Ways on How to Bring Out Your Leadership Skills

Most of the time, you have to do your best in a situation to bring out leadership skills because reality is, not everyone is born to be a leader.  However, everyone can be a leader, and could be a great effective leader, if they are given the opportunity, the training and the resources to excel.  That is a fact, but how does one bring out their leadership skills?  Generally, employees only work to fill their needs.  This need is their motivation, it can be money, camaraderie, emancipation, social status, etc.  A small percentage of the workforce population does have the ambition to become leaders.  This ambition either gets pursued or remains a dream for most.  Either the employee is not equipped to take on a leadership role or there are simply no opportunities to take at all.

In the dynamic business world, one must not rely on who corporate says the leaders will be – it must be every employee’s responsibility.  Be it for personal achievement or as a team player, being a leader depends on the employee.  There are 5 simple guidelines on how to bring out leadership skills in you.

1.  Self-assessment

Everybody has the potential to become leaders.  We just need to know how to bring leadership qualities out and put them into action.  We need to assess ourselves and our goals for our career paths, as soon as we become a part of the workforce.  This is to keep the passion for advancement, alive in us.  This ambition will push us to see a clear map of our career from the very minute we start working.  This will serve as our motivation, our inspiration to become a leader.  One can put together a list of goals, plans, possible outcomes, and the list can go on.  What is important is that you determine what you want, what are the steps you need to go through to get what you want, how far can you go and what’s next.  Being able to assess one’s strengths and weaknesses is one of the very basic leadership skills any employee should do to prepare him or herself to becoming a leader.  This way, your goal is clear, you want to become a leader and you will do what you can do and what you must to become one.  Motivation is clear. 

2.  Become a Follower

For one to become a leader, one must learn to follow first.  Knowing how to become a follower should always be a leadership skill that any employee must-have.  We all have to start somewhere.  As an employee in an entry-level position, our priority should always be being an expert at what we do, focusing on being skilled and excelling.   We can only achieve this when we know how to follow protocols and instructions, and eventually, be able to pass it on.  Passing on learning will only be successful when an employee reaches a level of understanding and adaptability to the tasks.  For an employee to reach that level, he or she must know how to follow the leader who is leading him or her.  Not following blindly, but following because we understand.  Following because we understand the task, the desired output, the goal and of course, the company’s vision and mission.  

3.  Plan

As individuals, we make plans every time.  Taking small scale daily living kind of planning to workplace level planning is a total shift in one’s approach.  As an employee, the level of planning one can make will be limited to the tasks they need to complete.  But, as an employee who is looking to bring out their leadership skills, moving forward is present in that plan.  There is always a plan on how to complete tasks and then how to move forward.  Being a leader means, aside from the goals of the job, the team or the company, we also have goals to move up, to take on more responsibility, to take on a higher role in the organisation or increasing our market value.  We need to be able to plan on how we can achieve our professional goals and personal goals.

4.  Be proactive

Taking the initiative is one of the most noticeable leadership skills one must-have.  This is because being a leader requires confidence, ideas, and support from his or her team, group or company.  Opportunities to lead are not advertised.  These opportunities are not posted on a board for everyone to see.  Usually, opportunities to lead come from taking the initiative.  When an employee takes on an initiative, volunteers and is proudly rallying for support or acting as a role model to other employees, then this employee is ready to become a leader.

5.  Become a good listener

Leaders listen.  A leadership skill that most great leaders have.  When one listens, one should not only hear but understand.  Only in understanding can decisions, conclusions, and plans, be made.  For relationships to be formed at work, communication should never be one-sided.  There is always the other side of the story.  In conflict between employees, a fellow employee can simply listen to both sides and discern what is the best solution to end the conflict. 

Developing leadership skills is easy when you are determined to become a leader.  This realisation does not come overnight.  For some, it is a career-changing event or a situation happens, and it could be years of long observation and slow treading in their career path. 

There is no specific timeline when this happens.  But when it does and you need help, let me know.  Feel free to contact me.