Advancing your career where leadership is regarded can be a very important skill set that can advance you into new aspects of your career. Leadership can help you to improve your performance, help you to learn new skills while improving your creativity, emotional intelligence, collaboration, and more. Not only are these skills good in the workplace, but they can also help you improve your life outside of your career, such as improving your communication with family and friends and organizing your life in a more meaningful manner.
When you take on a leadership role it does not mean that you become the leader that tells everyone what to do (while guidance is a part of the role). Rather, it means that you work collaboratively with your subordinates, get to understand people, and mention/coach others to grow in their careers as well. Building your career as a leader can also help you to promote the skills that you are the strongest at while allowing others to know what you are an expert in.
Let’s take a look at some of the best traits of great leaders:
- Emotional Intelligence – When you practice good emotional intelligence it is a matter of your views both intra/interpersonally. Emotional intelligence gives a person the ability to be motivating of themselves and others, in addition to understanding what you say and do and the impacts it has on other people. When you work to increase your emotional intelligence you can demonstrate your genuine self while trying to listen and responding in a more personal way to what people have to say.
- Innovative and Strategic Leadership – When you demonstrate innovative and strategic leadership you tend to work collaboratively with your team and take into account what they have to offer. As a leader, you would work to understand their situation and suggestions/ideas while finding a way to bring their best ideas into the workplace or team to make things run smoother. Strategic leaders also work to delegate tasks to employees who have the right skill sets to work in different aspects of the company. Leaders are always examining what is going on in the business world around them, especially now that we live in such a fast-paced world where things are constantly changing. By examining changes in your industry, the world of business, or the world in general you will be able to build a team that can meet the demands of your company while building up resilience, even in the face of dramatic changes.
- Being Self-Aware – You have to get to know yourself and understand where you can improve and where you have talent. Work with others and find out where you need to improve. For example, if you need to improve your communication skills, or be more organized set up systems to help you achieve those goals, especially in aspects of communication – just simply practicing active listening can greatly improve your communication. Also, engaging in consistent personal development can help to make you more self-aware and can open your eyes to aspects of improvement or areas that you do well in.
Leadership and personal development go hand in hand. You want to make sure that if you are trying to be a more effective leader you are actively engaging in self-improvement while celebrating areas you already do well in. Be engaging, stay positive, and actively interested in others and you will see an improvement in your leadership growth.
Want more information on leadership and personal development? Connect with me on Instagram @BlissPlusYou or via the contact page on this website.
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