The six key skills expected of a good leader

Currently, more and more companies are looking at the development of labor well-being. This implies, among other things, a good relationship and interaction between leaders, colleagues and collaborators.

In this sense, when recruiting or promoting an employee to a leadership position, many specialists are prioritizing social-emotional and communication skills over academic and job training.

“Organizations need leaders who can put people first, managing their teams with empathy and flexibility, managing disagreements and communicating clearly to achieve the proposed objectives,” says Andrea Ávila, executive director of the Randstad consultancy.

The agency specialized in human resources points out the importance of promoting the professional and personal development of its team members.

Along the same lines, it outlines six key competencies that organizations should expect from a good leader:

1) Be empathetic

Although the performance and the objectives to be achieved are important for the development of the organization, one must never forget that one works with people. In this sense, performance is as important as the well-being of each collaborator.

For this reason, a good leader must be attentive to how the members of his team feel, if they are motivated with their functions, if they are enthusiastic about their next projects, if they feel overwhelmed with a task or if they require some type of update. professional to perform their role with greater ease.

An empathetic leadership leads to the formation of solid, responsible, proactive and supportive work teams, in which everyone puts their best to achieve the common goal and where each one knows that they will be listened to in the event of a specific need.

2) Know how to give feedback

Giving feedback to teams is a key component of the leadership role. In particular, the new generations consider the processes of feedbackThat is why they expect and demand frequent communications from their supervisors for the constant evaluation of their performance.

Whether it is when things are going well and it is about valuing and acknowledging the contribution of a collaborator in a project or when you have to face difficult conversations because there are aspects to improve, feedback instances are very relevant to the feedback process, which largely defines the morale and commitment of the members of the work teams.

3) Handle disagreements

When it comes to taking on a leadership role, it can be frustrating when employees disagree with a decision and objections arise. In these situations, it is not convenient to become defensive and close to the possibilities of dissent, since this will make collaborators avoid sharing their opinions in the future.

Appealing to rationality and explaining the reasons for choosing a particular path over another, and giving the team the opportunity to also express their points of view, is the best way to maintain a good working climate and the optimal functioning of the team, in which the variety of perspectives and opinions enriches the daily work and opens the possibility of innovation and new perspectives.

4) Communicate properly

Communication is another of the fundamental factors when leading a work team, especially today, when labor exchanges are sometimes mediated by technology, through tools such as video calls, the e-mail or the chat.

Effective communication is essential to be able to have a good relationship with the entire work team and with the rest of the organization. Being able to communicate implies knowing how to listen, being honest, open, empathetic and respectful of others, and it implies the ability to observe, understand and relate ideas and be able to express them in a clear and orderly manner.

5) Be flexible

In an environment characterized by permanent changes, companies need leaders who can adapt to different situations presented by the context in which they must operate.

They are expected to be able to adapt to changes in tasks and projects linked to their job role, to be flexible while having the poise to face any challenge that comes their way.

Flexibility is also related to the ability to integrate harmoniously into diverse, intergenerational, and multicultural work teams, as well as the ability to acquire new knowledge and be constantly updated.

6) Learning to learn

In a context where change has been installed as the only constant and technology shortens the useful life of labor knowledge and skills, the ability to learn to learn, what is known as learnabilityis a very important asset that people must develop.

In addition, it is important to take into account that learning does not occur only through formal training spaces. A good leader is the one who learns from the people around him, he is the one who is open to learning from those he is guiding, since they will always have a different perspective and will be able to see situations from a new angle that will nourish our gaze.

But what happens when there is no good leadership?

According to a survey by the Bumeran employment portal, 52% of Argentines think about giving up a job due to a bad relationship with their superiors. In addition, 80% believe that bosses are not always the best leaders and 56% consider that their boss is a leader.

This last percentage is one of the lowest in the region. Below is Chile with 54%, and it is in Peru where there is a greater number of collaborators who consider their bosses leaders, with 73%.

The study reveals three main reasons why a boss or boss is seen as a leader: because they work together with the rest of the team, because they are willing to teach and train, and because their example inspires others to grow professionally.

On the contrary, those who do not perceive their bosses as leaders point out these reasons: because they only give orders and do not lead, because they do not give opportunities for growth, because they do not motivate the team, because they have a very authoritarian attitude and because they supervise tasks and only takes charge of the successes.

“As a leader it is essential to learn to listen to others. Good communication is the fundamental element for establishing a bond of trust and empathy between the members of any organization”, says Federico Barni, Jobint’s executive director.

In short, companies and organizations that want to keep their employees must adapt to new demands and changing contexts, which are setting the pulse of what is to come.