5 Ways To Increase Your Leadership Skills Through Personal Development

Enhancing your personal development skills can help you to become a more effective leader. A successful leader always should be open to change and willing to grow as both an authority figure and an individual.

It is important to continuously strive to improve your leadership skills to keep your skill set properly aligned with the constantly changing goals and priorities of today’s professional work force.

Here are 5 Ways To Increase Your Leadership Skills Through Personal Development.

1.  Improve Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are the life skills we use every day to communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups.

People who have worked on developing strong interpersonal skills are usually more successful in both their professional and personal lives.

An effective leader needs to have good people skills. Your teammates, customers, and prospects  should feel comfortable coming to you with any problems they have, not intimidated and afraid of your reaction. 

Your teammates and associates also will appreciate the little things, such as paying them a compliment for work well done or remembering the name of a person you’ve recently met. Be sure to edify your team.

2.  Always Be Learning

I know you have heard me talk about this before but a  good leader never stops learning and always wants to improve his skill set. Making a list of areas you would like to improve, such as acquiring a specific skill set or improving your existing abilities, can help you to become a more well-rounded, valuable leader. 

Reading, listening to audios, attending events and conferences is an excellent way to do that.   Reading not only books in your field but also personal development books.

3.  Inspiring Others

Encouraging and inspiring team members to attain their own personal goals and reach their potential can help you to become a better leader. Involving each person in planning team goals for the future makes everyone feel like a valued member of the group and helps to get them excited for new projects.

Setting high standards for individual performance challenges team members to step out of their comfort zone. 

When talking or even chatting with teammates or prospects, leave them feeling better than they did when the conversation began.

4.  Stop Multitasking

Multitasking Doesn’t Save Time.  It actually slows you down.

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking doesn’t save time. In fact, it will probably take you longer to finish two projects when you’re jumping back and forth than it would to finish each one separately.

According to research summarized by the American Psychological Association, shifting between tasks can cost you up to 40 percent of productive time.

You may feel like you’re getting more done, but you probably aren’t. You’re just getting it done in a different way — and probably not the best one.

Multitasking causes more mistakes.

Multitasking can also cause you to make more mistakes in whatever you’re working on. Especially if one or more of your activities involves a lot of critical thinking. 

Switching back and forth between tasks can also cause a tremendous loss in productivity.

If you’re prone to multitasking, this is not a habit you’ll want to keep doing.  It clearly slows you down and decreases the quality of your work.

5.  Listening Effectively

One of the most important skills for a leader is listening. Without listening skills, you are not able to get feedback from others and get a sense of what team members like about the projects they work on.

Feedback is key. To listen effectively, you need to maintain eye contact, avoid distractions and respond appropriately. Keep in mind, communication is not only about verbal communication. Be aware of body language and gestures to determine what people are really saying.

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