be aware of where you are in the process. This is why you must always perform a self evaluation every now and again, to be honest with yourself about what you are doing well and what you can do better. The worst type of leaders are those who think that they have it all figured out and that they don’t have any weaknesses, the reason why is because we are all a work in progress, even the very best leaders.
Two Way Street
The key to being a great is learning how to command respect but far too many people believe that they are entitled to this respect because of who they are or the position which they hold. This however could not be further from the truth and respect is very much a two way street. If you don’t give respect to those who you are leading then you simply cannot expect to get any in return.
Understanding Differences
Great leaders are those who can both inspire and motivate those who they are leading. In order to do this well you need to be able to recognize that not everyone is inspired and motivated in the same way, and your challenge as a leader is to understand how each person ticks, and how you can speak to them in a way that motivates them. For example some people like to be incentivized and that is what gets them working at their best, others need to have a fire lit underneath them and the pressure turned up in order to be at their best. Identify who needs which kind of motivation in order to be a better leader.
Listening
Everyone knows that communication skills are a key part of leadership but unfortunately many misconstrue this to mean that they have to be better talkers. Talking and clearly communicating is of course essential as a leader, but so too is listening and this may be something which you need to work on. Listening to the right people when making a decision, listening to the concerns of your team and listening when people want advice are key parts of being a great communicator, remember this when you are working with your team.