This is the continuation of my previous article titled, “Leadership is to create positive change”
Great leaders always have a wide range of skills and talents that mark them out as someone special. They always seem capable of performing well and ensuring their team achieves the standards that are set for them. While all these skills and talents such as being a good motivator do account for some of the success, it is two other characteristics that seem to be universally present among all good leaders.
Leadership = Work Competency + People Skills
A good leader is someone who is competent at what he does and has adequate people skills in order to get the best out of the people who work with him and for him.
Work competency
Competency is defined in the dictionary as the condition of being capable or well qualified for a task. A leader has to be able to do his work well and be capable of achieving the objectives that were set beforehand. Let’s take for example the manager of a supermarket. If he/she is capable of ordering stocks on time as needed, pushing sales of slow moving products, and generally doing the right stuff to achieve the objectives of the outlet, the manager is on the road to being a good leader for his/her staff.
“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives”
– William A. Foster –
Being competent is a combination of having the knowledge (intelligent direction), the skill (skillful execution), and the attitude (high intention & sincere effort) required for the job. It is vital that all three features are present; otherwise a person would still be incompetent and unfit for the job. This ties in well with the example of the supermarket manager above; if the manager lacks either the knowledge on how to do their job, the skill of executing the job, or the attitude to do it, he/she is not competent and has failed the first part of being a good leader.
People skills
The second important characteristic of a good leader is to possess good people skills. A leader has to have followers. And followers are almost certainly people. So if you can’t get along with people, how is it possible for you to gain followers, which enables you to become a leader?
A leader HAS to be able to work well with others. He/she must be able to communicate effectively with their team, ensuring that information flows in both directions. The leader must work well in the team, being able to give and receive ideas and suggestions. And finally, the leader must also be able to manage conflicts within his team with some degree of sensitivity and skill. If left unaddressed, conflicts can escalate and rip up the team from the inside, potentially crippling the organization and failing to reach their objectives.
The two characteristics; work competency and people skills will be covered in further detail in future articles. In the mean time…
Be.You.
[...] Leadership Is Work Competency And People Skills Blogs You Must Read [...]