The Top 9 Leadership Skills You Need

Everyone can use leadership skills, even if you’re not in a leadership role (or not in one yet). 

Leadership skills are the abilities it takes to organise people and teams to achieve a common goal. Together, they enable you to give clear instructions, set achievable goals, delegate tasks, motivate people, and manage deadlines. 

Some learned skills, others are personality traits, but all of them can be developed to make you more employable and help you, your colleagues and your organisation succeed. 

1.    Goal-setting and planning

Goal-setting skills are about establishing large and small objectives related to the greater good of the organisation. Planning skills are about creating a series of smaller goals or steps towards a larger objective. These skills enable you to determine the resources you have in your team, set realistic goals based on them, and assign tasks.

2.    Communication

Communication skills aren’t just about writing and speaking, they’re also about being able to listen, to present information clearly and efficiently, and to determine the best mode of communication (for example, what’s okay to say in an email and what needs to be said in person).

3.    Delegation

Delegating effectively means being able to assign tasks to other people, including tasks you as a leader need help to complete. It includes choosing the best team member for the task and giving them clear instructions.

4.    Dependability

This may sound like a personality trait–and it is–but being dependable is also something you can learn. It means being someone who can be trusted to get tasks done correctly and on time, to help when help is needed, and to set a standard of behaviour and lead by example to encourage others to follow it.

5.    Integrity

Integrity means honesty and sticking to what you believe is right regardless of pressure, as well as holding yourself accountable for your goals, actions and mistakes. Great leaders even hold themselves accountable for their team's failures. Integrity is another area where you can lead by example and encourage team members to hold themselves accountable too. 

6.    Decisiveness

Decisiveness isn’t just about making quick decisions, it’s about making high-quality, informed decisions, even under pressure. Decisive leaders clearly understand the options and the consequences of a decision. You can develop this skill over time by gaining more industry knowledge and experience.

7.    Motivation

Self-motivation is important, but as a leader you also need to be able to motivate others, not only to get their work done but also to develop themselves and grow their careers. Again, this is an area where you can lead by example.

8.    Conflict management

Mediating between people or organisations who are in conflict means understanding both sides, researching the background, mediating a discussion and moving it towards a compromise or a win-win outcome.

9.    Team building

This skill isn’t just about coming up with fun ways to help your team get to know each other (although that is part of it). It’s also about identifying each team member’s strengths and areas for improvement, and using that knowledge create strong teams where everyone’s skills and personalities complement each other.