5 Leadership Skills to Help Advance Your Career

Business is constantly changing and professionals everywhere must be flexible and versatile when it comes to their skills and knowledge. Individuals must redefine themselves on a constant basis and always be willing to learn new things. Organizations are currently looking to hire leaders who can take collaboration to a new level in building their teams, offers innovative thinking, the ability to anticipate the future, and implement the required strategy.

Often people are not aware of the fact that there are job skills and there are career skills. Although job skills are the most important as you need to first be qualified for a specific position, hiring managers all agree that soft skills and culture fit is also key. Here are some important skills you will need to develop if you want to take on a leadership role in your career. 

Social Capital

Having a strong network of business contacts can really help out your career. One where you have peers you can go to for advice and help when you need it. You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: It's not always what you know but who. Relationships mean everything professionally, and the people you’re connected to are vital to your success. The key to networking is that it is a mutually beneficial relationship between two or more people. So, give back where you can by sharing news you think your contact would be interested in. It’s never too early or too late to start building a smart career network.

Adaptability

Versatility is your ability to adapt. It’s your aptitude. People with adaptability are both flexible and versatile. This is an important skill to develop in today’s business world as change is a constant.

Each person that works in your organization or on your team is unique. It is true that people can be categorized by generation, gender, nationality, personality style, thinking style, etc. However, at the end of the day, people are still unique.

People want to be treated as if they matter and what they think is important. If you step into a manager role you will be responsible for dealing with all of these differences and this requires flexibility, adaptability, and the willingness to be innovative with your people to assist them to bring out the best in themselves.

Emotional Intelligence

Most companies nowadays consider emotional intelligence as being as important as technical ability and often base their decision on the same when hiring or promoting employees. A high level of experience in emotional intelligence will boost your interpersonal skills and reduce stress, both of which are vital for hassle-free leadership.

Strategic Thinking

Being able to better analyze and deliver data in a way that everyone can understand is key to advancing. Effective leaders are constantly asking themselves where the company is headed in the near and long term and proposing fresh approaches that will get them there. All of these abilities are critical as they tie directly into the development of business processes. People in leadership positions need to be able to clearly recognize where changes are needed that will help improve how a business functions. 

Credibility

Credible leaders attract enthusiastic and committed followers, and people want to work for them. No single thing creates credibility. Rather, a combination of things must be in place for you to establish it. Credibility is something that all leaders and potential leaders must aspire to obtain. Establishing credibility as a leader isn't something that happens instantly. It's a process that involves time, effort, and patience. The sooner you start building your credibility the easier it will be once you have moved into a leadership role to have the support of your team.

Communicate Recruitment is a specialist recruitment agency, with the very best recruiters. We have placed thousands of top candidates over the last five years at some of the most sought-after employers in the country. If you are looking for a new career opportunity in the Finance, IT, Engineering, Supply Chain, or Freight industries, view our vacancies and apply today.