If you wish to be a leader in a professional environment, that’s not always easy to attain. Just because someone puts you in charge, that does not mean the people under you will readily follow you. They might sense that you’re uncertain of yourself or lack the fundamental skills to lead the company to success.
If you have the leadership skills on this list, you have a much better chance of keeping your employees in line. They will also follow you because they respect you and not because they fear you or you intimidate them.
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1. Composure
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Spark talks about ten leadership skill examples, and composure is one of the ones they have featured prominently on there. That’s not surprising when you stop and think it over.
If you can stay composed when a crisis happens, others will follow that example. On the other hand, if you panic and start deviating from your original game plan, that can send the message that you don’t know what you’re doing and that you’re not the person who everyone else should always follow.
Composure means that even if you have to get away from your original plan because something goes awry, you will still do what makes sense and what’s best for the company and everyone who works for you. Your employees will recognize that, and none of them will panic either.
2. Speak the Truth
Leading others means telling them the truth. It helps to be truthful in every part of your life, but if you want to be a respected leader, it matters more than you might imagine.
Telling your workers the truth in every situation will let them trust you. If you lie to them and they find out about it, they will not feel like they can believe you when you say just about anything to them.
Also, if they see you lying to the public, that will lessen their respect for you as well. You need to avoid even little white lies if you want everyone around you to see leadership qualities in you.
3. Authenticity
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If you don’t feel authentic in everything professional that you do, that’s another way you can lose the room pretty quickly. Authenticity is something that is difficult to recognize. It might take some time before your employees realize that when you say something, you genuinely mean it.
If you’re authentic, it also means that you recognize your weaknesses as well as your obvious strengths. If your workers see you working to improve yourself and your performance, that will encourage them to do the same thing.
4. Consistency
A leader knows what to do in every situation, but even if you don’t, you need to project that you do. If you keep to a path you have set for yourself and your company, your workers will know how you will react when something goes wrong.
They will come to admire and appreciate that consistency. If you cannot be consistent, and you change your mind often, that sends the wrong message. Your employees will feel like they can’t march in lockstep behind you because you might change course at any moment.
5. Vision
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You need to have a vision and talk to your workers about it. Your vision for the company should be the same as theirs.
If you don’t have a vision and work to achieve it, your employees might perceive that you are floundering. That’s never something you want. If you can return time and again to the vision you have for a professional organization, your workers will start to picture it in their heads as well.
6. Accountability
If something goes wrong, and it always does in business, from time to time, you must hold yourself accountable. If one of your workers fails, you must regard it as your own personal failure.
You should also learn not to blow up at your employees if they make a mistake. That’s a teachable moment, and they can learn to hold themselves accountable rather than blaming someone else if you do the same thing.
7. Willingness to Serve
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You are presumably leading a company that serves the public or clients in one way or another. You must show that you’re committed to doing that.
You should never speak about the customers like they are not necessary. Even if you feel like the public does things sometimes that you don’t like, don’t badmouth them to your workers. Teach them to respect the individuals who buy from your company.
8. Character
Character does not mean any single thing, but many. The optimal way to describe it is that if you have character, you let everyone see your values at all times.
You don’t hide who you are, and you don’t hide who you want others to be, either. If you demonstrate character and gain your workers’ respect, they will follow you to the ends of the Earth.
9. Credibility
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You seem credible if you have the credentials to be where you are. If someone promotes you into a leadership role and your underlings don’t feel like you deserve that, they won’t want to follow, or they will do so grudgingly.
If you can establish your bona fides, you will seem credible. If you seem trustworthy and respectable, it follows that you will appear credible too.
10. Confidence
Confidence could be the most vital leadership skill. If you go in every morning with a smile on your face that says you’re willing to tackle any challenge that arises, that’s confidence, and it matters a great deal.
Confidence says you believe in what you say, and your actions back that up as well. Your body language does reveal much about your confidence level, so practice speaking clearly and loudly enough for everyone to hear you.
You do not have to be a blowhard to get and keep everyone’s attention. You must simply show them over time that when you speak, you’re a person to whom they need to pay attention.
