Leadership Skills

The ability to lead effectively is based on a number of key skills. These skills are highly sought after by employers as they involve dealing with people in such a way as to motivate, enthuse and build respect.

Here at SkillsYouNeed you'll find lots of information that can help you to understand and develop your leadership potential.

Leadership roles are all around us, not just in a work environment.

They can be applied to any situation where you are required to take the lead, professionally, socially and at home in family settings. Ideally, leaders become leaders because they have credibility, and because people want to follow them.

Two questions which are often asked are:

• What exactly is a leader? and
• How is being a leader different from being a manager?

Take a look at our pages ‘What is a Leader?’ and ‘Leadership is not Management’ to find out more.

Many people also wonder if leadership can really be taught. People with vested interests (academics and those offering leadership training or literature of some sort) are convinced that it can. Many successful leaders, however, have never had any formal training. For them leadership is a state of mind, and it is their personalities and traits that make them successful leaders.

See our page Leadership Trait Theory for more. 

One of the most important aspects of leadership is that not every leader is the same. Of course we have all heard jokes about ‘mushroom’ leadership (keep them in the dark and feed them on manure) and ‘seagulls’ (swoop in, squawk, and drop unpleasant things on people), but joking aside, there are many different styles of leadership.

Different leadership styles are appropriate for different people and different circumstances, and the best leaders learn to use them all.