How to Improve Leadership and Management Skills to Climb the Ladder

What are Leadership and Management?

You may think Leadership and management are the same, but they are not really. Leadership means inspiring and showing a path, Management is more about planning.

Leadership:

Most of us think leadership skills are achieved by born. Yes, that’s right but you also need to nurture skills and know how to implement them in practical fields. 

Leadership means inspiring and motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Leadership requires skills and deeds that extends beyond managerial duties. Leadership involves communicating, inspiring and supervising people to achieve common goals.

Management:

Henri Fayol said, a manager needs to forecast and plan, organise, command, coordinate and control. Management is a more systematic, planned and strategic way. So, Management Skills Development is necessary to become an effective manager.

As a management professional, you need to know which step you are on the management ladder and how many are left to go to the top. That’s the reason many in this profession take online courses to master required skills and thrive the ladder.

Similarities and differences between Leadership and Management

“Leaders are people who do the right thing, Managers are people who do things right.” – Professor Warren G. Bennis

Although it seems that leadership and management are the same, there are some major differences. As a corporate professional it’s necessary to understand the differences between these two for career growth. Forbes Magazine published an article on leadership and management and showed how leadership differs from management and why managers now tends to be good leaders too. Similarities and dissimilarities between leadership and management are as follows:

• Although a manager and a leader both deal with a group of people, they are subordinates to a manager but followers to a leader.
• A manager gives direction to subordinates; A leader ask questions and motivates the followers.
• A manager generally applies authoritative power while a leader has motivational influences.
• A leader innovates new ideas and plans; a manager organizes ideas and implement them properly.
• People do what manager tells them to do, on the other hand they follow the path a leader shows them.
• A manager tries to establish control, whereas a leader tries to gain trust.

Transforming Management into Leadership

For decades, we thought and taught that management is all about forecasting, budgeting, planning and controlling. But now it is more important to be a leader to motivate and influence employees. Rather than just evaluating and controlling subordinates make a strong team of followers who will trust and follow the right path you show them. An empathetic, trust based leadership and teamwork is not only effective but also profitable for an organization.

To transform management into strong and effective leadership acquire leadership skills through a proper career development course. Online courses are effective and flexible for professionals as there are no deadlines or time restrictions for most of the courses.

How to develop management and leadership skills

To become an effective management professional and develop leadership qualities consider the following steps-

1. Practice Discipline

Practice discipline in professional as well as personal life in order to become a successful leader. Demonstrating discipline in workplace influences others to follow you. Maintain deadline, start and finish meetings in time, arrange programs accordingly and most of all emphasize on integrity. Promise what can be done because you must keep the promises.

2. Find your passion

You can be a leader only on what you are passionate about. So, make a passion for what you are doing. Some people have natural leadership quality, some need to develop it. In either case, nurture that talent and be passionate to do something extraordinary.

3. Keep Learning

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other” – John F. Kennedy 

Continuous learning is necessary for climbing up the management ladder and developing leadership skills. Although some people get leadership skills by born and some develop it later, both of them need to update themselves continuously and sharpen their minds. Following other influential leaders may also make you a leader.

4. Develop Communication Skills

Communication is one of the most effective tools for managers and leaders. To be a good communicator you need to be a good listener first. Understand your team and find an effective way to communicate with them. It’s important to schedule regular meetings and connect with the bottom line of the workflow.

6. Learn to Follow

Influential and powerful leaders leave invaluable footprints for the next generation. Try to learn from them. Besides, you should not feel threatened if someone disagree with you or raise questions. Respect other team members and give them credit for what they deserve it.

7. Inspire Others

Motivating others is a part of leadership job. An employee who thinks you do not evaluate his talent will not perform well. Inspire and motivate them to work harder to achieve greater output.

Sometimes people can not perform well because they think their work is not getting priority or they are not being asked to get involved and share ideas. In that case a manager/leader just need to inspire them and make them feel special.

How can you start developing?

You can have your management and leadership skills developed by taking an evening postgraduate diploma class, by checking online free resources or by taking an online paid course. But I would recommend taking an online paid skill development course because a management professional does not get much time to study free material or take a regular class. 

After working the whole day it’s difficult to attend an evening class regularly if you are not superman or hulk! Over Pressurising your body and brain would not be a good idea when you can complete a CPD accredited professional course online at your own pace. Pay a minimum price for the course to avoid wastage of time and unnecessary hassle of free online courses.

  Coursegate develops CPD courses for professionals considering their need and time issues. These courses are-

• Flexible and easy to understand
• Have no deadline to finish the courses
• Give lifetime access to course materials
• Help fast-track your career
• Maximise potential as a management professional

Taking an online course you would be able to deal with all the obstacles and gear-up your journey to the top of your profession. Leadership skills will give confidence and effectiveness to win the race.