Leadership Skills Development

Introduction

An organisation's leader has multiple key performance areas which require a diverse skill set. An organisation or the leader itself might want to get insight in these skills and further develop them.

Why

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Follow this toolkit when you as a leader:

• need support in your leadership role and in developing key leadership skills and competencies.
• want to identify whether your skills meet the changing need of the organisation and deliver on the key performance areas.

What you can expect

In four steps, we will guide you as a leader to identify what skills are required for the different areas, conduct an evaluation and create an action plan to address areas for development. Here you’ll find this step-by-step guide, tools, examples and other resources for the development of a leader's skills.

Step 1: Establish need

• Acknowledge that while capable of leading an organisation, there are areas where the leader needs support and develop skills. 
• Watch this excellent video in which Simon Sinek, famous for his vision on leadership, explains why emphaty and perspective are necessary skills for leaders. He also talks about the difficulty many leaders have with dealing with the younger employees ('millennials').

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Harish Devarajan, Leadership consultant and Ex VP HR, Unilever talks about the need for leaders to develop and demonstrate empathy in order to improve their performance and effectiveness.

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Step 2: Conduct a self evaluation

• Read the LSD-tool-leadership skills list. 
• Note down extra skills important for executing the specific job.
• Value every skill with a mark from 1 to 5 (1 = not developed, 5 = well developed) or NA when not relevant.

 

Step 3: Ask for Feedback

• Choose somebody or a group of people to give you feedback. If possible, try to get people from differt levels of the hierarchy.
• Ask them for feedback. For example by giving them the same (empty) skills and competencies list. If you are working for a larger organisation and feel the need for more anonymous feedback, you can hire a consultant to organise a 360 Degree Performance Appraisal. Most often, 360-degree feedback will include direct feedback from an employee's subordinates, peers (colleagues), and supervisor(s), as well as a self-evaluation. It can also include, in some cases, feedback from external sources, such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders.
• Thank the people who gave input, ask them to elaborate if there are any questions and inform them how their feedback will be used.
• Go through our online course Communication Skills, especially the part about effective communication, to learn more about active listening and receiving feedback. You have to log in, but the course is for free.

Step 4: Create an Action Plan

• Create an action plan, based on the self-assessment and the feedback, to work on the areas for development. The plan should:
  • prioritise activities that the leader needs to undertake and the skills/competencies required to adequately carry them out.
  • identify the methods in which the skills can be developed for example through readings, webinars, training session, workshops etc.
  • keep in mind the importance of empathy and perspective for leaders
• Identify a mentor to give guidance and support through the process.

Step 5: Keep on listening and learning

• Keep on questioning your skills needed to be a good leader. This is needed as the responsibilities and the needs of the organisation keep changing.
• Leadership guru Simon Sinek argues that great leaders are empathic. Watch this video to be inspired to improve your leadership skills, again and again. 

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Key To Success

• The leader must accept the need to develop certain skills and be open to receiving feedback.
• The leader has to develop his skills in emphaty and perspective in leading her/his team.
• The leader must trust and develop a good relationship with his/her mentor.
• The leader must dedicate time to the process.

Challenges

• Having time to dedicate to the process.
• Receiving and accepting open and frank feedback.
• Following the action plan.
• Identifying a good mentor.