Many people have a leadership title, but only the best are actually leading. Recent studies reveal that not all bosses are efficient leaders, and approximately 57% of the workforce quits because of toxic bosses. So here’s an awkward but important question: does the business world have a leadership skills deficit? How does someone develop leadership skills? (Good news: if you’re taking the time to read this article, you’re probably not a toxic boss!)
As always, no questions go unanswered here, so we’ve charted out seven simple ways you could go about developing leadership skills for career progression and better teamwork.
How to develop leadership skills
1. Take courses
Leadership is a skill, and much like there are courses for tech skills, there are courses for soft skills as well.
How do you make the right decisions when it’s tough? Identifying talent in your team and utilizing it, setting an example for everyone to follow, guiding gently but affirming with confidence — all of these skills and more fall under the leadership umbrella, and being a great leader requires guidance, practice, and a community to grow with.
PowerUp offers you courses on how to improve leadership skills, but also the platform to practice them. Members learn from experts and are mentored by the best in the talent management industry. Designed to be a cradle for the leaders of the present and the future, you will also benefit from an active community that’s willing to support and join your journey.
Plus, there are tons of exercises for you to test your newly-learned skills! This isn’t passive learning but also earning — confidence, badges, certificates, and rewards that elevate your resume.
2. Join groups & communities
What’s good is a leader without their people? The very need for leadership originates from group dynamics. Group talks, conferences, and networking events are more than just an excellent test of your newly honed leadership skills. At the same time, events and opportunities like these are a testament to your leadership mantle. Extra pro-tip: group dynamics are crucial to understanding your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to guiding others or bringing everyone on the same page. While practicing your leadership abilities, you’ll also be able to recognize where it is that you need more work.
Bonus! Conferences (either virtual or in-person) are also a great place to interact with other leaders and establish mutually profitable business relationships via networking.
3. Role-playing
We don’t mean Dungeons & Dragons (although it’s not the worst idea) but rather practicing scenarios you might encounter in your leadership role in a safe way. This is particularly good advice for employees in a junior or mid-senior position: it’s a common misconception that only senior management gets to lead. On the contrary, businesses are always looking for leaders across verticals and levels, and leadership opportunities are hiding in every team project or activity.
Leadership often starts with small teams. To become a strong leader, you have to first act like a leader, which means taking up responsibilities that a leader would and executing them in a manner that further strengthens your case for leadership.
Practicing leadership skills when you can, particularly in lower-stakes scenarios, helps identify you as someone who’s ready for a true leadership role. Showing initiative and capabilities early and often can establish trust within the organization you’d like to grow in.
4. Shadowing & mentorship
Don’t let all that networking go to waste! Choose your mentors wisely. Studying and working alongside other great minds and exceptional professionals is bound to help you succeed in your own journey. If you are fortunate enough to have multiple job offers, a key factor in that decision should be the person you would directly be reporting to. Research shows that early bosses have a huge impact on your ultimate professional trajectory. Makes sense to us: the leaders we are influenced by, also influence our leadership styles.
5. Journaling and self-reflection
How do I be mindful about my leadership skills? Start by developing introspection and self-regulation skills. Every business will have its ups and downs, inevitably causing you to feel anxious, stressed, and maybe even counterproductive, at least some of the time. A great leader is able to better mitigate these issues because they are able to objectively look at themselves and examine their situation with the sole objective of improving their leadership.
You’ll also be faced with situations where your inherent bias may come into play. Recruitment, promotions, or even certain client relationships — it can all be influenced by personal or cognitive bias, which can be either deliberate or subconscious. A daily practice of self-introspection and journaling helps you debunk these biases and rewire yourself.
6. Incorporate feedback
Developing leadership skills is also about developing your humility and listening skills. Often, your leadership ability is determined by how your teams feel about you, not about how much data you report or even how much profit you generate. We must be mindful that, in most corporate environments, employees can be hesitant of speaking up when they have feedback. Insecure managers do not encourage criticism, let alone exhibit healthy ways of incorporating it. This explains why 41% of the surveyed employees felt that their feedback wasn’t taken seriously and why 20% aren’t even sharing feedback anymore.
While the feedback may not always be fair or even useful, a good leader is open to listening. At the heart of leadership is the knowledge that it’s never a one-man show but a group effort.
If you’re looking to take your leadership a notch higher, incorporate regular feedback collection into your management method. You could send out surveys, polls, and comment forms quarterly, for example. It’s super important that you then follow it up with transparent course correction when needed!
7. Continuous learning
Part of becoming a good leader is recognizing that leadership will always look different for different times, and leaders that leave a legacy are leaders that adapt with the time. Even after you’ve reached the pinnacle of your career, the tides of time and technology will leave older skills in need of upgrades. A good leader must have the thirst to innovate and desire to stay up to date. Start with conducting your own skills inventory: a checklist of what could complement your existing skill set, what can be upskilled or replaced, and how you’d like to learn (Self-guided? Virtual seminars? College course? Start with these soft skills for managers. Nothing is off-limits, as long as it works for you.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor are great leaders. Be patient with yourself and take it one step at a time – we’d like to think of this blog as a great first step.
