Top Soft Skills for Leaders to Accelerate your Career
They might not be taught in business school, but soft skills are the glue that holds your career together and puts you on track for future success. According to a study by LinkedIn, 92% of talent professionals believe that soft skills are just as important, if not more important, than hard skills.
Communication: deliver your message with clarity and consistency
Strong, clear communication is critical in ensuring your team travel in the same direction and leaves no room for misunderstanding. The way in which you communicate can define your leadership style - do you communicate with warmth, impact and conviction? Clear communication builds trust and certainty, reducing the margin for error. This is LinkedIn’s number 1 skill for 2024.
Flexibility: be ready to adapt when necessary
Rigid adherence to a plan is unhelpful. When a situation changes, being open to change enables you and your team to react swiftly to new opportunities and trends.
Problem Solving: and staying calm under pressure
Navigate complex challenges and guide your teams towards success while retaining your composure.
Emotional Intelligence: self awareness and social awareness
Cultivating self awareness and a solid understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses is key to workplace success. According to Harvard Business School, employees with high EQ are more likely to stay calm under pressure, resolve conflict effectively, and respond to co-workers with empathy.
Positivity: embodying a positive mindset is contagious
Expect & embrace the ambiguity that comes with leadership. Life is not a 45 degree angle and learning to enjoy the ups and downs of the journey can inspire others around you to do the same.
Time Management: for yourself and your team
Learning to apply your energies to the areas you can control and let go of those you can’t helps to avoid overwhelm. Focussing on the right things at the right time is critical for team success and work life balance.
Teamwork: foster collaboration and trust
Involving team members in key projects and decisions keeps engagement levels high. Pooling the strengths and skills of individual team members ensures that each person feels valued and the team moves forward as one.
Influence: inspire others to action
Through understanding the motivations of others, building rapport and setting a positive example, strong leaders can motivate and inspire others to take positive action. Without influence, leaders tend to be less effective, relying more strongly on the directive tactics of command and control.
The power of coaching lies in having a thinking partner to help you to see the things you can’t see. The development of soft skills is a prime candidate for this, and working with a coach can help you identify specific areas for development.