Whether one is an office manager or a project leader, all good leaders require a number of soft skills to help them positively interact with employees or team members.

Whether you’re starting out in an entry-level position and looking to move up the career ladder or you’re seeking a promotion, your leadership skills will be among your most valuable assets.

Here are the top leadership skills that make a strong leader in the workplace.

• Communication: Being able to communicate effectively with your team or other people.
• Motivation: It requires a lot of motivation to get people to do what they don’t want to do
• Delegation: Being able to delegate things that are best suited for someone else
• Trustworthiness: Being able for your people you’re leading to trust you.
• Creativity: There are most times when we’re trying to do a project or initiative where things constantly change so it’s important to be creative and think through solutions and roadblocks
• Feedback: Being able to receive feedback but also your feedback constructively without offending anyone but being able to help them
• Responsibility: Taking the responsibility for actions and getting things done also commitment once committing to something sticking through the thick and thin until the end and then
• Flexibility: Knowing that any project or initiative things we do likely are going to have changed so being able to be flexible to look at different angles and consider changing course when you need to.
• Plan: Being able to plan, organize and coordinate things in your organization.
• Problem-solving: Projects or initiative are always changing. Problems always arise so having the capability to problem-solve is essential.
• Ability to teach and mentor: One skill that differentiates leadership from many other competencies is the ability to teach and mentor.
• Integrity: Integrity is often seen as just truthfulness or honesty but, in many cases, it also means having and standing by a set of strong values.
• How to improve your leadership skills. When you see leaders, you admire whether they are at your job or in your community, take note of the specific qualities they have that make them a great leader. Focus on ways you can develop those qualities and apply them to your work. It might also be helpful to set specific goals toward developing one practice at a time.

Participate in leadership training courses or workshops. You can find both in-person and online courses that help teach leadership skills. In-person courses, in particular, often include practice sessions and role play. At SUCCESS AFRICA we do in-person coaching about the subject.