5 Leadership Skills You Can’t Live Without

In business – you can do all the right things and still not get the job done. Here are five essential leadership skills you simply can’t live without.

Earlier this week I read an article on LinkedIn by Jeff Haden titled “5 Ways to Build a Phenomenally Successful Career” that included five leadership qualities thought essential to professional success. The list got me thinking about the fact that – in business – you can do all the right things and still not get the job done.

If you have ever heard (or said) something to the effect of, “this would be a great company if it weren’t for the people who work here…” then you know what I am talking about. For reasons good, bad, and indifferent, motivations, biases, and our own emotional filters, people can get in the way of progress. In fact, with the amount of baggage that most of us are carrying around, perhaps it’s miraculous that we ever get anywhere at all. But that, too, is a testament to the human spirit and its ability to maintain optimism and pursue dreams in the face of opposition – and even impossibility. 

You might also like: 10 Personality Traits of Bad Bosses from my blog at 12monthsofmarketing.com

The fact is, there will be times in the course of your professional career when the tactics that should work to get things done, don’t.  When this happens, your leadership success or failure (or even your business’ success or failure) might be at stake, so what you do next is critical. I came up with this list of five leadership skills they don’t teach you in business school that can get you out of a pickle.

5 Leadership Skills You Can't Live Without

How to get people on board.

If you’ve ever read an article about change management, you’ve been advised to “get people on board.” What they usually fail to tell you is how. When buy-in is essential to the success of your business or your track record as a leader, knowing how to get people on board might be the hardest part of your job. You will need to do research, ask questions, and dig deep enough to know what matters to and motivates the people on your team, so that you can make sure they know what’s in it for them.

How to get around people to get things done.

You might not be able to get everyone on board. You might even have opposition from people who have other agendas to promote.  When this occurs, you will need to have a Plan B that will enable you to get around people who are in your way (preferably without burning the bridges between you!)

When to say when and how.

Sooner or later, every leader has to know when to say ‘when.’  This might be the moment when a co-worker needs to be reproved or redirected. When a bad hire needs to be let go. When additional responsibilities need to be turned down.  Leaders who don’t know when to say when may let things build up until things reach an intolerable level; what happens next is usually an explosion that damages relationships and may even turn a potentially great leader into an ineffective one.

When to offer advice.

As a well-meaning leader, it’s hard to refrain from offering advice when you see a co-worker or subordinate struggling, especially when what you have to say could resolve the challenges they’re struggling with. It’s important for leaders to know when to withhold advice, such as when people would learn better through trial, error, analysis and self-correction, or when people would not welcome advice or perceive it as criticism (and perceive you as a threat; and as such, a rival). 

When to leave.

Leaders can grow in place within organizations, rising through the ranks, taking on new challenges and accepting new responsibilities; finding new ways to shine. But sometimes the next step in leadership development can only occur elsewhere.  Businesses need long range plans and so do business leaders. Take a more active role in the long term design of your own professional career, including thinking through the conditions or opportunities that signal it is time for you to go.

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Elizabeth Kraus is the author of 365 Days of Marketing and the 2015 Small Business Marketing Calendar (12 Marketing Ideas Your Mom Would Hate), available on amazon.com, and packed with marketing inspiration and a working calendar that you can use to attract – engage – retain and motivate more local customers in the coming year.