Tag Archives: skills

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leadership Skills – CommunicationI often

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For this post I am using a narrow definition of leadership.  In this context, leaders are individuals providing guidance, direction, support and influence.

This does not necessarily need to be done from the front (a traditional view of leading) but the results need to be better than they would be without leadership.  That is the leader needs to facilitate a positive change (result).

If you aspire to lead, whether in front or from behind there are a number of skills that can assist you to be a top performer.  Of these the most important is communication.

Many of the other key leadership skills like empathy, self awareness, confidence and innovation all both support and require strong communication skills.

What to Communicate?

I often find conversations I have with others about communication often start with a focus on how.  That is things like clarity, brevity, retention, listening and so on.

For me good communication from a leaders perspective always starts with what.  Leaders influence, guide and motivate.  How you do this is key but the content trumps all.

WIFM

What’s in it for me is foundational content for any communication.  To get attention and direct behaviour toward action, most if not everyone starts with the personal motivation question?

It is all about me after all so why do I care about what you are communicating.?  Give me a reason.

This does require using self awareness, empathy and other skills to some extent to understand what is the most appropriate and grabbing content.

Top quality  communication practices are not just for leaders.  Everyone can benefit from strong communication capabilities.   More on this in future posts.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Reputation, reputation, reputation.

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Generally held beliefs or opinions about something  constitute reputation.  This can be focused on a government, company, person, organization, well, just about anything.

Brands are often used as a bellwether of reputation.  That is the brand identifies the thing.  Through marketing, a reputation can attached to the brand.

Leveraging a brand with a solid reputation associated with it can be a method of attracting others.  Whatever the interraction is; getting a vote, selling a product or service, gaining an endorsement to name just a few objectives, your brand can help.

Your Personal Brand

In recent years pesronal coaches and talent consultants have adopted the term “personal brand”.  The intent is to define and communicate your personal reputation as a brand.

This concept treats you as a thing to market.  Sell yourself.  For consultants, job seekers or anyone with aspirations whether enterprenurial , political, professional or personal having a strong positive reputation is critical.

A strong personal brand is a solid underpinning for this.

For Example

Donald Trump is a hot topic these days.  Most people have an opinion about his personal brand.  Mine would be arrogant , dishonest and disrespectful (to start).

I know from various social and regular media sources  this description is shared by others, perhaps widely.  The point of the example is, how your brand is percieved will really drive your ability to network and get what you seek.

Building the Brand

This post focuses on your personal brand and it’s value to you.  Hopefully it encourages you to examine your brand and then develop plans to grow and market it.

More to come on that in future posts.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Skill or Behaviour

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Many organizations, whether business, government, non profit or charitable, consider the skill bar to represent the price of entry, but ability to engage in interpersonal relationships is the prize.

Once it’s clear the minimum skills (knowledge, education, experience) are met, the focus is on relationship capabilities.  That is, the ability to inspire and be inspired by others.

Whether it is joining an organization or moving through successively senior roles the determining factor is how well you interact with others.

Who would you hire?

In this hypothetical scenario you are a hiring manager.  All the cadidates demonstrate through their resume, interview and skill tests they meet your minimum requirements.

Three of the candidates excel in the area of skills, education and experience far exceeding the minimum in these areas. One candidate just meets the skill expectations.

On an interpersonal level all interact well with you during the interview and you include some meetings with other members of your organization and the feedback is favourable.

Of the four candidates one stands out relative to the so called “soft skills” Everyone liked them immediately.  This candidate is the one whom met but did not exceed the knowledge/experience reqiurements. The others are just average in this area.

Who would you hire?

Rhetorical Question

Obviously since this blog allows one way communication only, I am going to provide my answer which I already knew before asking (but I encourage you to think about what you would do).

Hire the candidate that was well liked.  They will far succeed your expectations.  While it is true both knowledge based skills and those underpinned by emotional intelligence can probably be learned, the emotional skills are probably harder to develop.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leadership versus Knowledge skills

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In general your skills fall into two categories.  First, knowledge specific skills, those that are focused on a function or subject area , for example plumbing, law, medicine or construction.

The other main skill category falls into the leadership classification.  Things like empathy, optimism, self awareness and communication.  Often called the soft skills.

Identifying Managers/Leaders

Many organizations promote to managerial and leadership roles based first on “hard knowledge” and leadership skills are often just an after thought.

Often the new managers, very capable in their knowledge areas, flounder when it comes to managing or leading.  The skill requirements are actually distinctly different.

While  capability in subject matter expertise can complement leadership skills, it will not compensate for their absense.  The results  are often frustration both for the newly appointed leader/manager  and their teams.

My advice to hiring managers/leaders is to always start with validation of the so called soft skills   (unless the role is purely technical/professional).

A qualifier about this would be no role is purely focused on knowledge skills and things like self motivation and ability to communicate clearly are always required to some extent.

Understand the Mix

The mix between leadership and knowledge specific skills can be highly variable and is very much role dependant.  Typically the more senior your role in an organization the higher the requirement for leadership focused capabilities.

If you are in a selection role for vacant or new posotions keep this in mind.  Consider carefully what the mix should be and take this into account when validating the canidates fit to the position.