Mastering Team Leadership: Top 10 Hard Skills and Soft Skills Every Great Leader Needs

Leaders will need several essential traits and competencies to lead a team successfully. Without leaders, it may be challenging to motivate staff to collaborate and give their best efforts. So, this can be disastrous for any professional and business success.

According to recent research, individuals leave their workplace or jobs because they feel unhappy with the current leadership. Whether it’s a young manager, a team leader, or an aspiring manager, honing these essential hard and soft skills is crucial to becoming a great leader.

Most Important Hard and Soft Skills for a Team Leader

Top 5 Hard Skills Every Leader Must Acquire

1. Data Analysis

Every business leader should have the power of analyzing data sets in their organization. Team leaders need to be sure and affirmative of whatever they tell their team and employees to instill confidence. This means that team leaders support and back up their decisions using data. And this can only be possible when they have adequate data analysis skills.

2. Creative Thinking Skills

This hard skill helps team leaders to navigate changes within the organization. With creative thinking skills, you can ideate and bring new ideas to the table that matches all the industry standards and practices. As a team leader with creative skills, you’ll be able to anticipate future changes in your sector and be prepared for it.

3. Project Management Skills

A successful team leader needs to keep developing its project management skills to better manage their team and deliver excellent performance. This hard skill will help team leaders control their team, execute processes, and better manage schedules, assignments, and deliverables.

4. Agile/Scrum

This hard skill enables team leaders to create and maintain circumstances that make it easier for their teams to perform efficiently and be successful. This skill helps you become an agile coach. With this skill, you can always inspire your team and keep them focused on meeting the iteration objectives made for the product owner.

5. Computer-Based Communication

As a team leader, you may often have to manage employees working remotely and clients located abroad. This is where having a strong computer-based communication skills becomes crucial. This hard skill will help you communicate seamlessly with employees and clients associated with the organization you’re working for.

Soft Skills Every Leader Must Possess

1. Excellent Problem-Solving Skills

Problem-solving capabilities are an essential component of a team leader’s job description. One may argue that it’s an important leadership trait.

According to a Harvard Business Review Home study, problem-solving comes in third place out of the many skills that affect a leader’s success. A skilled team leader knows to foresee issues since they are unavoidable. Also, they see to it that the group is ready for any obstacles or difficulties that may arise.

2. Emotional Intelligence

An individual’s capability to control their own and other people’s emotions is called emotional intelligence.

Strong leaders and managers are known for having exceptionally developed emotional intelligence. Furthermore, young managers/leaders must possess strong emotional skills such as self-awareness, empathy, and other facets of interpersonal communication.

3. Empathy

According to a study by the University of Michigan, teams with more empathetic leaders had higher job satisfaction and productivity.

Being an empathic team leader makes building trust with team members simpler and easier. Moreover, leaders build strong bonds within the team that support a positive working environment and the outcomes that go along with it by continuously incorporating empathy into their team leadership approach.

4. Mediator

Conflict resolution is a regular component of a team leader’s job role. Team conflicts will create a hostile environment, weaken the team’s cohesion, and reduce production. Also, a successful mediator makes a terrific leader.

A successful team leader avoids taking sides in disputes. Even more, they make an effort to hear both sides of the argument while trying to find a solution.

5. Availability & Approachability

A good leader is a fundamental part of any business team. So, they must always be available and approachable to not only their clients but also their team members.

When a business leader is around, visible, and available, it generates a huge amount of trust and faith in employees. That’s not all; it gives employees a feeling of being valued, trusted, and the presence of a leader ensures safety as well.

How to Improve Team Leadership Skills?

1. Know Your Strengths & Weaknesses

Leaders knowing their professional strengths and weaknesses will help them reach their full potential. So, make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of getting started, being as explicit as possible.

A Deloitte survey reveals that 57% of organizations identify “soft skills” as the most important skills for success in the workplace.

