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20 Key Elements for Leadership Skills

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Leadership skills

I was recently in conversation with a Major from the British Army.
We were discussing the elements that go to make good leaders.
Our purpose was to decide upon the contents of a leadership course.

We brainstormed the 20 key elements that would be needed in a discussion of leadership.

Here they are, for your information:

Setting goals

Goal focus is the most important skill to learn. Identify the target: know what you want to achieve.
If you know what you want to achieve you can begin to communicate that to the team.
If you do not know what you want, you are forced to dither, which is not a sign of leadership.

Communication

You may have a clear goal but be unable to communicate it to others.
The goal must be clearly communicated to all who need to know.
The great leaders are also the great communicators.
Churchill, Gandhi, Napoleon, ML King were all master communicators.
They knew how to affect others with the correct use of words, tone and body language.

Accurate language

Accuracy is a subset of communication. A lack of accuracy was the cause of the fatal "charge of the light brigade".
Errors in clarity will cost you.
Accurate use of language will save you time, money and effort.
Learn how to improve the clarity of the spoken and written word.

Influencing

Influencing is a subset of communication.
Peoples actions are directed by their thoughts.
Is it possible to use language to influence the thoughts of others?
Of course!
So, if you can influence their thoughts, you can influence their actions.
Learn how to influence the minds of others.

Language of a leader

Inspiration and motivation are the lifeblood of leadership.
Nelson could inspire his soldiers to incredible feats.
So can all great leaders.
They learned to use their communication skills to motivate and inspire others.

Making decisions

Be decisive.
Make good decisions quickly.
Make good decisions based on logical evaluations of facts- not guesses.
Indecision will cause a loss of effectiveness.
When you have the facts, make the decision.

Accurate assessment of information

To what degree is your information: Relevant, important and reliable?
If you become bogged down by considering information that is Irrelevant, trivial, or unreliable, you will slow down to the point of failure.

Accelerated learning

Having a good memory for facts, figures, names and faces is an important attribute to cultivate.
Alexander was said to have known the name of everyone in his army.
Forgetting details can easily cost you credibility and effectiveness.
Did you know that you can learn special techniques to increase recall of new information?

Listening skills

Hitler did not listen to news he did not like.
So he lost his war.
Listen for the things from which you can profit.
Listen with intent to understand.

Planning ahead

Having a goal is not enough.
You must learn how to build plans that are likely to work.
The lack of a sound plan is one thing that will ruin your chances.
It will turn your goals into fantasies.

Prioritisation

Planning includes prioritisation.
With limited resources; you cannot do everything at the same time.
So you have to put them into order.
Learn how to order items into the correct sequence.

Problem solving

Problems represent the obstacles that stand between you and your goals.
In order to achieve your goals, you must overcome the problems that confront you.
That is done in two ways:
1. Analysis
2. Synthesis.
Learn how to analyse the problem and synthesise the best solution.

Handling difficult people

You have to work with people who do not agree with you.
Do you know how to handle the intelligent, articulate nuisance that you have to work with?
If not, internal dissention can ruin team harmony and effectiveness.

Conflict management

You will need to deal with the conflict without losing your cool. Hot-headedness can cause you to lose respect and will cause you to fail.
You must be able to handle conflict with a calm and logical mind.

“Fools learn when they must.
Wise people learn when they can. (Duke of Wellington)”

Duke of Wellington 

Handling performance issues

Some of your people will occasionally perform badly. You will need to correct them and put them back on track; doing that skilfully will increase your effectiveness.
If you make correction sound like an insult, you may cause a backlash that is more difficult than the original problem.

How to put the non performer back on track.

From above, it is obvious that you should learn how to give constructive criticism:
Learn how to criticise another's work without de-motivating nor antagonising him-her.

Negotiation

Learn when too negotiate and when not to: Learn how to "find the middle ground" without giving too much away.
It is important to know in your own mind what is "NON negotiable"
And equally you should be clear about what you are willing to give away in order to get what you want in return.

Emotional management

Leadership demands first that you master yourself.
Fear, indecision and self doubt will stop you being a good leader.
Cultivate the qualities of courage, mental focus and determination.
Especially - learn how to manage your emotions when in a hostile situation.

Positive attitude training

When you have controlled your own mind, set about inspiring others.
Teach them to stay emotionally strong by radiating confidence.

Suggestion

Run through this list and check yourself against it.
What areas do you feel you could improve upon?
In which areas do you perform well , and could capitalise upon?

Let me know what you think

  • MindPowerProofs Apr 9, 2012 @ 4:04 am | delete
    Excellent lens. Being a great leader is not only being great yourself but to expose what is great about others who work for you. Thanks for sharing
  • salah Mar 25, 2012 @ 1:01 pm | delete
    mashaAllah great really ......
  • mdeakub Feb 28, 2012 @ 11:50 am | delete
    Thanks for the excellent post. It's a very good & informative one.

    For a few  years, I am learning & working on the topic, Transformational leadership. Quite a lot of leaders in the human history have demonstrated exceptional success in transforming human life, work, economy, philosophy and above all well-being. I have recently analyzing some transformational leaders, their successes, traits and the secrets of their being of such kind of leaders.

    My blog on this topic is Transformational leaders ~ 3 Greats . Here I have described the leadership of 3 great leaders. This list should be a bigger even. I have selected them not based on any category but on total impact of their leadership on their followers and the society or the community or even the world they lived in.
  • agent009 Jan 5, 2012 @ 12:05 pm | delete
    I made a note of your list. I think it's going to help me be better organized. Do you follow it with older projects to revamp them, or just with new ones?
  • rx135 Sep 13, 2011 @ 2:17 am | delete
    good one
  • ChrisDiamond Jul 20, 2011 @ 1:36 am | delete
    Short and to the point! Great lens for "come & go," in the fast paced world we are living today!

    Thanks for sharing, +1 like on this one ;-)
  • Jun 21, 2011 @ 10:10 am | delete
    coaching and mentoring ( and from our experience...learning to let go..develop and deletgate!)
  • Arop K P (http://www.facebook.com/arop.kp) Nov 19, 2010 @ 3:43 am | delete
    The issue with today's leadership is not knowing it, however its more about not doing it and if we are doing it how accurately are we doing it. The 20 key elements are just not crucial but vital and often it considered to be a check list and what lies next is disaster.
    Knowing and preaching and practicing are 3 different things and when knit closely, they just make wonders.
  • kimsmith79 Nov 17, 2010 @ 7:25 am | delete
    Thank you for the great research. Your points are well stated. I'd like to learn more on this. I just took a course in attend transforming learning at The Hay Group and loved it. I look forward to reading more information you have posted.
  • guyfarmer Aug 19, 2010 @ 12:56 pm | delete
    Great insights Chris. I've found that leadership is frequently about getting out of the way and letting our people shine. When we let go of ego and the need to dominate we open ourselves up to learning about the talents and abilities of our employees and how we can help them succeed. It's a slightly different leadership paradigm, but it helps employees feel great about themselves and it helps us lead with less effort.
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