How to Become a Super Boss: Developing Leadership Skills

What do we usually hear when we need a certain advice in some obscure situations? It is like ‘be strong, be patient, do not hurry and stay cool’ – all it is not just empty phrases, it is a proclivity to be better than that and, therefore, to lead the situation properly.

Our present article is a great guidance for different kinds of managers and for specialists who want to know why it is so crucial to develop your personal leadership skills and to become a real high achiever.

The professional importance of leadership skills

It actually does not matter which way you look at it, but every self-respecting manager should be a leader. The specific features of the work of any manager sooner or later lead him to the need to show himself as a strict but fair boss. And yet, no matter how much people want to be more loyal or pleasant in communicating with their subordinates, they still have to show certain resistance and composure by the time.

That’s why the process of team management is inextricably linked with the necessity of improving personal skills and qualities of a true professional leader and mentor. It helps managers feel their real power to run the work processes well, to direct their team’s efforts to the right courses and to be able to surmount difficulties and keep the workflow in a proper state.

Indeed, leadership skills development is definitely useful in such points as:

• performance of the manager’s direct duties during ordinary working days in order to have a consistent and well-formed workflow with effective team
• the necessities to resolve controversial, conflicting or other difficult situations promptly that often (even in successful companies) may arise within a team or in particular teams
• the ability to make up a competent working plan, to set the reasonable business goals and to distribute tasks among employees appropriately
• business negotiations with senior executives, where there are important issues that can affect the work of the entire department

It should be noted that leadership attributes are considered to be key qualities that are on a par with other requirements and responsibilities of a typical manager. A successful leader must possess these qualities, like a scientist should know his topical area or a teacher has to be able to send the necessary educational material. It is not like ‘the cobbler’s children have no shoes’ – manager must manage and lead properly.

Standard set of leadership skills – does it exist?

If we dare to talk about a certain standard set of skills, qualities, and personal traits that every manager should have, there is a danger to be drowned in many disputes and discussions. Everything is relative, and every particular industry, a company, or even a work team, requires its own approaches to be managed. Moreover, every individual working case may require special skills and knowledge for its best resolution.

However, despite this variability, we can really imagine some special patterns of the most appropriate behavior for a typical leader. So we are ready to offer you some leadership abilities and their best implementation on professional practices:

• Well-honed skills of self-control, and it’s rightly so. Yes, a true manager should be in tune with his emotions and be able to control his outbursts as accurately as it is possible. Being a boss means holding a huge burden of responsibility on the shoulders, and sometimes it may cause a high psychological tension. A real leader should learn not to show his strong reactions of negative emotions, especially to project his aggression on his subordinates. Emotion expression is not bad, but everything has its place and balance.
• Listening and hearing ability. It is one of such classical skills for not only managers but for all specialists and people in general. But a manager should be especially savvy in this matter: during a working day, managers usually have to communicate with many persons, their employees or clients, so it is essential to perceive information correctly and to give timely feedback on any suggestions or complaints.
• Ability to admit personal mistakes and misses. To be honest, it is one of the most uncommon qualities among the managers. Unfortunately, many people on their senior positions are considered to be rather overconfident and non-available to accept someone’s opinion. So that is why it is important to learn to be open to reasonable discussions, to take responsibilities for a certain problem and to rely on the most appropriate suggestion made by some other employees. Such a practice will not only destroy a manager’s authority, but also strengthen confidence in his rational thinking and a clear vision.
• Vital power and enough energy to act. Do not forget that a true leader is not a person that sits stolidly in his office and deals with some matters. This is the man who is ready to lead his team to success. He has to be quite active, plugged into the main work processes and to be able to help all his team members achieve their desired goals and to make them motivated employees. Leadership is a dynamic thing, so it is impossible to stay inert to lead the business.

Where and how to receive skills of a true leader

There is no any universal recipe to become a successful leader from scratch – everything depends on the personal work effectiveness and the entire business model. Nevertheless, there are some great recipes of how to improve your existing leadership skills in order to execute all the necessary responsibilities as a manager.

Recipe 1: Educate yourself with each passing day!

The best leader is a manager who is an example to follow. Therefore, in order to be such a role model, you have definitely to improve yourself by means of professional development, reading the books about business psychology and product or project management art, visiting different conferences and seminars that are held by true professionals. In other words, it is a good tone for a proper manager not to stop his personal growth.

Recipe 2: Hold more meetings with your team members

This advice is supposed to be suitable if it refers to a recent entrance upon manager’s duties – it is important to approach each other in the team. It becomes more possible for a manager to establish himself as a nice person to know each team member better via different meetings, daily conversations or even online video conferences if the teamwork is in a remote mode. All it helps you feel the workers more correct.

Recipe 3: Adopt practices of other experienced managers

That’s right: a good leader should have his own example to follow. In the conclusion to all the above said, it is strongly recommended to keep in touch with other managers and senior specialists who are ready to share their working and management experience with you and have their great contribution to your personal formation as a leader.