Given that it can be challenging to be objective while analyzing oneself, it may be a good idea to seek input from others to build a more accurate picture.

2. Enroll in a Leadership or Management Course

One of the most effective ways to improve team leadership skills is to enroll in an online course that can offer the capabilities and knowledge required. Hence, enrolling in leadership classes can help leaders build their professional network.

Make sure to enroll in an accredited, recognized institution like Emeritus.  Emeritus offers a diverse range of leadership courses in collaboration with India’s renowned universities like IIM, IIT, and more that can make leaders accelerate their careers.

3. Know Your Organizational Goals

Leaders must establish a distinct vision for their teams. Without it, deciding what to do and how to go about it may be challenging.

Start by considering the organization’s long- and short-term objectives to help leaders decide on their team goals. Setting concrete, quantifiable, realistic, and time-bound goals can allow leaders to begin creating a comprehensive plan.

What Challenges Do Team Leaders Face, and How to Overcome Them?

Team leaders often face some challenges at work, and these include the following:

1. Effectiveness

Leaders must have the necessary abilities to become more productive at work, including decision-making, strategic thinking, prioritization, time management, and job-specific knowledge.

2. Motivating Others

Motivating or inspiring team members to ensure that they are happy with their jobs and producing their task at hand more effectively.

3. Employee Development

It can be challenging to effectively tutor, mentor, and coach people when it comes to employees’ personal development.

To overcome these challenges, you can:

• Set objectives for both you(leaders) and your team
• Set a priority list for the jobs you could complete, and assign the others to team members
• Recognize your primary duties in your position as well as any ancillary duties or even tasks that relate to someone else
• Boost cooperation and alignment within the team

How Important are Communication and Empathy in Team Leadership?

Empathy works incredibly well when attempting to establish a successful relationship and get outcomes. A leader’s productivity and ability at work can be enhanced in a variety of ways, including:

1. Draws Focus

Attentive leadership entails avoiding all outside distractions. Being in the moment entails providing support, assistance, and in-depth understanding.

2. Influences Decision-Making

Understanding other people’s perspectives, worldviews, and individual experiences.

3. Fosters Cooperation

Compassionate leadership inspires a desire to help others and collaborate. Leaders can learn more about the circumstances and issues that their team members are facing by lending them a sympathetic ear.

4. Enhancing Communication:

A study by Harvard Business Review found that the most influential leaders were those who actively sought feedback from their team.

Team members will feel acknowledged, appreciated, and understood in an environment with compassionate leadership. This results in enhanced trust, teamwork, and effective communication.

How to Delegate Tasks Effectively as a Team Leader?

Leaders can delegate tasks effectively as a team lead by:

1. Clarify Priorities: The process of delegating tasks becomes simpler when leaders have a clear understanding of the tasks, their difficulty, and their priority. High-priority tasks come with short deadlines and must be completed as soon as possible — either by your team member or you. Based on the type of task, you can better decide whether to delegate the task or do it yourself.

2. Give Context & Provide Guidance: While delegating tasks, ensure the team member is set up for the task objectives and context. Do the following:

• Provide guidance on how to accomplish the task
• Clearly mention the deadline of the delegated task
• Provide details, documents, and context about the task
• Tell them the expectations, objectives, and priority of the task
• Let them know the desired outcomes of the task

3. Find The Best Employees In Your Company: Look for workers in your company who are equipped and willing to accept increased responsibility. While hiring, spend the time necessary to find “A” players whose skills complement your own.

Master Team Leader Skills With Emeritus

Are you looking for a way to boost your career in a leadership role? Do you want to excel in leadership by developing ‘hard skills’ and ‘soft skills’? If so, Emeritus can pave the path towards such a career journey.

With Emeritus, leaders can enroll in some of the world’s best online leadership courses, learn all the skills required to become a firm leader, and get started. So, explore Emeritus, pick your course, and get started as soon as possible!