Professional leadership skills. What should be the leader

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

A leader has a great responsibility on his shoulders, he has to solve a wide variety of tasks. What skills and qualities should an effective manager have? In the article we will talk about what a leader should be like and what he should be able to do.

Who is a leader?

Any process or organization needs a person who would manage and control them. This is the leader or manager. This concept combines several aspects.

The leader is:

• a person with authority in an organization according to their official position;
• a person who leads a group of people, formally or informally empowered to govern them;
• a person who, on duty, is obliged to make decisions.

The term "manager" is often used as a synonym for this concept. A variety of activities that a manager has to deal with require special skills, knowledge, and qualities from him. Themacquired through training or experience.

In a resume for filling a vacancy for a manager of any level, the manager's professional skills are in the first place, and only then his personal qualities. However, one is inseparable from the other: the one who leads other people must also have certain moral principles, a positive image.

Functions of the leader

In each organization, the head is endowed with different powers. But in general, the main functions of the manager are as follows:

1. Analysis of the current situation, making forecasts and plans. To do this, he will need experience in strategic planning, the ability to conduct research.
2. Coordination of the work of departments and employees, organization of the production process. The duties of a leader include the need to lead people, competently distribute powers, and be able to set tasks.
3. Staff motivation. A leader must be a good psychologist in order to be able to inspire employees to work effectively.
4. Monitoring the production process and the fulfillment of tasks, encouraging employees, issuing censures and sanctions. It requires a number of personal qualities and professional skills of a leader, including responsibility, the ability to evaluate work, competently criticize employees without reducing their motivation and productivity at work.

Requirements for a manager

Looking through the list of qualities, skills,who are listed in the announcements of vacancies for the position of the head, it remains only to think in surprise: do such people really exist?! The general list of requirements includes the following:

• high level of computer proficiency;
• knowledge of business etiquette, business communication rules;
• experience in working with a team, managing people;
• ability to make quick decisions;
• experience in developing a development strategy for a company, structural unit;
• competent oral and written speech;
• business document writing skills;
• experience in negotiating, closing deals, sales;
• mastery of time management skills;
• the ability to organize your work and the work of the team.

Also, sometimes there are additional requirements for knowledge of foreign languages, experience in a particular industry.

Professional skills

A leader must be, first of all, competent in the business he manages. In their resumes, job seekers list skills that could help them fill an interesting job:

• experience in managing a team with a certain number of people;
• experience in management accounting;
• ability to delegate authority;
• the ability to plan and control the production process;
• ability to make short-term and long-term plans;
• experience in recruiting, evaluating and motivating staff.

Headmust also be able to distribute the resources of the organization, form a team, collect information about the external and internal environment of the company, analyze and build company development plans based on it. A manager must be able to work in crisis conditions, master management technologies.

Personal qualities

The importance of the manager's professional skills cannot be denied, but in addition to them, the manager must have a number of personal characteristics. Surveys of mid-level employees show that employees value such qualities in a leader as:

1. Adequacy. He must correctly assess the situation and respond accordingly.
2. Honesty. The manager must reward and punish fairly, and be fair in allocating resources.
3. Responsibility. The leader must be able to accept all the consequences for the decisions made.
4. Sociability and responsiveness. The leader must be able to communicate with people, to remain human even in the most difficult situations.
5. Self-confidence.
6. Optimism.
7. Dedication and initiative.
8. Punctual.
9. Energy.
10. Balance and stress tolerance.

The image of the leader

Since a manager should be an example and a leader in his team, the charisma and business image of the leader are important.

Image is how employees, clients,partners.

This concept includes characteristics of a different order. This is, first of all, the appearance. The leader must be neat, dressed in accordance with the requirements of business etiquette. The suit should emphasize his status, reflect his professional affiliation.

The image also includes the manager's professional skills, which allow employees and partners to assess the manager's competence. This includes both verbal and non-verbal skills. It is important how a person speaks and writes, how he expresses his thoughts with the help of facial expressions, gestures, body position in space.

Executive speech

A manager is a person who constantly communicates with other people. Therefore, it is extremely important for him to be able to communicate with them. And the basis of the culture of business communication is competent oral and written speech.

The leader must know the rules and norms of the official business style of speech, be able to write business letters, conduct telephone conversations, production conversations. Speech is the most important tool for influencing other people, so the leader must master it masterfully. Effective business speech should be understandable, concise, competent, clear, logical.

Code of Ethics for Leaders

An effective business image of a professional is based on strong moral principles. It is not in vain that the honor of entrepreneurs has long been important. Modern business and professional ethics is the basis of the reputation of any businessman, leader. The main principles of professional morality are:

1. Honesty anddecency. Deception destroys relationships, reputation, and the leader should not allow it. A professional should always be honest with partners and himself.
2. Respect for the freedom of others and one's own. The leader must recognize the independence of subordinates in opinions and thoughts.
3. Tolerance for the shortcomings and opinions of others.
4. Justice. The leader must allocate resources, reward and punish employees in accordance with moral principles.
5. Delicacy and tact. The manager must be sympathetic to employees, understand their human manifestations, weaknesses.

In the article, we examined what business and moral qualities a leader should have.