Who do you think about when you hear the word leadership? Many associate the word with political officials, CEOs, C-Suite executives, military commanders, or even athletes. While it’s true that you need good leadership skills to excel at these occupations, leadership is a valuable skill.
Everyone from any vocation or background can use for their benefit and the benefit of others.
Effective leadership can be learned if it is something that doesn’t come naturally to you. There are several methods that you can use to acquire and refine your leadership skills.
Discover the leader in you!
Try these four techniques to boost your leadership skills:
- Make excellence your goal. Striving for excellence is part of being a successful leader. Your ability to set the bar for others will help inspire those you lead. You can be a good role model by constantly seeking ways to improve yourself and aspire to achieve excellence.
- A hallmark of leadership is excellence. Work on honing your existing skills and developing new ones. Working on what you are good at may seem counter intuitive but consider it your gift to the world.
- Focus on your vision and set measurable goals. Each area of your life impacts others. Consider what you want to accomplish in all the different areas of your life. Set goals that align with and help you move closer to your vision.
- Set goals and measure your progress periodically.
- Don’t try to move a mountain. Break up larger goals into smaller ones. Once you achieve these shorter milestones, make sure to celebrate successes. Celebrating small wins will help maintain your motivation.
- Keep it real. Learn to identify and use all of your resources in the pursuit of your goals. Consider your resources when making plans to reach your goals. Developing plans based on resources and circumstances that you wish were reality may lead to disappointment.
- Stay committed but flexible. Be willing to refine your plans and ultimate goals based on your progress as well as your dreams.
- Work on developing your people skills. Great leaders can inspire others to work towards a common goal. To influence and inspire others to buy into you, it’s important to develop your people skills and emotional intelligence.
- Practice good listening skills. Doing so helps to establish a connection and build trust, so others are more likely to follow your lead and help you.
- Help others improve and be their best. A good leader motivates others towards positive change.
- Seek input from others when discussing goals and plans to reach your objectives. Give others a stake in the results by seeking their opinion. You’ll get their buy-in and help them be more motivated to help you.
- Lead with passion and maintain a positive attitude. People take cues from the leader. The leader sets the tone for the team. Good leaders teach others to have a positive attitude and to be passionate in their efforts by modeling the behavior they want to see in their team.
- The leader can help energize the team by maintaining an upbeat attitude. In a positive environment, an engaged team will accomplish more, regardless of the circumstances.
Taking the time to develop your leadership skills can radically increase the amount of success that you experience in all areas of your life. These tips can help you to hone your leadership skills so that you can achieve your goals and enjoy a more satisfying life. In the words of Dr. John C. Maxwell…
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
by Lourdes Coss, MPA, NIGP-CPP, CPPO
Procurement Transformation 