Strengthen Your Leadership Skills: Setting the Right Goals

Few people are born as excellent leaders. Rather, it’s a set of skills anyone can practice and improve.

Good leadership skills are necessary for the workplace. It builds and improves morale, productivity, and employee engagement. The actual skill set can differ depending on the job, there are a few traits that are fundamental for strong leadership.

You want to improve your leadership skills to excel at a new job. Or, you want to motivate yourself and your team to achieve better results. Either way, understanding leadership and how to set goals for yourself can be helpful.

Understanding Leadership

Leadership is accomplishing tasks by directing people on how to do them effectively. Different definitions of leadership exist, as well as different leadership styles. But, at the core is the understanding of what motivates the people who work with them, and the ability to influence them toward the desired goal.

While leadership is often associated with a position at a company, not all leaders are good leaders. They need to have a certain set of leadership skills to ensure success in the workplace.

Important leadership skills for workplace success

To become a great leader, the first skill to have is self-awareness. Knowing what your strengths are and what you could improve will go a long way in a team setting.

Goal setting and prioritizing is another important skill. It can be difficult to motivate your team members if you don’t have clear goals for the future.

Here are some of the goals you should work toward if you want to improve your leadership skills.

Excellent communication skills

To be a great leader, you need to be able to communicate your passion and vision clearly and effectively. To share it with your team, you need to be able to adapt your communication style to make it easier to understand.

There are many courses that can help you practice your communication skills. But, it is well known that the best way to improve your communication skills is to learn to listen. Active listening is one of the skills that can make a significant difference in the workplace.

Purposefully listening to your team members will go a long way. Putting effort into understanding each conversation can help you understand people better. You’ll learn what their strengths and struggles are. This can help you motivate and support them toward the common goal.

Different techniques can help you improve both your communication and listening skills. However, a good leadership goal is to set up a one-on-one meeting with one of your employees each week. This will help you get the best of both worlds.

Knowing how to offer and accept constructive feedback

Providing feedback is the practice most managers use to guide their employees through tasks and workdays. It is an excellent way to steer everyone in your company in the right direction if it's provided well.

There’s no purpose to criticism or pointing out faults when providing feedback. This approach will only make your employees feel overwhelmed and unappreciated. Instead, you need to create a work environment where your employees feel comfortable with the intent of your feedback. You want them to know that you're only looking to help and assist when providing them with feedback.

To get all the benefits a feedback system can provide, you need to set a goal to learn how to offer constructive feedback. It should always focus on affirming what your employees are doing right. But, you also need to offer advice and support for improving the aspects they are not performing well. You need to structure your feedback in a way that makes them feel empowered and inspired to improve them.

To be a great leader, you also need to learn how to accept constructive feedback. For someone with a vision and passion for their work, it may be tricky to accept advice.

However, if the feedback is coming from your team, it’s important to consider it. A good team shares the leader’s values, and the feedback is usually well-intent. If the leader listens to the team's feedback, it can improve productivity and loyalty to the company.

A good leadership goal to set in this instance is to ask your team for feedback each week or month.

Improve adaptability to change

On a similar note, being able to adapt and accept change is another great quality every leader should have. Leaders know the importance of adapting to new circumstances, and how detrimental can be if a leader is stuck in their ways against the times.

Learn to adopt a growth mindset, and find opportunities in each challenge. This can be tricky in companies that are process-oriented, but it will be helpful in times of novelty and change.

Become comfortable with delegating tasks

Leaders and managers often fall into the trap of micromanagement. Delegating tasks is not always easy. The leader may feel they have the time and expertise to tackle the task, and explaining it to team members is time-consuming.

However, good planning and delegating tasks can go a long way in creating a productive team. By delegating, leaders create opportunities for their teams to grow and learn new skills. Also, they free up their time that’s better spent motivating the team.

Practice time management

Time management can also be tricky for those who are in a leadership position. Leaders need to be able to make time to listen, direct, and assist their team members. However, they also need time for their tasks, and to meet their deadlines.

