Good Managers Have These Top 5 Leadership Skills

These are the five most important leadership skills that good managers should master in an effort to naturally engage their teams.

Being a successful leader is so much more than being a top performer in your field. In fact, it requires some serious people skills that not all professionals are equipped with — after all, only about 10 percent of people have the necessary skills to manage employees, according to a Gallop study.

But with the proper training and research, you can be a great leader, too. These are the five most important leadership strategies that good managers should master in an effort to naturally engage their team and create a workplace culture of high productivity and trust.

Define and Share Your Vision

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In order to lead a team, you first and foremost need a vision or goal that everyone can understand and work toward together.

The first step in this is defining what that vision is. Do you want to reach a certain number of clients within a specific time frame? Do you want to attract new talent? Do you want to earn a certain amount of revenue? Whatever your goal is, write it down.

From there, you can share your strategic direction with the team. If you already have a strategy on how to reach your goal, great. If not, this is the time to lead a team meeting to generate ideas on how to get there. Not only will you get some ideas that you maybe hadn’t thought of, but you will also engage your team, allowing them to feel part of the business strategy.

Next, you should hold monthly or quarterly meetings to track the progress of that goal to keep everyone in line with the overall company vision and to hold yourself and your company accountable. Otherwise, what’s the point in setting the goal in the first place?

Communicate Effectively — and Often

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Today’s employee expects open communication from their manager, and it pays to do so. After all, about 86 percent of employees and executives blame the lack of good communication on workplace failures. Effective communication, however, can increase team productivity by as much as 25 percent, according to a McKinsey report.

As a leader, you need to create trust with your team that allows for two-way communication. An effective way to do this is to set up one-on-one team meetings with your employees. Schedule those meetings as a time when you listen to the employee. This is their moment to bring up any difficulties or questions that they might have about their role, and active listening goes a long way in building trust, which could be your company’s greatest asset.

Of course, another way to reach employees is through internal communications — say, a weekly or monthly email with updates on how the company is doing. If you have data or revenue numbers to highlight how the business is achieving key milestones, make sure to share them.

Sending out surveys is another efficient way to learn about company culture and whether or not leadership is effectively managing staff. Doing annual or even biannual reviews is another way to not only get feedback but also give feedback on how employees are doing. Showing them where their strengths lie and ways to improve is a win-win for the company and your team.

Empower Your Team to Learn and Grow

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In 2012, Gallup reported that a mere 30 percent of U.S. employees were engaged at work, and as of 2020, that number has barely budged. Why? Because leaders aren’t giving employees the opportunity to engage and grow at their company.

There are a few ways that a business can go about addressing this. First, mentoring can be extremely beneficial to junior members of your company who have questions but are too afraid to ask. While no one likes a micromanager, an absent manager is almost just as bad, if not worse. That’s why good leaders offer mentorship opportunities or even programs for those starting out in their careers.

Another way to help your team learn is to offer training either within the company or from outside sources. The benefit of both these strategies is twofold. Not only will employees become better and more confident at their jobs, but they’ll also become more loyal. After all, a company that invests in its employees is one worth investing in yourself.

Recognize Your Team’s Achievements

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Do you know what one of the best motivators is in the workplace? Recognition and positive feedback. Professionals face a wide range of stressors in the workplace that oftentimes require round-the-clock workloads to get the job done.

So, we get it. It’s very easy to forget to say thank you, let alone acknowledge a job well done. But recognizing your team’s achievements can be invaluable in building company morale so that employees not only enjoy their work but also take pride in it. As the saying goes, “What gets rewarded, gets repeated.”

This can be as simple as acknowledging your employee in their one-on-one meeting, but doing so at the company level is even better. Some businesses will even set up employee recognition programs with an award or certificate for those who go above and beyond.

Lead by Example

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A company is only as good as its leader, so if you want to have an efficient and effective business, it needs to start from the top. By being transparent, communicating effectively and motivating your team to do well, you will earn their trust, which will ultimately have the most impact on your workplace culture.

If being a good leader sounds like a lot, don’t worry — it is!

Just remember that all great leaders had to start somewhere, and they all made mistakes along the way. You’re not alone in your quest to become a successful leader. And if you need help, there are plenty of coaching programs and tons of networking opportunities that will provide you with the guidance you need in achieving your goal.