Leadership Fundamentals Training

What is Leadership Training?

Leadership training is designed to prepare an organization's managers and leaders to best handle any situation and work efficiently. Companies use a variety of formats to deliver this kind of training, including online, self-paced online, live and virtual classrooms, and speaker forums.

What are the Core Leadership Skills Everybody Needs?

Of course, leaders in an organization need to acquire and master the art of being a leader. But the actual core leadership skills-- the foundation of leadership, if you will-- are relevant to everyone. Anyone in any role who masters the core leadership skills can find themselves thriving in their careers. In fact, many of the fundamental "leadership" skills are now trending as fundamental professional skills to have in order to succeed in any organization.

If you are new to leadership or professional skills training, you may start with learning the fundamental leadership skills. If you're already a bit more experienced, though, you may find that taking a deeper dive into one of the core leadership skills will provide you with better results.

There are 4 Foundational Leadership Skills:

Without the fundamentals, leaders are less able to weather storms and embrace change as a vehicle for opportunity.

1. Quick to grasp concepts and learn

Active learners view almost everything as a learning experience. Not only that, they value and seek out opportunities to learn as well as the lessons of others.

When you're an agile learner, you ask thoughtful and insightful questions, learn quickly from mistakes, and are extremely receptive to feedback and coaching. You also take advantage of learning opportunities and acquire new skills quickly.

2. Communication

One of the essential "power" or "soft" skills, effective communication becomes even more important as your responsibilities rise in importance (and number). The ability to communicate well is intertwined with other leadership competencies relating to employee and project management, trust, and relationship-building. It means more than simply presentation skills.

The other side of the same coin of having strong communication skills is the ability to actively listen. Managers or leaders who are proficient and effective communicators understand that deep listening is one of the most important things they can do to improve their communication skills. 

So whether it's encouraging discussion, motivating and building trust, or conveying vision, you are communicating (and active listening). If you're not doing these things well, you are unlikely going to be described as a good leader.

3. Persuasion

Persuasion is a subset of communication. As you climb the ladder-- and even at the bottom-- you are put in a position to influence and persuade others.  When you can persuade others, you get things done and achieve desirable results.

Knowing and understanding your audience is vital. Persuading your boss will require a different approach than your peers, for example. Your ability to persuade and influence others will not suddenly appear once you've reached the leader level. Even during the early stages of your career will you be called upon to persuade others to come around to do what you want or need.

4. Emotional intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (sometimes referred to as EI or EQ) is the ability to read, interpret, and influence one’s own emotions and the emotions of others. If you are in tune with your emotions, know what they mean, and understand how they might affect others, then you have a high degree of emotional intelligence. 

The key to emotional intelligence is being self-aware, knowing your strengths and your weaknesses. When leaders are self-aware they can then promote a more productive and motivated work environment.

Why do Leadership Fundamentals Make Successful Leaders?

The best leaders have all mastered the basics-- they are quick to grasp concepts and learn, communicate well, persuade effectively, and are emotionally intelligent.

Leaders are the ones within an organization who have the ability to transform, create value, and engage employees. When leadership skills are developed, better outcomes emerge:

• teamwork
• employee experience / workplace culture
• project management
• risk management
• ability to manage internal and external change

How to Improve Fundamental Leadership Skills?

While it's important to prioritize leadership development internally, external leadership training can really boost your efforts. Exposing future high-potential leaders and reinforcing skills to others exposes them to a wider range of ideas and best practices. Participants are motivated to bring these ideas back to the organization to put into practice.

With the right course, leaders can develop their leadership skills by:

• Taking constructive criticism from an external (more unbiased) observer
• Receiving appropriate resources that give participants the tools they need to develop their skill sets.
• Tracking their progress for further development and improvement.

• Engaging in one-on-one sessions with coaches.

findcourses.com works with top training providers who are experts and thought-leaders in the world of leadership training and development. Not only do they offer a range of classroom, online, and on-site training options for leaders of all levels, but many of them also have the expertise to help you develop your internal leadership development program.