If there is one thing an organization’s leader has, it is that he focuses on his work team when it comes to effectively managing corporate communication, since they are ultimately the ones who give body to the company. Great business leaders, such as Reed Hastings, the mastermind behind the Netflix streaming platform, have known this. For him, it is vital that employees feel comfortable: it is more expensive to hire a replacement than to keep a great worker.
This implies many points to consider, for example, establishing common goals that encourage the team to work, being able to solve problems and conflicts, generating and receiving feedback, giving flexibility (such as time, for example) to workers, and different items become fundamental when it comes to executing communication skills in leadership. Finally, it is a person who inspires and motivates employees to achieve the objectives, do you know how to do it? Here we tell you.
What is a team leader?
A leader is someone who can influence, motivate and make everyone in a group or team work enthusiastically to reach the achievements, goals and objectives that are outlined in, for example, a company.
If we look for a list of management skills that focus on the leadership of organizations, we can say that those who lead organizations must possess different types of competencies, whether technical (knowledge and expertise in a specific area), human (development of communication and social skills) and conceptual (development of new concepts). These serve as axes to give life to specific skills that make the leader, finally, fulfill an essential role in an organization.
Team leader vs. project manager
Is a team leader the same as a project manager? Although they are terms that could be confused or used interchangeably, the truth is that they are not the same: if the latter is inclined to the operation of processes and has an operational focus, the former has in mind to give life to that process.
Both, however, are necessary for the success of a project, because if project managers focus on strategies and planning, team leaders will focus on motivating others to achieve plans and objectives.
What are the skills of a leader?
A leader who wishes to play his role effectively must put into practice some specific skills when performing his management. Thus, among the skills of a leader are communication skills, empathy, coordination and management skills, motivation and inspiration, business planning and problem solving. Read on, we will detail them below.
Communication skills
Being able to communicate effectively is one of the essential ingredients for the success of a project, company or organization, and not applying it could lead to failure.
This skill allows us to communicate assertively with the work team. This puts into action different skills, such as having the ability to be an active listener, being clear when communicating and knowing how to respond, being self-critical in order to accept mistakes and adapt the communication if the situation requires it, for example.
Empathy
The idea of “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” is a valuable skill when it comes to making the counterpart feel that we really understand and connect with their situation, context, problems and emotions.
This skill is relevant to build trust with the people who make up a work team. When they feel validated, listened to and understood, it will be easier for them to want to talk about something that is happening and thus be able to find a solution.
Coordination and management skills
Knowing how to coordinate and manage both projects and the different actions that take place in an organization creates a favorable climate to avoid overlapping one role/task over another. In addition to this, it can enable efforts to go in the same direction and generate more innovation.
Motivation and inspiration
Motivate and inspire are axes that a good leader must consider for a company to achieve its objectives, without compromising the welfare of its employees and that they feel comfortable to perform their duties.
By inspiring and, above all, motivating an employee – and this includes recognizing his or her effort, behavior and results – the employee performs the assigned task in the best possible way. The result is improved performance.
Business planning
A leader is also someone who is concerned with achieving practical objectives, and in this sense it is relevant to execute an adequate planning to go after this undertaking.
This implies that he/she must know the organization, equipment and available resources so that the plan that is developed is feasible and can actually achieve the objectives set.
Problem solving
If there is something that cannot be avoided in an organization, it is the appearance of problems and conflicts. Avoiding them is not the right way, but facing them and being able to solve them. A good leader must consider this and, on this path, opt for different problem-solving techniques such as being able to identify the problem, assess the consequences, choose a solution, implement it, verify it and, subsequently, standardize it.
What to do to develop leadership?
In theory we can detect which skills we are applying well and which we are not when it comes to exercising leadership. But the question is, how do we manage to apply the skills of a leader well? It may seem simple, but putting a leader’s skills into practice is a matter that deserves special attention. That is why we have done the work for you, and we give you some keys.
Put discipline into practice
In general terms, discipline is a coordinated, orderly and systematic way of doing things, and points to “the right way” to do them. A leader must possess this characteristic in his work in a focused, realistic way, with initiative, resolute, being constant, with autonomy and a high level of commitment to meet the objectives and this allows, in turn, to make present the skills described above.
However, in all this, he/she should not neglect the personal aspect, that is to say, it is appropriate to establish a balance between professional and private life, otherwise this could affect his/her leadership role.
Being a “good” leader
It is one thing to be a leader and another to be a “good” leader. But being a good one is not an easy task. It is not only to want it and to consider that “one is a leader”, but it is necessary to carry it out with the mentioned abilities and, in addition, with a lot of constancy to fulfill them correctly. It entails having different characteristics that respond to the many responsibilities that one has, because a leader plays a key role in an organization. And in this equation, he or she must practice patience as well as resilience, emotional intelligence in every act, nurture the experience that comes from holding a leadership position and, above all, put his or her work team at the center.
Likewise, being a good leader goes hand in hand with being aware of the changes that are generated both in organizations and in the world in general, and it will also be your task to constantly improve yourself to respond to these changes.
We invite you to meet us and schedule an appointment with one of our consultants. We will be happy to help you successfully fulfill the skills of a leader.