5 basic leadership skills to lead a team

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

There are people who have an intuitive ability in managing groups and others who have a harder time, so, it is said, leaders are born.

However, psychology often advocates the possibility of change and, therefore, maintains that there are different strategies to train in leadership. Next we will see what all of them are based on: fundamental leadership skills.

• Related article: "Types of Leadership: The 5 most common types of leader"

5 essential leadership skills

Leadership is still a role and, therefore, a set of observable and consequently 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 wishes. Therefore,

to be a leader it is not enough to send, distribute tasks or structure a plan, but it is necessary to be able to commit those directed to your cause (with your objective), and earn their trust. For this, certain social skills.

1. Honesty

To begin with, a high transparency and sincerity regarding 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 common objectives and thus to the benefit of all. To do this, a climate of trust must be established, and everyone must feel safe to ask questions or propose alternatives. And how do we convey all of this?

Well speaking, of course. But not just in words.

2. Mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication

Both verbal and non-verbal communication are of vital importance when leading groups, and it is necessary that we express everything we want let our group know. Now, there will be those uncomfortable moments in which we are forced to reject a proposal or demand more from one of our colleagues. There are different communication strategies for this. Among them, we must highlight assertiveness.

3. Assertiveness

Assertiveness is about being able communicate what we want while maintaining good relationships. Specifically, it consists of talking about behaviors instead of essences (“you do X” better than “you are X”) since behaviors are susceptible to change, about the future instead of the past ("do X" instead of "you have done Y"), since we cannot change the past, or positively instead of negative ("do X" instead of "do not Y")... This ability is one of the basic leadership skills to be in tune with the equipment.

• You may be interested: "Assertiveness: 5 basic habits to improve communication"

4. Feedback control

In addition, we must take into account the administration of feedback, that is, the information that We manage 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 manage it practically in any way, but when to correct some behavior, we can endanger the self-esteem and self-efficacy of our interlocutor, psychological characteristics that we need to be fully in it. For this, 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 (something will have been done well), include the negative in an assertive way, and end with a note of encouragement. It is what is known, outside of jokes, as the sandwich method.

5. Active listening

In addition, saying things is very good, saying them correctly, much better, but later, if our words are not supported by our example and our behaviors, we will lose something vital for a leader: credibility. Therefore, it is important exercise active listening when the group or its components transmit their opinions or doubts to us. Let them finish their sentences, respond to the need they are expressing, make sure they have been 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 can be optimized with good mental training.

At UPAD Psychology and Coaching we work with all kinds of people (athletes, managers, team leaders, etc.) in the psychological skills that intervene in the leadership of groups with the aim of enhancing their performance, well-being and satisfaction. For this reason, we know that leadership is not based on unidirectional processes, but on a set of skills that allow us to establish a balance between oneself and the rest.