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Top 10 Essential Leadership Skills

Pawn chess piece casting a shadow of a king chess piece

I am sure you would agree that leaders are symbols of strength and progress. We learn about them, hear about them, see them in action and even we want to be like them. But being a leader today is different from what it was 10 or even 5 years ago. Today’s workplace has a fast pace of change and many more demands. Leading and managing have moved well beyond just commanding and getting things done. Today’s leaders are required to tailor their leadership style to suit their environment and distinct situations. Having said that, there are 10 essential skills that determine the success of every leader. If you can master these skills, you can take your leadership from good to great!

Leadership Skill #1: Influence

Contrary to what most people believe, leadership is not about power. It is not about harassing people or driving them using fear. It is about encouraging others towards the goal of the organization. It is putting everyone on the same page and helping them see the big picture of the organization. To be a leader, one must be able to influence others to accomplish a goal, or an objective.

Leadership Skill #2: Motivation

The empires of the future are first built in the mind. Great leaders have an ability to create a vision of the future that is so vivid and compelling, that it inspires their people to want to achieve it. Simply put, they know where they are headed. They have a picture of it in their heads, and they are able to communicate it effectively. If you want to be an effective leader, it is critically important that you be able to paint a vivid picture of where your group or organization is headed and use that vision to motivate and guide action.

Leadership Skill #3: Communication

Communication is one of the fundamental leadership capabilities.Great leaders communicate with their people often, and that too in a variety of ways. They understand that communication is a two-way process, where listening is as important as speaking, because it lets people know that they are valued, and encourages them to participate and contribute. If you want to be a great leader, you need to be effective at all points in the communication process — from “sender” through to “receiver” — and you must be comfortable with the different channels of communication — face to face, voice to voice, written, and so on. Poor communicators usually struggle to develop their careers beyond a certain point.

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Nidhika Bahl is a Certified Coach, Teacher and Speaker with The John Maxwell Team, Master SPIRIT Life Coach, Theta Healing® Practitioner and NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner and Transformation Coach. She is the author of The Queen of the Comeback (Amazon.in) and the Official Life Coach of Miss World 2017 Manushi Chillar.

Nidhika Bahl

Nidhika Bahl is a Certified Coach, Teacher and Speaker with The John Maxwell Team, Master SPIRIT Life Coach, Theta Healing® Practitioner and NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner and Transformation Coach. She is the author of The Queen of the Comeback (Amazon.in) and the Official Life Coach of Miss World 2017 Manushi Chillar.