What is a Successful Leadership Development Program? Skills and More.

How to Develop Leadership Skills in the Workplace

You can take practical steps to become a more decisive leader in your workplace:

1. Listen Actively

Active listening is one of the most vital skills for modern leaders to improve leadership skills and build effective teams.

Studies reveal that 86% of employees feel their voices go unheard; 63% believe their managers ignore them. This lack of listening damages the organizational culture.

You can counteract these trends by honing your active listening as a leader.

Tips include:

• Give your full attention when others are speaking. Don’t interrupt or multitask.
• Ask thoughtful follow-up questions to show you’ve understood them.
• Paraphrase key points back to the speaker to confirm you’ve grasped what they mean.
• Provide relevant input without judgment.
• Convey genuine interest through positive body language like nodding and eye contact.

Developing active listening skills helps employees feel valued and prepares them for leadership roles within the organization, contributing to the growth of the next generation of leaders. Per research from Salesforce, employees who feel heard perform 4.6 times better. They are also more engaged.

With $550 billion lost annually due to disengagement, ensuring workers feel listened to should be a priority.

Listening actively benefits leaders as well. It builds trust, enhances perspective-taking, and garners insights to fuel better decision-making.

2. Keep Learning

Constant business changes require leaders to keep learning. Recent LinkedIn data shows organizations rank learning opportunities as the #1 driver of positive retention.

As a leader, you should exemplify a growth mindset focused on continuous skills development, which is crucial for future leadership success.

Ways to keep learning include:

• Take courses relevant to leadership, either online or in person. Look for skills gaps to fill.
• Read books, blogs, and podcasts about leadership, productivity, culture, and other topics to expand your knowledge.
• Attend conferences, talks, and workshops. Interact with thought leaders.
• Try job shadowing. Observe other leaders and teams.

Continuous learning exposes you to new ideas and perspectives, which leaders can also leverage to enhance their leadership capabilities. It also shows your team that growth matters. Working with a qualified mentor within the company can boost your learnings significantly.

For a complete leadership development program customized for high-potential leaders, consider our 9-month intensive cohort-based offering. It combines 1-on-1 coaching sessions, 360 reviews, interactive workshops, and peer learning to maximize leadership potential.

Contact us today to discuss how our transformational leadership development can accelerate your career growth.

3. Promote Collaboration

Bring your team together to solve problems.

Ways to encourage collaboration:

• Form diverse teams with cross-functional expertise to spur innovation.
• Foster open communication and input from all team members.
• Define a collaborative process for decision-making.
• Build team bonding through offsites and social events.
• Celebrate group accomplishments, not just individual ones.
• Ask “What do you think?” and actively listen to responses. Value all voices.

A Forbes study says that inclusive teams make better business decisions 87% of the time. Teams using a collaborative process decide faster, require 50% fewer meetings, and deliver 60% better results.

Collaboration taps into collective intelligence and is a crucial process of developing leadership abilities and improving leadership skills. Make “we” decisions, not “me.” Eventually, it benefits everyone – leaders, teams, and organizations.

4. Develop Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence allows you to understand and manage your emotions and recognize and respond effectively to others’ emotions.

Developing EQ results in stronger workplace relationships, communication, and leadership.

Ways to develop it:

• Identify your emotional triggers at work. Notice your reactions.
• Be self-aware. Reflect on how emotions impact your leadership style.
• Show empathy. Listen closely to understand others’ perspectives.
• Keep composure during conflicts. Take time to respond calmly.
• Be flexible. Adapt your style to fit changing conditions.

When leaders develop their EQ, it positively influences team culture and aligns leadership behaviors with the organization’s strategy.

5. Ask for Feedback

Regularly asking for input shows that you value growth as a leader. It also identifies blind spots that are holding you back.

Ways to get feedback:

• After meetings and projects, ask what went well and what could improve.
• Schedule monthly or quarterly feedback reviews with your team.
• Use anonymous surveys to gather candid input on your leadership.
• Work with HR to conduct 360 reviews.
• Thank team members for their perspectives and implement their suggestions.

Bill Berry, a leader at Tacoma Power, thought his change initiative was successful until blunt feedback revealed some serious problems.

Realizing he needed a better system, Berry now regularly asks for input on his strengths and areas for improvement.

Though not always easy to hear, feedback is a gift. It provides invaluable insight into how you are perceived. The most effective leaders actively seek it rather than avoid it.

To ensure successful leadership development, it’s critical that leaders regularly assess their progress and adapt their strategies to meet the evolving needs of their teams and organizations. Make feedback part of your regular performance management, leadership responsibilities, and growth as a professional.