How to be an effective leader in the workplace

As Forbes explains, leadership is one of the most essential soft skills in the workplace today. If you’re in a supervisory or managerial role, you must be capable of asserting authority and providing guidance effectively so that your employees can perform to the best of their abilities.

Here, we examine the qualities that determine good leadership and give you some tips on how to become a successful leader.

What influences excellent leadership?

Factors that affect your leadership potential include:

• Decisiveness: You need to be able to make decisions without hesitation. Indecisiveness won’t inspire your employees’ confidence in you. Of course, all choices must be made only after having taken all relevant factors into account.
• Vision: It’s critical that you have an in-depth understanding of your mission and goals that you can articulate to your team members. With that said, you can’t let your dedication to the organization’s business objectives result in micromanaging.
• Motivation: One of a leader’s primary aims is to inspire others. You must have the ability to motivate the people for whom you’re responsible. This will lead to improved employee engagement which is vital for success on both a granular and overarching level.
• Communication: If you’re not able to liaise with your subordinates clearly, you’ll end up with a “broken telephone” scenario which negatively affects productivity and cohesion. Understanding your employees’ roles and responsibilities and delegating tasks accordingly is an essential component of good communication.
• Compassion: People in managerial positions often fail to treat their employees with sensitivity and understanding. You need to make a concerted effort to build trust by listening to their concerns and ideas, thereby showing you have their best interests at heart.

Compassion is a huge determinant of successful leadership.

How to improve your leadership skills

Tangible ways to enhance your leadership abilities include:

• Practising self-discipline: As Wrike notes, you can’t expect your employees to take ownership of their work if you don’t. Demonstrate how you take responsibility by meeting all deadlines timeously and attending meetings on time.
• Resolving conflicts effectively: Even if you’re not in a human resources role, you can improve and display your ability to lead by mediating any issues that arise between team members to everyone’s satisfaction. In doing so, you’ll also develop your communication skills.
• Learning continuously: Forbes explains that committing yourself to learning new skills and honing your existing talents is crucial for good leadership. You must constantly strive to educate yourself so that you can take on novel roles and overcome obstacles.
• Growing as a person: If you want to help others, you need to help yourself first. Take some time for self-reflection to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and create a plan to work on your weaker areas.

If you’re interested in developing your own leadership skills or those of your team, check out our self-leadership course. Alternatively, contact ICML to find out how we can help you meet your business objectives.