4 Ways To Develop Leadership Skills : Developing leadership skills will always be considered as one of the most powerful skills, that cannot only transform anyone’s professional life, but can also change their personal life as well. Team Anywhere is up with 4 of the best ways to develop...

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Leadership is the process in which you always keep motivating yourself and then motivate others too, to work towards in a specific direction and achieve the desired goal.

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Now please think about your boss (leader),

Do you hate him?

Can you think of any reason(s) why you hate him?

Would you like to become the same one day?

No?

Don’t worry! We’ve got you.

The core reason why most of the employees despise their bosses is that ‘these bosses’ keep bossing & ordering around and fail to make an effective leader. And we can’t even put the whole blame on them because if you look around, you’ll find almost 95 out of 100 people at the leadership positions are just bosses & orthodox managers.

So, how’d you avoid that for you?

It’s easy to take up a leadership role but hard to become an effective one.

This is why in this blog we are sharing with you the ‘secret sauce’ of becoming an effective leader.

You can develop & follow these practices irrespective of where you are on the leadership ladder right now. These are also the personality traits that will make you shine at every point in your life:

1. Aim for inspiration not influence

It’s quite lucrative for anyone to fall into the trap of establishing influence once they are in a position of authority. And the authority doesn’t even have to be very prominent. You could be leading a team of just two members and still feel superior.

But the problem with influence is, it doesn’t last long. You can influence someone into doing something until they are under you. But that ends soon. Everyone climbs up the hierarchy.

Also, the habit of establishing superiority & influence won’t help you in building relationships.  

This is why becoming an inspiration for anyone trying to become a good leader.

Unlike influence, inspiration has a positive connotation attached to it. When people are inspired by you, they tend to follow you without any fear or compulsion. Inspiration lasts longer & leads to both personal & professional growth.

So, how do you become an inspirational leader?

As quite clear by now that your position doesn’t make you an effective leader. It’s rather your personality traits & abilities.

To become an inspiration, you need to develop qualities that humble you & give you a passion to pull your whole team in the direction of growth & success.

This would require you to demonstrate the best work practices to your subordinates over and over again. 

You would also need to set up a routine of open & considerate communication with them. Where you make people feel valued & trusted through your actions & reactions.

2. Improve your listening & communication skills

Now, if we go back to where we started & remember you’re the boss you despise the most one time, you might realize that they don’t really listen to you or when they do, their reactions aren’t sufficient to give an understanding of their thoughts.

To be a good leader, it’s imperative for you to be a good listener & communicator.

Communication skills are interdependent on your effective listening skills.

While listening to your team or subordinates, try to make eye contact with them, avoid distractions & have an open mind to their ideas. Even when they are suggesting something different. The idea is to be attentive & focused on what others are saying.

Because only then, you’d be able to communicate effectively. Try to have open discussions where you weigh & analyze different ideas & draw informed conclusions.

Another important way to have effective communication is to have it in a structured way. Set up a meeting with your team, follow a structure to discuss the progress & goals. Listen to their side of the story, give feedback.

And if you feel you lack communication skills, then try to work on the areas where you are lacking & slowly build up.

3. Start ASAP!

What’s the rush?

You can start acting like a leader when you are in one of those managerial positions, right?

Wrong.

If you want good leadership skills to reflect in your personality naturally then you need to start practicing them as early as possible. You can very well sharpen your leadership skills in your current position.

If you notice closely, your current position might be giving you many chances to be a leader. Group activities, team management, leading social activities & taking charge in volunteering? All these activities require you to take a charge & put your best leader foot forward.

It might be a little intimidating to go out there if you are not used to it. But, think of it as an experiment. Which would help you to overcome your fears, build your self-confidence & make it easy to become a natural leader.

4. Research & Study the best leaders you find.

Just like you become what you surround yourself with.  To start your research, you can simply look around & find people who possess amazing leadership skills.

You can take the amazing time management & multi-tasking abilities of your mother, or the courage & hard work of your father, the super creative entrepreneur in your neighborhood, or the resilient person you read about in the news – it could be anyone. And you can learn something from them.

 You can go ahead & study the best leaders in history as well to have a better understanding. But don’t skip on learning from your environment. Because you’ll pick up skills from real-life examples much faster than the books & videos.

 Leadership requires hard work. You have to practice & instill certain traits in your personality to act like one in an effective manner. It’s not just about the title but the work and impact which you can create with it. So, don’t wait for a position to come, start growing & be future-ready.

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