5 basic leadership skills to lead a team

Several fundamental skills for channeling the potential of many people at once.

Whether in our jobs, as class delegates or captains on our sports team, most of us find ourselves at some time in our lives in a position that involves managing a group. It is obviously a complicated task, and to prove it, we only have to see how the dynamics of a class changes among its different teachers, or how the students of that class change if they are introduced into a different one (although in this last example other group variables also play a role).

There are people who have an intuitive ability to manage groups and others who find it more difficult, which is why, it is said, leaders are born.

However, psychology tends to advocate the possibility of change and, therefore, argues that there are different strategies for leadership training. Below we will see what they are all based on: the fundamental leadership skills.

5 essential leadership skills

Leadership is a role and, therefore, a set of observable and therefore trainable behaviors. We can define the leader as the member of the group who manages to direct the behavior of the rest of the members in the direction he/she wants. Therefore, to be a leader it is not enough to commandIt is also necessary to get those you lead to commit to your cause (your objective) and gain their trust. To do this, certain social skills are very important.

1. Honesty

To begin with, a high degree of transparency and transparency and openness about the work of the different members of the group.. In other words, it is important that everyone understands what their task is for, and how it relates to the fulfillment of the common objectives and thus to the benefit of all. To this end, a climate of trust must be established, and everyone must feel safe to ask questions or propose alternatives. And how do we transmit all this?

By talking, of course. But not only through words.

2. Mastering verbal and non-verbal communication

Both verbal and non-verbal communication are of vital importance when it comes to leading groups, and we need to express everything we want to say. We need to express everything we want our group to know. our group to know. However, there will be those uncomfortable moments when we are forced to reject a proposal or demand more from one of our colleagues. For this purpose, there are different communication strategies. Among them, we must highlight assertiveness.

3. Assertiveness

Assertiveness consists of being able to to communicate what we want while maintaining good relations.. Specifically, it consists of talking about behaviors instead of essences ("you do X" rather than "you are X"), since behaviors can be changed, about the future instead of the past ("do X" instead of "you have done Y"), since we cannot change the past, or in positive instead of negative ("do X" instead of "don't do Y")... This ability is one of the basic leadership skills to be in tune with teams.

4. Feedback control

In addition, we must take into account the administration of feedback, i.e., the information we give to our groups about their performance, attitude and behaviors related to their work in general. Feedback can be positive or negative. When it is positive, there is no problem, we can administer it practically in any way, but when it is necessary to correct some behavior, it is not a problem. When it is positive, there is no problem, we can administer it in almost any way, but when we have to correct some behaviorHowever, when it is necessary to correct some behavior, we can endanger the self-esteem and self-efficacy of our interlocutor, psychological characteristics that we need to be at their best. For this reason, it is recommended to administer negative feedback in private, without witnesses before whom our listener has to defend his pride.

In addition, it is recommended to start by giving positive feedback (he must have done something right), include negative feedback in an assertive way, and end with a note of encouragement. This is what is known, out of jokes, as the sandwich method.

5. Active listening

Moreover, saying things is all very well, saying them correctly is even better, but later on, if our words are not backed up by our example and our behaviors, we will lose something vital for a leader: credibility. Therefore, it is important to to be an active listener when the group or its members tell us their opinions or doubts. Let them finish their sentences, respond to the need they are expressing, make sure they are satisfied and, above all, have a lot of empathy and know how to put yourself in their place.

Therefore, group management is a very complicated task, and there are people with an innate ability to carry it out but, like all psychological skills, it is susceptible to be optimized with the help of a good psychologist, it is susceptible to be optimized with a good mental training..

In UPAD Psychology and Coaching we work with all kinds of people (athletes, managers, team leaders, etc.) in the psychological skills involved in group leadership in order to enhance their performance, well-being and satisfaction. Therefore, we know that leadership is not based on unidirectional processes, but on a set of skills that allow to establish a balance between oneself and the rest.