Developing People Skills

Another area which is crucial for leaders is skills in leading people. After all, without followers, there are no leaders.

Leaders need skills in working with others on a one-to-one and group basis, and a range of tools in their armory to deal with a wide range of situations.

One of the first skills that new leaders need to master is how to delegate. This is a difficult skill for many people but, done well, delegation can give team members responsibility and a taste of leadership themselves, and help them to remain motivated.

See our pages on Delegation Skills, Motivating Others, and Creating a Motivational Environment for more.

Leaders also need to know how to give others their views on personal performance in a way that will be constructive rather than destructive, and also hear others’ opinions of them.

See our page on Giving and Receiving Feedback for more.

Leaders then need tools to help them understand the way that others behave, and create positive interactions.

See our page on Transactional Analysis for one such tool.

Finally, leaders have to be able to work well in group situation.

See our pages on Working in Groups for general information, and pages on What are Groups and Teams? for an introduction to the topic.

However, leaders spend much of their time in one particular group situation, meetings, so they need to have particular skill in chairing and managing meetings.

See our page on Conducting a Meeting for more.