It’s important to find the balance between the two and provide the right example for your team. Leaders should know their strengths and limits. Delegating the tasks and learning how to manage their own time is one of the most important leadership skills.

Build great team relationships

There is no such thing as a good leader on their own. Instead, a team that works well together is a sign of good leadership. These two are heavily interconnected. One of the most important skills of a good leader is knowing how to create a great team, strong collaboration, and great relationships.

For this, they need to hire the best talent possible. Hiring globally might be the key, as global talent can bring new perspectives to the team. Great leaders will be able to recognize the strengths in their employees and find the people who will work great together.

How to Set SMART Goals for Leaders

A SMART goal is a goal that’s:

1. Specific,

2. Measurable,

3. Attainable,

4. Relevant,

5. and Time-based.

Leaders who want to improve their leadership skills should set SMART goals to be able to keep track of their progress. For example, if the goal is to make it easier for your employees to share and find knowledge, you might set up a goal like this:

“In the next three months, implement an organized system for sharing and accessing relevant files and documentation, for a more efficient work process”.

These types of goals will help you measure their effectiveness, and find room for improvement.

What are the different leadership styles?

It’s not easy to define leadership, which is why it is difficult to estimate how many different styles exist. However, six universal leadership styles are commonly used.

1. Transactional leadership

Transactional leadership is one of the most common leadership styles. It is based on a typical transaction everyone is familiar with. The leader directs in detail what needs to be done, and then either rewards or penalizes people based on the task outcome. This leadership style works best with set deadlines, or when dealing with very detailed projects. But, it can also hinder creativity and innovation.

2. Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership is the opposite. These types of leaders seek change and don’t appreciate processes and deadlines. Rather, they motivate their employees to be innovative and creative. They ask their team to always find ways to improve something. This type of leadership style works best in creative fields and companies that don’t demand strict procedures.

3. Democratic leadership

Democratic leaders treat their team as a democracy, and everyone’s input is valuable. Also known as participative leadership, this type encourages cooperation and collaboration. It’s a great choice if you have an experienced team where everyone can contribute to finding the best way forward. However, for projects with tight deliverables, this type of leadership can be detrimental. Reaching a group consensus is not easy, and can slow down the work instead.

4. Autocratic leadership

Autocratic leadership lies on the opposite side of democratic one. These leaders tend to dictate everything, including what, how, and when. It’s a great quality to have in times when decisions need to be made quickly and processes to be efficient.

However, it’s also important to know when to lean toward democracy. This type of leadership can make employees feel restricted, ignored, or underappreciated.

5. Servant leadership

Servant leaders focus on empowering employees by providing help and assistance whenever it’s needed. These leaders don't hold the power to direct and delegate. They put their work and needs last, and focus on building a culture of trust and collaboration. It’s a great type of leader to have in times of uncertainty, but it can also be difficult to find this type of leader and sustain the workflow.

6. Situational leadership

A situational leader is the unicorn of leadership, as these can adapt their leadership style to match the current situation. Using the same leadership style company-wide can be easier to implement. But, being able to change the leadership approach based on different circumstances can help your company grow. By leading according to the current needs of your team, you’ll be able to create a better impact and motivate your team.

Each of these leadership styles has its pros and cons. It may be good to work on improving and adapting to the one that fits your current position and your future goals the most.

FAQ:

What is an example of a leadership goal?

A leadership goal aims to improve a skill that would benefit the leader, team, and company the most. Some leadership goals are focused on improving communication with the team. Others may regard leadership skills such as decision-making or successful delegating.

What is an example of a SMART goal in leadership?

A SMART goal is a goal that’s Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. For example, a SMART goal in leadership may be to delegate at least two minor tasks each week to your employees.

What are the top 5 abilities of a leader?

The most important abilities of a leader are good communication skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, decision-making, and delegation skills.