"Leadership skills" are a very broad set of skills and abilities that anyone leading either people or processes need to be most effective in their role.
If you ask multiple people what leadership skills are, you will get multiple different answers- and for good reason. There are many different leadership styles and competencies that are best for the many different businesses and work environments that make up our world. Some leadership roles focus more on processes, others on growing the business, and still others on managing the people within the business. Due to all of this variation, new leaders face confusion when seeking to develop their leadership skills. What should you focus on? How do you know what you need?
Our work world is changing and has been changing for at least the last 5-10 years. Especially in recent years, there has been a shift in what employees want and need from their employers and their leaders. Employees part of the younger millennial crowd and Generation Z are demanding growth opportunities, respect, and leaders who are fair and equitable in their approach. Company loyalty and the things that kept employees from leaving have shifted, which means a shift in the focus of leaders has to occur to maintain an engaged, healthy, and productive workforce. In shifting the paradigm on leadership, we will need to examine old paradigms of leadership, why they may no longer work, and what leaders of the future workforce will need to be successful.
Examining Old Paradigms
The mask is breaking and the old ways of controlling and taking advantage of employees is slowly coming to a head. People now understand how they should be treated and demand nothing less. Old paradigms of leadership that are based on:
Controlling others or ruling by force,
Playing office politics to earn respect, stepping on others,
Authoritative and autocratic styles, coerciveness,
Lack of integrity (actions and words do not align)
Focus only on profits,
Winning at the expense and welfare of employees,
Poor coaching, development, and feedback skills,
Poor emotional management; poor people skills and predatory practices
Many senior leaders and executives have been trained (formally or via experienced) using many of the ways of leading listed above, resulting in many workplace cultures operating from a place of fear, anxiety, inefficiency, and mediocrity. The empty promises mentioned early become a false facade of many organizations, leaving many employees feeling dejected, disengaged, and unappreciated. What's the solution?
New Paradigm of People Leadership
Today's workers are asking for organizations and leaders to have their actions meet their words, and really show that they appreciate their employees. So many employers advertise their positive work cultures, supportive leadership, and growth opportunities, only to recruit employees who find empty promises, toxic work cultures, and leaders who at times do not possess the proper character, motivation, and skills to properly lead them.
So, if you are a new leader, aspiring to leadership, or a seasoned leader looking to stay current on your skillset what skills and characteristics do you need to cultivate in order to shift employee experience and lead your employees effectively?
Characteristics and skills of people centered leadership:
Fairness,
Autonomy,
People-centered coaching skills,
Focused on serving and developing others,
Leading by example,
Competent in technical skills required for role,
Self-awareness,
Communicating effectively (transparent, clear, direct, meaningful communication),
Emotional management (including not being conflict avoidant or afraid to speak up for what is right; also, isn't driven by fear or the need to control, emotionally grounded),
Positive influence (uses position for the good of people and the company, avoids favoritism, uses positive influencing instead of manipulating or misleading others),
Aware of and fluent in effectively and fairly managing people issues (leads objectively, intolerant of workplace bullies and marginalization of others),
Understands focus of leadership and leading others is to maximize company performance by helping others to thrive
Leadership is a position of service. The power that comes with this role (as it is currently viewed) is a result of our perceptions of hierarchy and conditioning to defer our best judgement and ideas to those who hold those positions. A true leader recognizes the power within themselves and the power of others. True leaders do not use power to oppress, marginalize, intimidate, force, or otherwise mistreat others as a means to an end. True leadership is about using your experience, skills, knowledge, position, and resources to improve outcomes both for your organization and for the people within it.
Without focusing on your people, you risk not only negative impacts to the organization, but more importantly you risk emotionally, psychologically or perhaps even physically causing harm to the people making your organization work. Now that we see how and why the workplace is changing, let's take a step back to see how we, as leaders, can change with it to best support our people in the years to come.
Hi! I'm Nicole, an organizational consultant and personal coach, who is passionate about inspiring the changes our society needs for all to thrive. Using lessons learned from my own experiences and challenges, I hope to help people within organizations by creating mentally, socially, and emotionally healthy workplaces for all. Check out the other resources on this site for more ways to do just that!
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