MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES - LEADERS MUST HAVE THESE 3 LEADERSHIP SKILLS MARTHA CLARK CREATIVE MANAGER CALLMECHAT TRESSANDE Motivating Employees - Leaders Must Have These 3 Leadership Skills Leadership and motivation are two very important factors to the success of a company or business. Leadership can mean different things to different people, but it basically means motivating a group of people to achieve a specific task. Motivation, on the other hand, is an emotional state that helps an individual to achieve his or her goals in any given situation. Both leadership and motivation can be used successfully in business to help a company succeed. Leadership is one of the most important skills needed for leading a team. It is not the most important, but it certainly plays an important role in leading employees and getting the desired results. In order to be effective in leadership, a leader should be aware of the following skills: Assessing This skill refers to the ability to see where a leader has gone wrong and to make necessary corrections before proceeding with a leadership style change. If you notice that your leadership style is not effective anymore, then you can always assess the effectiveness of your leadership style by seeing how others respond to your commands. This will give you a good insight on how your leadership style is working for you, and you can always change if you find that it is not working properly. Being honest People respect leaders who are completely honest. If you want to become a great leader, then you need to show your effectiveness by being honest with your subordinates. In addition to this, you also need to constructively convey your message to your subordinates through honesty so that your message is not misinterpreted or taken out of context. Planning Great leaders never let anyone talk about their goals in front of them. They always set up goals for the day and they try to achieve it. They also write down their goals, update themselves on the current situation, and evaluate how far they have come. This way, they always have an idea on the best way to accomplish their goals. Motivating Most people look for leaders who are motivating because they do not want to waste their time. When you are trying to motivate people, you should understand that all kinds of motivation can be effective. There are some kinds of leadership that may require more focus than other kind of motivation. For instance, teaching is more effective than giving a speech or giving a seminar because it touches the life of the student directly. Self-confidence This is another crucial leadership skill that will determine your success as a leader. Leadership is not just using your physical skills but also your leadership skills. Self-confidence comes when you are convinced that you are right in everything that you do. As such, you should build your self- confidence by imagining yourself to be great in every endeavor that you are undertaking and you should think that no one can challenge you. Influence Leadership is also about influence. You should be able to influence people to follow and to be dedicated to what you are doing. This way, you can be sure that you can motivate others to work harder because they would see that you are an influential leader and you are trusted by people. Decisions Effective leadership skills also include the decision-making. You should know how to make decisions well so that you can make the right ones. Decision- making is one of the most essential skills of leadership and if you canto master this skill, you can become an effective leader. Make sure that you have a clear idea on what the appropriate decision would be. Set goals Another one of the leadership skills that you should master is setting goals. As the leader, you should be able to set goals that will guide your team and that you think are important for the accomplishment of the overall objectives of the organization. Knowledge As a leader, you should be knowledgeable on the issues that you are dealing with. As you become aware of these issues, you will be able to make the right decision and to lead your team to success. As you become knowledgeable on the things that are happening in your workplace, you are now a motivator and as a consequence, you will be able to motivate your people to accomplish the goal that you are trying to achieve. Martha Edward Clark Creative Director Coomeet USA