How to Develop Effective Leadership Skills

Developing effective leadership skills can help you transform your small business into a motivated, inspired organization. Many people believe that leadership skills must come naturally and individuals are either born leaders or not. This simply isn't true. By following a number of key techniques, a few of which are listed below, you can develop and enhance your leadership skills and more effectively guide your small business.

First, begin making the transition from transactional leadership to transformational leadership. In a nut shell, transactional leadership focuses on a simple expectation and reward model. "You do that and I'll give you this." Transformational leadership, on the other hand, seeks to empower and inspire employees to go above and beyond the expectations. It encourages creativity, fresh thinking, and new solutions to old problems. Making this shift takes hard work and requires your effort to connect and motivate both individually and organization-wide. The benefits of developing these effective transformational leadership skills are immense, though. You'll soon find yourself having to spend less time with day-to-day worries and more time discovering how to take your company to the next level.

Secondly, work to establish trust throughout your small business. You can use as many techniques and theories as you like to develop effective leadership skills, but if your employees don't trust you, your efforts will be in vain. Authors Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge assert that the highest level of trust is identification-based trust, in which two parties feel comfortable and confident with acting and interacting in place of one another. While reaching this state of unquestioned loyalty certainly doesn't happen overnight, striving to achieve maximum trust within your small business can unlock a freedom and efficiency that secrecy and scepticism often inhibit.

Finally, remember that no leader is an island. Operating entirely within your own small business, you may often feel that you don't have the proper outlet to vent frustrations or ask for guidance. The solution to this dilemma can be found in CEO peer groups. These groups bring together executives from different companies, industries, and regions to share and learn from each other's experiences and collectively develop effective leadership skills. The unique perspectives and background will shed new light on your current situations and give you much valuable insight to take back to your company. Don't feel like you're stuck inside the confines of your organization, get out there and talk to other people who are dealing with your problems too.

Developing effective leadership skills isn't an easy process and there is no secret formula for success. With dedication and hard work, however, you can create a transformational culture, establish unparalleled levels of trust, and open yourself to outside guidance like never before. These experiences will shape you into an effective, motivational, and inspiring leader.

Sources:
Robbins, Stephen and Timothy Judge. Organizational Behavior. 13^th ed. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 2009.