Developing effective leadership skills is extremely vital when it comes to building a successful business. Leaders who are proficient in their position are also people exhibiting effective interpersonal connections, and excellent logistics skills and foster internal growth. With the help of these vital core competencies, a leader can proficiently communicate with their team, build a strong team and foster professional growth and advancement in their career.
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In this article, we will take a look at how best you can improve your core leadership competencies in no time. So, check it out:
What are core leadership competencies?
Initially, it is crucial to have a good understanding of what exactly includes in the idea of core leadership competencies. Put in simple words, it consists of special skills that leaders need to develop so that they can effectively lead their teams to success. Generally, core leadership competencies can be broadly divided into three categories, as mentioned:
- Interpersonal core competencies: It includes skills that affect how a leader interacts with the team members alongside how the team members interact with each other. Exhibiting strong interpersonal skills facilitate effective communication, contributing to the overall team morale. Some of the most crucial interpersonal skills may include emotional intelligence, relationship building, and conflict management.
- Logistical core competencies: It includes skills required by leaders to efficiently plan and ultimately execute their projects. Some of the most vital skills under this category include decision-making and task delegation abilities.
- Internal core competencies: These include abilities that affect the way leaders see themselves and their ultimate growth. These skills help leaders to assess themselves, which is extremely crucial for their professional development. Internal core competencies can include vital skills like self-rejection and personal accountability.
How to develop core leadership competencies?
As already discussed above, core leadership competencies can include various skills and one needs to follow different steps to develop each skill in a leader.
- Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive and understand the emotions and feelings of people around oneself. When it comes to being a leader, understanding the emotions of people, particularly those working under you, becomes extremely crucial. Emotional intelligence facilitates leaders by regulating their emotions, helping them perceive others’ feelings and ultimately communicating proficiently.
To develop emotional intelligence in a leader, one needs to start by observing oneself keenly. Leaders need to notice how they react each time they experience strong feelings, particularly if they exhibit any change in their behaviour. In this way, understanding how their emotions affect them, can help leaders to understand how similar emotions may affect the people around them.
As a leader, one may often encounter situations when a team member says something that confuses, astonishes or angers them. Under such situations, leaders need to think of why they may have reacted in the way they did. In this way, leaders can remain more empathetic toward their teammates.
- Social Intelligence
Social Intelligence is one of the best markers of effective leadership abilities and refers to the expression of sensitivity to different social situations. It incorporates a wide concept about leaders’ understanding of diverse social situations, and dynamics, to help them efficiently navigate through different situations.
One of the best and most effective ways to develop social intelligence in a leader is by exposing oneself to varied kinds of people and social situations. Furthermore, leaders must work on developing their individualistic social perspectives, alongside nurturing the ability to effectively engage in conversations with others. In this way, leaders can potentially develop their social intelligence over time.
- Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are also often regarded by many as a subset of social intelligence. However, looked at minutely, interpersonal skills are crucial for leaders to foster a more relationship-oriented aspect of their social effectiveness. It is popularly regarded as one of the most vital soft skills that a true leader needs to possess.
One of the most sought-for ways to develop interpersonal skills in a leader lies in working on demonstrating effective listening and communication abilities. For this, leaders may even think of joining different networking groups to efficiently work on their personal and professional relationships.
Further, while at work, leaders must pay attention to what their teammates have to say, before they put forth their own opinions and thoughts. Leaders must effectively listen to and value the individual concerns of their team members. In addition, celebrating big and small victories with the team and praising employees when they do good, can be some other effective ways to build meaningful relations.
In this way, leaders can gradually work on developing their interpersonal skills and efficiently build a good rapport with their team members.
- Conflict management skills
Workplaces are essentially places where people with different mindsets and personalities come together. Consequently, disagreements and conflicts are nothing uncommon in the workplace. But as a leader, it is up to you to resolve and manage any conflicts that may arise in the workspace.
Leaders who succeed in effectively managing conflicts at the workplace can efficiently promote a positive work environment and improve collaboration. Leaders need to fall back on their emotional intelligence to effectively resolve conflicts at work.
While managing conflicts and disagreements in the workspace, leaders need to recognize their true emotions at the moment and try to stay calm. They may however use their body language to let others know of their willingness to listen.
Further, leaders need to discuss the problem in detail with the concerned parties and try to understand each person’s perspective on the matter. Additionally, going down to unearth the reason behind the conflict can help leaders make a judicious decision and fruitfully resolve the conflict.
Conclusion:
Leaders play a vital role, particularly in the workspace, where they need to guide an entire team of workers to success. Thus, it becomes all the more crucial for leaders to exhibit certain vital skills to effectively manage and navigate through the rising issues in any workspace.