Watch: 10 Essential Leadership Skills Every Leader Needs

Transformational Leadership

The development of leadership skills begins with the orderly arrangement of group functions. The leader's job is to assign roles and tasks so that the group's members can satisfy their significant interests and motives. This requires influencing others, communicating effectively, and creating a vision that enlightens the group and its people.

Influence

Leadership is the capacity to transform a vision into reality and influence the behavior of others. A human characteristic binds a group together towards a common goal. It is an interpersonal process that can be learned. There are many different styles of leadership. The concept of the "natural-born leader" is outdated. No matter how good our instincts and abilities may be, we must continuously up-level our skills and develop our managerial and leadership talents. 

The influence of leadership can be beneficial or detrimental to a team. It can increase commitment to a task when team members have a sense of responsibility and authority. It can improve teamwork by fostering collaboration and asking for feedback. It can also make the team more diverse, enhancing its problem-solving abilities.

Communication

Communication is a vital trait in any successful leader. Effective communication facilitates group work and can help leaders build trust and respect. Communicating effectively involves asking questions, developing others' thoughts, and establishing cohesive relationships. Leaders who are adept at communication also understand people's motivations and values. However, leaders should consider their communication abilities and fortify any weaknesses. 

A good leader makes it a point to listen to others. Communicating with employees is a great way to get their input. Leaders should clearly state what they want and ask for input to achieve this. In addition, a leader must show appreciation. In addition to listening to employees' ideas, a leader should make themselves visible and take notes.

Empathy

Empathy in leadership has many benefits, including helping to build trust. People who feel that they have a genuine connection with a leader are more likely to follow them. Empathetic leaders also cultivate open communication. Empathic leaders also promote innovation, creativity, and democracy. Empathic leaders are also more likely to attract followers and retain them.

Empathy is a critical skill for any leader to develop. It helps employees to thrive at work and can help attract and retain the best talent. Today's teams are often made up of people from diverse backgrounds. These different viewpoints bring a more prosperous creative environment but can also create conflict within a team. Understanding different approaches and concerns can help your teams to collaborate more effectively.

Vision

Creating a vision is the first and most important task for a leader. This will help them focus their efforts, energize their team and scale their businesses. A vision must be clear for the leader to be perceived as competent or strong. So, many leaders downplay this element and focus on tasks that they do best.

But creating a vision requires more than just the right words. It requires the right attitude and a strong sense of purpose. It is essential to inspire others with a sense of pride. It would be best if you inspired people to believe in what you are trying to accomplish. Without this, they will feel like imposters.

Task-oriented leadership

Researcher Forsyth describes the task-relationship model as a "descriptive leadership model." This model states that most of a leader's behavior can be classified as a "performance maintenance" or a "relationship maintenance" activity. Such a model aims to help leaders better understand their leadership behaviors.

Task-oriented leaders focus on completing tasks and getting the job done. They clearly understand the resources and skills needed to complete each task. They assign the work appropriately and require regular progress updates. They also require that their team follow processes to ensure everything is done on time.

Transformational leadership

One of the hallmarks of transformational leadership is the ability to inspire action by employees toward the achievement of organizational goals. They do this by appealing to their employees' self-interest and letting them participate in decision-making. For example, if a manager wants a 10% faster response time to customer inquiries, they can involve employees in identifying the best ways to accomplish this.

Transformational leaders are also known for their willingness to listen and build trust with their teams. They listen to others without judgment and guide their teams towards the highest levels of performance company-wide. These leaders are also self-motivated and adaptive and see opportunities where others see problems.