For nearly 30 years, Masterclass Training has been delivering Leadership Training to industry giants and public sector organisations – based on this experience; we have listed the 10 components that will improve your leadership skills.

Also proudly accredited as one of the only Global Training Partner for Kouzes and Posner’s – The Leadership Challenge® and Leadership Inventory Practices® in the U.K, we recognize that by approaching leadership as a measurable, learnable and teachable set of behaviour it has taught many to achieve extraordinary results and today The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® has become one of the most recognised models for leadership excellence guidance in the world.

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® is an observable set of core practices common in leaders when at their personal best – they Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and last but certainly not least, they Encourage the Heart.

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership ® is a registered trademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The Associated icons are copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. www.leadershipchallenge.com

“ Three decades later, The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model continues to prove its effectiveness as a clear, evidence-based path to achieving the extraordinary – for individuals, teams, organisations and communities” – Kouzes and Posner.”

10 Components to improve your leadership skills

Be Yourself – Inspire the Vision

Authenticity is an important factor to building a vision. Best way to achieve this is to be yourself; this will boost confidence within your team and inspire them to be led as your credibility improves.

Challenge Your Staff – Challenge the Process

It is important to distinct between ‘overworking’ and ‘challenging’, the latter should motivates your staff to invest more in your business and to take ownership of their work. Consequently a culture of passion and liveliness should be promoted within an organisation and thus, with an increase in productivity comes an increase in profitability.

Commitment to Goals – Challenging the Process

When you lead, you have to show a great deal of commitment to everything you are applying yourself to; this is to ensure that it reflects on the people that you work with. As a leader, you are perceived as a mentor, therefore showing commitment will strengthen you role as a leader.

Effective Communication – Model the Way

Effective leadership entails understanding and the possessing the ability to communicate with all stakeholders in an organisation; each concerned group will require a specific approach or communication style. This skill is an important aspect of any leader’s portfolio of skills.

Encouragement – Enables Others to Act

An organisation can achieve value-creation by believing in their team’s potential and providing the appropriate resources for them to work. Maintaining a good working environment will also contribute towards a higher level of productivity and a lower staff turnover.

Humility – Encourage the Heart

Humility will make you more receptive to opportunities to self-develop and consequently be a better leader. Share your success with others, acknowledge your team effort and time dedicated to the success of a task and express to your team, you willingness to support and help them.

Mentoring – Model the Way

Mentoring plays a big part in bettering an individual’s leadership skills as it fosters more loyalty among employees as quite a lot of time and effort is invested in developing their skills. It also creates a more positive work environment and portrays positive organisational ethos to the outside world. Mentoring in the long run will benefit a leader’s interpersonal skills.

Positivity – Inspire a Shared Vision

As a leader, your actions set the tone what is appropriate behaviour within an environment. Your behaviour and body language are looked upon and being a leader your positivity will influence others to behave similarly.

Rapport – Enables Others to Act

Leaders tend to have a greater impact influencing others when they truly know them. Building and managing a work-relationship well can be the difference between a win and a loss; knowing your team will enable you to better understand their motivation and thus plan more effectively for the future.

Self-Awareness – Encourage the Heart

Being self-aware is to be emotionally intelligent. It is important to be able to identify gaps in one’s own management skills. Additionally, empathy will enable you to effectively manage your relationships and connect more with your team.