Effective Leadership Skills

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Use the top 9 effective leadership skills to take a giant step forward in your development. Click on the links below to learn about each skill or simply scroll down.

 

The Top 9 Effective Leadership Skills

See also Leadership Skills for even more effective leadership skills

 

Planning Work

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Manages your own time to ensure all tasks are completed on time
  • Prioritizes tasks within your team to ensure all business objectives are met

Intermediate Behavior

  • Demonstrates a focus on the business goals through task prioritization
  • Allocates resources in advance to ensure the required work can be completed
  • Demonstrates an ability to remain focused on outcomes
  • Provide regular updates on the progress of work/tasks/projects

You're ready for promotion

  • Plans in advance for contingencies
  • Prepares detailed business/project plans with a > 3 month horizon
 

Tools and Techniques

Time Management | Team Task Planner | Status Report | Project Planning

 

 

Monitoring Progress

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Is reliable and remains focused on the delivery of delegated tasks
  • Follows through on personal commitments and undertakings
  • Strives to complete work on or before deadlines
  • Renegotiates dates in advance, when required
  • Monitors individual performance against agreed performance expectations

Intermediate Behavior

  • Is reliable and keeps the team focused on the delivery of outcomes
  • Monitors the teams progress and adjusts the plan to ensure tasks are successfully completed
  • Maintains focus on the most important goals
  • Closes off discussions with action plans

You're ready for promotion

  • Sets challenging stretch goals for self and team that align with the business unit’s goals
  • Takes personal responsibility for achieving results, just like an owner of the business
  • Consistently follows through to achieve agreed outcomes

Scroll down for more effective leadership skills

 

Tools and Techniques

Performance Reports | Action Control Sheets | Meeting Minutes | Short Interval Control

Establishing Performance Standards

 

 

Setting Measurable Objectives(SMART Goal Setting)

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Discover more effective leadership skills

Foundational Behavior

  • Provides team members with clarity of performance expectations
  • Ensure team members understand how to meet performance expectations
  • Develops short term improvement plans for individuals with clearly defined measures of success

Intermediate Behavior

  • Sets measurable performance standards with a stretch component for individuals
  • Establishes team performance for your team

You're ready for promotion

  • Explains tasks/performance expectations clearly within the context of the overall strategy
  • Sets measurable short term team stretch challenges

 

Tools and Techniques

Coaching Plan | One on One | SMART Goal Setting | Performance Improvement Plan

Performance Appraisal |

 

 

Give Formal Feedback in a One on One

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Engages team members regularly in one on one meetings
  • Provides regular performance feedback to each team member

Intermediate Behavior

  • Aligns one on one feedback to provide progress against annual performance goals
  • Establishes clear development plans for team members
  • Establishes performance improvement plans for under performing employees
  • Provides team members with frequent informal feedback

You're ready for promotion

  • Motivates employees to choose to perform above expectations
  • Provides guidance and regular feedback to help individuals to exceed objectives
  • Aligns feedback within the context of the overall strategy

 

 

Tools and Techniques

One on ones how to guide | Performance Appraisals

Informal feedback how to guide

 

 

Coaching for Skills for Performance

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Works one on one with less experienced team members to ensure they understand how to achieve their objectives
  • Works closely with your team members to help improve their performance

Intermediate Behavior

  • Maintains individual self esteem during coaching sessions
  • Rewards and recognizes improvement effort and improved performance
  • Identifies common areas of need for skill coaching and creates coaching/training aids

You're ready for promotion

  • Works with middle and high performing employees to improve their capabilities
  • Works with “next step ready” team members to develop their skills beyond their current role
  • Provides coaching for developing team leaders to help them meet their goals

Scroll down for more effective leadership skills

 

Tools and Techniques

Coaching how to guide | Informal feedback, how to guide

 

 

Running Team Meetings

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

More effective leadership skills

Foundational Behavior

  • Provides updates to team members through regular team meetings
  • Distributes the agenda before the team meeting
  • Keeps the meeting to the agenda

Intermediate Behavior

  • Engages attendees through fun activities
  • Disseminates far more information than is required for employees to do their job
  • Uses a variety of media to keep the meeting attendees engaged
  • Tracks the status of actions
  • Issues minutes of the team meeting

You're ready for promotion

  • Delegates responsibility to team members to run team meetings
  • Disseminates information source from the organization relevant to own team
  • Records and tracks action status

 

Tools and Techniques

Meeting How to Guide | Meeting Agenda Template | Meeting Minutes Template

Fun Activities

 

 

Managing Poor Performance

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Establishes clear performance expectations
  • Promptly discusses undesirable behaviors and poor performance with team members
  • Treats all team members consistently

Intermediate Behavior

  • Establishes and monitors performance improvement plans
  • Remains calm during performance discussions
  • Provides negative feedback in a positive non threatening and supportive manner
  • Counsels employees with the support of your HR/IR adviser

You're ready for promotion

  • Follows performance issues through to resolution
  • Recommends appropriate performance management interventions
  • Develops and implements improvements to the performance management framework

Tools and Techniques

Managing poor performance, how to guide

 

 

Team Reporting

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Identifies team performance
  • Identifies and investigates cause of variation

Intermediate Behavior

  • Uses visual aids to communicate progress to your team
  • Completes variance analysis and identifies corrective actions
  • Varies team member reporting to suit individuals stage of development

You're ready for promotion

  • Charts progress and makes timely interventions to ensure desired outcomes are achieved

 

Tools and Techniques

Reporting templates | Variance analysis | Visual management

 

 

Reward & Recognition

Expected Behavioral Guide

Self Rating

Foundational Behavior

  • Provides recognition for effort and achievement
  • Provides frequent informal feedback

Intermediate Behavior

  • Uses both frequent and meaningful feedback phrases
  • Aligns feedback with employee performance expectations
  • Provides feedback to recognize progress towards goals
  • Provides individual and whole of team feedback

You're ready for promotion

  • Establishes a culture where everyone’s contribution is acknowledged and valued
  • Provides reinforcement and feedback within the context of the overall business strategy

 

Tools and Techniques

Informal Feedback

 

 

 

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