Do you have these 4 critical leadership skills?

Together, we continue to navigate uncharted waters across the globe, looking to our nation’s leaders and industry or business leaders for guidance and safe passage through these times.

At such a time in history, good leadership is critical and in recent weeks I have been reflecting on the qualities of good leaders, and how we can cultivate these skills ourselves, within our daily lives.

Leadership to me, is the ability to inspire, rally and influence others to do more, achieve more and to progress in the right direction. Being in a leadership position does not make you a leader – a true leader has people who will follow them regardless of their position or title. Whereas a ‘positional leader’ requires their title or authority to give out orders to get things done.

I personally believe everyone needs to develop leadership skills, characteristics and qualities – even if you’re not in a leadership position currently.

Whether you are a parent, wishing to lead your children in a positive way or looking to progress in your career – the ability to lead and influence others is crucial. After all, it’s impossible to do anything in the world all by yourself – at some stage, you will need to be able to engage others in your cause or pursuit.

From my observation and study over the years, a good leader always has the right mindset, skills, personal characteristics and management style which can be summarised as below.

• Problem solver

When a leader is faced with a problem or challenge, they look for a solution first – and never someone to blame. In fact, a good leader will always take sole responsibility when things go wrong and give all credit away for any success.

• Open minded

Being a leader doesn’t mean that you have all the knowledge or all the answers. A good leader is open-minded, ready and eager to listen to alternative ideas and opinions.

• Delegation

A good leader recognises you can’t do everything alone. Therefore, it’s important to be able to bring the right people to the table but also to then ‘place them at the right seat’.

• Works with people’s strengths

While some may complain about people’s weaknesses or failings, good leaders know how to focus on people’s strengths and grow their potential.

• Generosity

In management, it’s not just a question of being generous from a financial perspective, but also to be generous in praise and recognition of others. Some people in leadership positions who feel insecure about themselves may criticise other leaders or other people. Great leaders will help inspire others to reach their potential and continually improve by praising their success.

And of course, on top of all these qualities, most importantly, a good leader always does the right thing, every time – even when the right thing isn’t necessarily the easy thing to do.