A Definitive Guide to Improve Your Organizational Leadership Skills

Organizations thrive on the vision of a leader who sees the big picture and musters others to pursue it. Where the input of an organizational leader is missing, a lot is bound to go wrong. An employee can develop the capacity for becoming an organizational leader, and work alongside the central leadership to achieve the organizational vision.

While many leaders are made from the position they occupy, it’s possible to develop the skills to become an effective organizational leader even without occupying a position. Since most employees are crude and only seeking a way to earn a living at best, the leadership in an organization must work towards developing employees into useful organizational leaders for the long term.

How to improve your organizational leadership skills

Are you a leader seeking to develop your organizational leadership skills? While you can get a formal education in leading an organization, you can get hands-on experience in organizational leadership from managing the people under you, and mustering them to focus on the vision of the organization while administering their duties. Here’s a list of practical ways to develop yourself into becoming a leader in an organization.

Mentoring your team:

Being a team lead can be the perfect place for you to enhance your leadership skills. It’s natural that your team members will look to you for direction in doing their jobs. You must take the work seriously if you see yourself becoming an organizational leader. You will have to develop yourself to be steps ahead of your team members, such that you’ll always have answers for them when they come to you with their questions. Your position also allows you the privilege to mentor your team in the right direction and toward achieving the team’s objective. Your ability to mentor your team makes it easy for them to naturally look up to you, and over time, they begin to identify you as the right man to take up leadership openings within the organization.

Encouraging learning in the team:

Developing the learning culture on the team is important to help you deliver outstanding results. You can do this by helping the team find useful learning materials and resources that are valuable for the team’s objective. Once they begin to see that you’re committed to their growth, they also take up the challenge to develop themselves and enhance their skills to deliver efficiently. As you encourage the team to improve through learning, you equally help them to become valuable assets for achieving organizational objectives. In the end, you’ll also be developing your skills as an organizational leader who works with others to achieve the vision.

Being aware of the company culture:

Organization leaders must be aware of the culture that drives the organization and work with it, and make improvements and adjustments where necessary. You can’t be a great organizational leader if you’re not aware of the company culture. The practices, mindset, and everything that makes the organization unique from others must be common knowledge for an organizational leader. This way, you can work towards making plans and driving activities that enhance the company culture. Also, it’s easier to manage those under you, as you get them to work in light of the company culture, and drive a sense of belonging amongst co-workers.

Saying ‘Thank you’ and ‘Please’:

As simple as it seems, choosing to appreciate others for the effort they put into the work can help you to develop the right skills for leadership in the organization. Using the word, “please” as often as possible fosters the feeling of relevance and respect amongst your co-workers. Ultimately, it also helps you to garner the trust of your colleagues and respect over time. You can easily build your influence with co-workers which is useful in attaining organizational leadership.

Leading by example:

A great leader must be able to lead by example. Do you want your subordinates to get something done? Show them how to do it. There aren’t many results with ‘telling’, but ‘showing’ is more effective. There’s a natural tendency to compel others to do what they see you do. Acting one way and asking them to do the opposite will only stir up rebellion. So as much as possible, guide others by acting the way you’d want them to act, both personally and professionally.

Giving the right feedback:

Be generous with feedback. Sincerely telling your teammates how well they’ve done and where they need to improve can help them develop a sense of belonging. In the end, your feedback becomes a critical aspect of their growth and they can look to you for constructive criticism to help them identify what to focus on. Another important aspect of giving feedback is emotional intelligence. As a leader, you must understand the dynamics and complexities of the people working with you, so you know how best to engage them and present your feedback. If you do it right, you’ll be fostering quality interactions on the team that are critical for developing organizational leadership skills.

Fostering diversity and inclusion:

Organizational leaders must recognize diversity in their teams and work toward improving it. Inclusion is essential for everyone on the team regardless of their race, identity, or beliefs. A great leader must maintain an individualistic approach in their relationships, by relating with people for whom they are not based on your personal biases and affiliations.

Taking responsibility for your mistakes:

Nothing beats when a leader realizes his mistakes and takes responsibility for them. If you fail to own up to your mistakes, you’ll turn out to be a bad leader working with people who may become defiant and stand up to you someday. A true display of character is in showing others that you recognize your mistake and are willing to make things right instead of shifting the blame to others. In doing this, you soon develop the strength of character required to make you a true organizational leader.

Focusing on the big picture:

When focusing on the big picture, it’s easy to come to terms with your ’whys.’ This drives how you approach your responsibility and relationship with your teammates. Details are important, yes. However, being too particular about details without focusing on the big picture that each detail comes together to make can lead to unnecessary mistakes. Big-picture thinking is important for every leader and it helps you to determine the perfect roadmap to follow in achieving the organizational vision.

Conclusion

Working on your organizational leadership skills is important to help you prepare to lead others to attain organizational goals. If you’re looking to enhance your skills as a leader, you may choose to get formally educated for it. On the other hand, working with a personal coach can help you develop leadership skills for any management style.