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5 People Skills To Become A Great Leader – Principles That Work · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing five people skills to become a great leader.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are a lot of people skills needed to be good at leadership.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: The ones I'm discussing today are some of the most important people skills, the ones that every really great leader displays.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: The people skills that result in people wanting to follow these leaders.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: These skills are the ones that have mattered most to me in my career, from EY trainee to reaching a board director role of a large company in my 30s.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: These are the skills that leaders I know who manage hundreds of staff members shout loudly about too.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Five people skills to become a great leader in my view are firstly clear, concise and persuasive communication.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, being courageous, thirdly, demonstrating integrity, fourth, showing authenticity, and fifth, being flexible, changing to the situation and person.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Great leaders bring something out of us.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: They encourage, motivate and inspire just by being themselves.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: They create trust, appreciation and loyalty.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Great leaders carefully balance the many competing demands of the business, the team and the individual.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: The reason we follow great leaders has little to do with their official position, or because we have to.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: We choose to follow great leaders.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: For example, two of the most amazing leaders of people that I've had in my life.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: The first was my maths teacher during GCC's and A levels, and the second was my best boss ever in my third proper job of my career.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I've worked in some amazing companies with very high quality leaders.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: These two stood out because of how they made me feel and what they inspired me and those around me to do.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: The first of the people's skills to become great at leadership is developing clear, concise and persuasive communication.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of communication skills that go into being able to communicate clearly, concisely and persuasively.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Five of the most important to develop are firstly active listening skills along with great questioning skills.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, practising being clear and concise in what you say.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Third, knowing how to provide really good useful feedback.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, being good at negotiating and persuading others, and fifth, being open and honest as a default to build and maintain trust.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Covering each in a little bit more detail.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Active listening takes time and effort to do.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can't listen when thinking about what you're going to say next or thinking about the latest problem that you're trying to solve.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Actively listening includes hearing the words spoken, taking them in and understanding the meaning behind those words.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: You should also be paying careful attention to all the non-verbal communication that you're receiving.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Being clear and concise is conveying your message with good structure and with as few words as necessary.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: The less words spoken, the less effort needed by listeners to understand your message.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Providing feedback, whether praise or corrective feedback, should always be given to help and improve the other person.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: It should be specific, well thought out, and delivered diplomatically and with empathy.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Things are rarely black and white.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Negotiating and persuading starts with understanding the other person's position and what they want.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do this and you are halfway there.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Use what the other person wants to position what you want and you are much more likely to get what you want.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Win-win is nearly always better than one person losing.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, and most importantly, communicate with honesty and openness.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is telling the hard truth, not shying away from the difficult messages.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Being a provider of information rather than a hoarder.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is sharing your own views and opinions, even if this goes against the crowd or your boss.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is being genuine and authentic.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Get all these right and people will listen to what you have to say because they trust and respect you, plus you make it easy to listen to you.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources and courses for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've included links to additional resources in the podcast description to help you improve your people skills to become a better leader.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do take a look at these.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: The second of the people skills to become a great leader is being courageous.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Leading is making change happen.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Managing is improving the status quo.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Both are very different from each other.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership takes courage.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: You have the courage to speak your own mind, to share your ideas, to accept another's solutions when it is better than yours.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is the courage to challenge authority, to improve results, to improve the culture, to improve decisions, or because it's the right thing to do.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: A critical people skill is learning how and when to protect your team and having the courage to say no.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: No to low-value requests, no to too many changes of direction, or no to decisions that leave the majority worse off.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, great leadership is having the courage to allow your team to hold you accountable.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: For example, sharing your personal goals and tracking of the progress towards those goals.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership is courage.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Without the courage to speak up and take action, you would not be a leader.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: The third of the people's skills to become a great leader is demonstrating integrity.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Trust is a very big deal when leading and managing others.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Trust is needed to build relationships.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Relationships enable a person to lead or manage well and effectively.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Lose trust and your ability to manage or lead plummets.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Some very important ways to demonstrate your integrity at work include, firstly, communicating openly and honestly.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, telling the truth even when it hurts you personally.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Third, being consistent and fair to all employees.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, personally living the rules and expectations you set for the team.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, matching your actions to your words, i.e.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: you do what you say.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth, you are authentic and true to yourself, your beliefs and your values.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Seventh, being the same person to the trainee as the CEO.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And eighth, you don't employ tricks or underhand tactics.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Behaving with integrity is doing all these things even when no one is watching or will not catch you out.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Demonstrating integrity is not a switch that you turn on or off, depending on the situation.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: It is always on.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: This consistency of approach, the consistency of how you deal with everyone around you, builds your integrity.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: When people know what they're going to get from you, they feel safer, they trust more, and they are more willing to follow.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth of the people's skills to become a great leader is showing authenticity.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Authenticity is not just about demonstrating integrity.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can be very honest and not show anything of your own character and personality to others.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I once worked with a person who was brilliant at having 10-minute conversations and putting other people at their ease.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: After a year or so of working with this person, I didn't really know anything of importance about them.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: They never really revealed anything important about themselves.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I did not trust this person.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know anything about their values, I didn't know much about their character and how they might react in different situations.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know if I really liked them or not.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Everything was unknown and I didn't feel any connection.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Being authentic is not about oversharing either.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: We all have many different personas.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have our work persona, our home persona, our out with friends persona.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: These might all be similar, they are unlikely to be the same, yet all these different personas can be authentically you.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to reveal everything to be authentic.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Being authentic is also sharing some of your faults, your fears, and your dislikes.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is admitting to mistakes and things you don't do well.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: We all make mistakes, these are what makes us relatable.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Balance displaying your very competent self with revealing some of your downsides too.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Be empathetic and be relatable.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Be the real you, be authentic.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth of the people's skills to become a great leader is being flexible.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: When managing or leading teams, you are constantly stepping into the new.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: There are new situations to deal with.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Many will be similar to situations you have already encountered, some will be completely new.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Added to this, everyone in your team is different.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: They have different strengths, different backgrounds, beliefs, values, communication styles and more.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Add different situations and different people together and something will be new.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot lead or manage others successfully by applying the same approach to everything.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: You guarantee failure 90% plus of the time, or at best an okay outcome rather than a great outcome.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So being flexible as a leader is demonstrating firstly that you can and do adapt your approach to the person and situation.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You do what is best rather than what you know or what you're comfortable doing.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Second, great leaders change their leadership style to the people they lead and the situation.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: By flexing, they get more from the people they lead and better outcomes from the situations they face.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Third, being flexible is allowing yourself to be persuaded.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is seeking the best solution regardless of where it comes from.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know your way is not always the best way.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, reserving judgment is another skill of great leaders.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: You don't approach situations with a solution already decided.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: You find out, learn and understand before making decisions.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: A leader's job is to get the best from the team they lead and to do their best for the team they lead.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Working at building great people's skills is essential to becoming a great leader.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So in summary, there are a lot of people's skills to become a great leader.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: You will have many of the skills needed already.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Which ones do you concentrate on making better as quickly as possible to do an even better job of leading teams and businesses?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: These five skills are the top people's skills to become a great leader in my view.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, clear, concise and persuasive communication.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, being courageous, thirdly, demonstrating integrity, fourthly, showing authenticity, and fifth, being flexible, changing to the situation and the person.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to take a look in the description for more resources to help you improve the most crucial people skills to be a better leader.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on five people skills to become a great leader, please leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to take a look in the podcast description for more resources to help you improve the most critical people skills to be a better leader.training and I'll get back to you.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.