If you're wondering how to optimize the ways to achieve your business goals, here are 8 skills that you should develop in you so that, along with your work team, you will manage to achieve the results that you have been dreaming since your company was founded. Practice and master business leadership!

1. 8 skills to make your
leadership better
By David Kiger
Image
courtesy of
Valard LP at
Flickr.com

2. If you're wondering how to optimize the ways to achieve your
business goals, here are 8 skills that you should develop in you so
that, along with your work team, you will manage to achieve the
results that you have been dreaming since your company was
founded. Practice and master business leadership!
As an entrepreneur you probably have a dream and you chase it with the
business that you have started. Surely you might have thought that some
things would be a lot simpler if you did them yourself. In spite of that, one
of the meanings of leadership is the capacity of coordinating the
company in order to not just survive, but also staying ahead of the
competition. Besides you have the challenge of making relations,
operations and transactions between the different areas -commercial,
operative, administrative and so on- are effective and fast.
But there’s more: when the structure of your business grows, you must
get every leader to maintain a broad perspective of the business and its
objectives, as well as the limitations and problems internally and
externally related to the company, so that they can act adequately in their
functions and achieve the expected success together, the one that you
visualized before founding your business.
In order for you to stay on track to success with your team in this
adventure, here are 8 important skills to develop and stay in shape.

3. 1. Clarity of business and positioning
This has to do with two important aspects. In the same way
that McDonald's differentiates itself from Burger King, you
should make sure that you've created and maintained a clear,
attractive idea to your customers, one that makes you different
before their eyes. Besides, as a leader you will have to
make sure that your business’ core idea is permanently
active and works for your customers. This will allow you to
maintain an adequate positioning of your business in the mind
of potential buyers when they require the service or product
that you offer.
2. Planning and adaptation
Planning is foreseeing the future instead of enduring it.
You will reflect your leadership skills by monitoring and getting
ahead of the competition. Being up to date on any change in
the tendencies of needs, wishes or habits of current and
potential customers will allow you to plan convenient
adjustments, keeping your business’ idea valid, while your staff
remains on the line that you established.

4. 3. Staff development
An effective execution of your leadership is reflected in
the growth and development opportunities that you give
your employees. It might seem obvious, but it is not just about
having the very necessary job description, it’s also important to
have the complementary job profile, in which you indicate the
essential requisites for a person to be successful at a task.
Combining this with every one of your employees’ individual
talents, you will make the job - person mix easier and you will
encourage their growth.
4. Teamwork
It sounds alright, but it doesn't always work that way. The fruit
of your efforts as a leader is reflected in how you handle
the skills and talents of your staff, all the while you get them
to be able to work as a team. This means figuring out up until
what point each one of them is willing to put aside their
particular interests and replace them for the team's interests,
that is, those of your company.

5. 5. Information administration
Having a good team is essential, however, your job as a leader
will have to encourage a free flow of data and information,
motivating the input of ideas. Your leadership will determine the
ways and mechanics through which they will be analyzed,
implemented, rewarded and recognized. The results will be reflected
in the analysis, conduct adaptation and decision-making with
opportune and high quality information.
Image courtesy of More
Good Foundation at
Flickr.com

6. 6. Setting goals
If you have a plan, then determining realistic and reachable
goals won't be complicated. With this you will avoid what many
bosses do when they set the goals of the year to come, adding
only one incremental factor to last year's figures. Your ability
to identify tendencies and act accordingly will allow you to
weigh the opportunities and attack the environment
threats in such a way that your people’s skills will
transform them into real successes.
7. Set priorities
It is very frequent that small and medium-sized companies that
are in the middle of a growth process will find themselves
overloaded with short-term tasks and activities, without
worrying or paying attention to strategic issues. Your
leadership will allow the filtering of excess operative work,
to keep your team focused and working in the priorities of
first, second and third order that you have identified or
determined.

7. 8. Negotiating and handling conflicts
Authoritarian or human, flexible or rigid are characteristics of you as a
person that won't help avoid the appearance of objections or
questioning from the people who work for you. A good leadership
will define a way to comprehend and solve legitimate worries,
put them in consensus and assertively deal with group interests
or different areas. Adapting will make it easier to be more effective
when it comes to applying whatever leadership styles are necessary.