10 Important Leadership Skills:

Leadership is the ability to influence people (Bass, 1985). There are many studies on various skills and abilities required to be a successful leader.  Doyle, (2019) identified 10 important skills required to be a successful leader, they are: 

1. Authenticity

- Leaders are characterized by high-level self-awareness and strong moral and ethical standards. 

- Be authentic and transparent to all followers, so that they will feel at ease to approach their leader.

2.      Communication

Communication includes the ability to explain clearly to followers everything, such as details of specific work tasks and goals of the team. Effective Communication comprsies Active listening, and understanding body language

3.      Motivation

Motivation is the ability to inspire followers

-Recognize effort and achievement to enhance worker’s self-esteem

-Help followers to set career goals and to provide strategies to achieve these goals.

4.      Feedback

- Provide followers the information about their performance.

- Encourage the culture of providing feedback.

- Encourage the follower to provide you feedback about your leadership.

5.      Delegation

- Identify the skills, abilities, and aptitude of each member of the team and assign tasks to each member based on her/his abilities and skills.

6.      Responsibility

- Accept failures, and try to learn from failure.

- Find solutions collectively for better results.

- Be reflective.

7.      Positivity

- Develop a healthy workplace.

- Help members to balance their work-life environment.

- Nurture an organizational culture that offers innovation, teamwork and stress-free work environment.

8.      Commitment

- Do what you agreed to do.

- Apply careful forecasting and analytical skills on resources and time needed for achieving the goal before entering into a commitment.

9.      Creativity

Creativity is the willingness to try novel solutions, and Readiness to approach problems in a non-traditional way

10.  Flexibility

- Accept changes and solve problems with creativity.

- Be open to suggestions and feedback 

Sunnie Giles(2016) grouped the most important Leadership Competencies into 5 groups. They are:

References: 

Doyle, R. G. (2019). Leadership Profiles. In Educational Media and Technology Yearbook (pp. 157-159). Springer, Cham.

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership: Good, better, best. Organizational dynamics, 13(3), 26-40.