What are the top 5 soft skills for an ideal leader?

Soft skills training and behavioural skills training need to be on the cards for everyone, be it a leader or an entry level executive. And although it’s one of those skills that can make or break a person’s career at any level, its frankly the most neglected!

So today I’m going to list down the top 5 soft skills that a leader needs to possess. Here goes…

1. Communication Skills – Now that’s definitely a skill you will find in pretty much every soft skills training, but one that tends to get missed out in soft skills training sessions for leaders! Why? Because we often think that communication skills meant for those at the entry level. And that’s why you’ll always find it at multiple places in the training calendar of very organisation especially for lower level employees! However, its also one of those skills that takes time and continuous efforts to master. Which is why you will find many leaders still lacking in it.

Leaders need to be able to listen to their team members. They need to allow their teams to share their opinions in a safe and non-threatening environment. They also need to master the art of handling conflict and saying what they need to assertively, without aggression.

2. Emotional Intelligence – Yes another extremely important skill or should I say intelligence! Managing their own emotions and learning how to manage those of others is of prime importance for leaders especially in such stressful times. And for that, a leader must have a very high level of awareness. He must be able to manage his own reactions, thoughts and emotions and at the same time be empathetic towards others. And that is another skill that can take years if not lifetimes to develop!

3. Time Management – Leaders are always short on time. And as much as they may think that they don’t need soft skills training on how to manage their and their teams time better, they actually do. After all, there’s always a scope to do more in 24 hours, isn’t there?

4. Decision Making – Decisions don’t leave leaders. They follow them around until they take them!  Therefore, being able to take decisions after considering the larger picture and in the interest of the majority is very important. And that’s why leaders should learn the various decision-making tools. It will not only help them take those tough decisions but will also reduce the time they take to take them.

5. Influencing – Last but not the least, comes the skill to influence others around. And that’s an extremely important skill for a leader. People must look up to him and respect him. And for that, he needs to take actions that will earn him the respect rather than having people give respect out of fear.

So those were my top 5. What do you think? Are there any other important soft skills that leaders need to be have and be trained on?

Well that’s all from me today, but I would love to hear what you have to say. And I now better get down to creating the content for another soft skills training session that I need to deliver by the end of the week.

Wish you adieu and Happy learning!