4 Ways to Develop Leadership Skills in Practice and Useful Tips For Building a Career

[August 25, 2021]  The development of professional, technical skills is necessary for a successful career. But hard skills alone are not enough to achieve the level of a top manager or an effective businessman. It is necessary to learn how to lead people, how to take responsibility for the work of the team, and how to be proactive.

1. Show Initiative

Try to take the initiative at least a few times a day. Most managers give their employees a certain minimum of tasks. When a person takes on responsibilities beyond that minimum, they stand out among the competitors. The boss immediately sees the desire to achieve something more.

It’s not a fact that being proactive will help you right away. This is rather a tool of delayed creation of reputation. Gradually people will get used to the fact that you are proactive, and will trust you with more responsibility. And where there is more trust – more prospects.

Another plus in taking initiative is the growth of your skills, both hard and soft skills. You will engage in tasks in which you are not an expert, that is, you will step out of your comfort zone. This automatically means active learning – a great way to get pumped up in different skills and score points as a future company leader.

Many scientific papers have been written on the topic of leadership and its development. For a more detailed study of this topic, you can, for instance, use Google and find works that were written by British dissertation writers about the leadership at various stages of the life cycle of an organization.

2. Delegate

Many self-development books and leadership lectures talk about the need to learn how to delegate. One source is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The politician asserted that the best leader will be the one “who has enough common sense to choose good people and the restraint not to get in their way.”

The point of delegating is not simply to delegate tasks. An effective leader, before delegating, analyzes the situation – it is important to make sure that the subordinate has the right skills and capabilities to solve the problem. So train the skill of delegation – look for the right people and create situations in which they can prove themselves.

3. Concentrate on Your Strengths

In many books on self-development coaches suggest analyzing your competencies and qualities, and then focus on correcting mistakes and developing weaknesses. That’s not really the right way to go about it. That’s how you’ll create an average person without much of an advantage.

It’s much more effective to develop strong qualities. Since these qualities are perfectly trained without much effort on your part, literally subconsciously, then you can repeatedly improve them. Especially if you focus on their training.

4. Help Others Grow

A leader’s effectiveness is determined by the number of people who have succeeded with their help. Coach Sidney Finkelstein in his book “Superbosses” recommends that managers look for hidden talents in subordinates and try to develop them.

There are several advantages to this approach. On the one hand, by developing the talents of the team, you make the overall product more successful – the business works faster and more efficiently. This is a short-term positive effect.

But if there are long-term effects as well. By helping people develop, you build your reputation as a caring and helpful leader. Gradually you will have many followers, people who are grateful for your help. Subordinates who genuinely respect you.