To become a manager is simply to have received a promotion, maybe one that you got through educational credentialing. Leadership is a little less tangible. For people to collaborate with you at a truly elite level, you need a certain set of characteristics that inspire trust and motivate action.
Not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers truly leadership potential. In this article, we take a look at what skills make the difference.
Skill: Communication
The ability to communicate at a high level in a professional setting is one of the most important skills that a leader can have. Understand that this is about more than speaking clearly.
Elite executive-level communication also means listening responsibly and demonstrating active listening principles. In other words, don’t just speak, listen.
This is important because it helps ensure that the people you are working with feel seen and heard. It also just optimizes your professional workflow for efficiency.
A Strong Grasp of Soft Skills
To recommend developing soft skills in professional environments is often to frustrate many people who are trying to improve. The assumption often is that these are talents that can’t really be developed or improved upon. This is not quite the case.
At the most fundamental level, soft skills simply involve developing your emotional intelligence. Become more aware of your strengths and limitations as well as the strengths and limitations of those around you. Listen carefully when you are being spoken to.
Understand how to get the most out of the people you are delegating tasks to. Often, all of these things can be accomplished through repetition and mindfulness.
If you go into your professional interactions with the desire to hear more and be heard better, you would be surprised by how far this alone gets you.
Adaptability
What do you do when life throws you a curveball? Leaders who can pivot at all times toward the best and most productive response are extremely valuable, particularly if they’re able to inspire a productive response in the people they are managing as well.
Part of adaptability is simply maintaining a cool head even under pressure. That’s a skill most leaders will develop naturally as they continue to gain exposure to difficult situations.
However, you can practice your adaptability in everyday scenarios as well, simply by stepping slightly out of your comfort zone.
Even basic exposure, like improvising a homemade dinner with things in your pantry, or taking an unfamiliar route home from work, can activate adaptability skills and get your brain more comfortable with uncertainty.
A Proven Ability to Get High-Quality Work Out of Others
Ultimately, this is one of the most challenging features of leadership. You can do everything right and still fail based on the production of others. Challenging though it is to be evaluated based on the quality of work you did not even complete, it is certainly possible to strengthen your ability to motivate and inspire others.
This is really the reason leadership positions exist in the first place. Businesses need people who can organize and optimize talent for them.
How to Develop True Leadership Skills
One of the challenges of developing into a leader is improving upon skills that ordinary positions don’t necessarily always require. How can you get better at motivating and inspiring others, for example, when you’re working right alongside them as a peer?
It is true that a significant portion of the skills needed to lead can really only be truly practiced in a leadership position. Nevertheless, you can always try to perform at the highest possible level in any job that you are doing.
While it’s not necessarily appropriate to behave as a leader in a mid- or entry-level position, it is always welcome to put forth your best effort.
Communicate as clearly as you possibly can. Be an encouraging and collaborative team member. Go the extra mile on all of your tasks. You’ll never get recognized as a potential leader until you begin showing leadership qualities in the job you currently have.
You can also help things along by considering an advanced credential that will set your application apart from others. In the next heading, we take a look at how that can be accomplished.
Graduate Degrees Focused on Leadership
There are many educational programs with a focus on leadership. In the business context, MBAs are the most commonly thought of options. Not only will they teach executive-style leadership, but they will also significantly increase your job eligibility and earning potential. MBAs are highly sought after, and this graduate degree program is one of the highest-paying in terms of salary expectations.
We now live in an age where you can get many MBA programs online, making them more accessible than ever for professionals who want to improve their credentials while working in their existing jobs. Many businesses will even provide tuition assistance for employees that want to increase their skills through continuing education.
Why Online Learning is an Excellent Option for Aspiring Leaders
Online learning models used to be considered inferior to the traditional brick-and-mortar environment. This is no longer the case. You can get an MBA online. You can get a law degree through virtual learning.
These programs are often more affordable than brick-and-mortar alternatives and are presented in a flexible format that allows you to work through pre-recorded lectures while meeting broad, achievable deadlines.
It’s a great way to prioritize education while still working within your career.
How Hard Is It to Become a Leader?
A lot of people limit the trajectory of their career through faulty assumptions of what they’re capable of. The difference between a mid–mid-five-figure salary and a mid–mid-six-figure salary is often not intelligence or ability, but a willingness to reach higher and higher.
If you get an MBA and then begin an earnest search for jobs that require someone with that advanced degree, you will eventually find high-paying work that satisfies your desire for leadership.
The key is to understand what you want and commit every action toward furthering that goal. Leadership opportunities don’t usually just fall into people’s laps. If you want a better job, start demonstrating your ability now and work toward the credentials that will ensure your success. You can do this.
