With hectic schedules and entire organizations and workforces to manage, business leaders often find themselves too busy to continue their own career growth and education. But being in a position of leadership typically requires quick thinking and advanced adaptability, which is why business owners should never stop honing their professional skills.
These seven entrepreneurs share some of the most crucial skills leaders should focus on developing if they want to constantly improve their leadership, and why it's important to prioritize these skills over others.
Communication
"Great leaders stay up to date with current strategies and tactics that will have an impact on their organization," Rose Garden Consulting president Ali Mirza says of the qualities for strong, effective leadership.
One skill in particular that always needs to be developed and fine-tuned is communication, Mirza underlines: "Clients and employees are the lifeblood of your organization. When you constantly improve your communication and understanding of other individuals, you have the insight to keep moving your team forward."
Listening
Communication is indeed key, but leaders need to understand that an essential part of this skill is the ability to truly and actively listen. "Most of the time, leaders assume they need to do the most talking. In my experience, the best leaders listen more than they talk," says Andy Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of xtraCHEF.
According to Schwartz, listening is the kind of skill that can always improve over time, and learning to communicate back in a simple way can have a very positive impact on your leadership style, as well. "Overcommunication is something I strive for in our business, but that doesn't mean overtalking," he adds.
Self-Awareness
Perhaps one of the most important skills a leader should focus on is self-awareness, as that can drive future career growth as well as help hone crucial traits, believes keynote speaker Brittany Hodak.
"The higher you get in a leadership position, the harder it will be to get objective feedback on your performance from those around you," Hodak explains. "The best leaders are always working to improve their self-awareness so they can sniff out the 'yes people' around them."
People Skills
"We are in a technology rush and we forget that any success, business or recognition will be done by another human being," Luxe RV, Inc. CEO Adrian Ghila chimes in, underlining the importance of developing and nurturing people management and relationship building skills.
"A leader should never stop learning people skills. You can have everything you can think of -- if it does not relay to people or service the people, you have garbage," Ghila warns.
Empowering Others
Learning to encourage others is also key when it comes to managing your workforce, says Kristin Kimberly Marquet, founder of Fem Founder: "Today's leaders should learn how to empower their teams to do their best work."
According to Marquet, leaders should learn how to trust their employees to do their jobs with the right tools. This will free up more time for the leaders to work toward attaining the larger goal. "Micromanagement never works," she adds.
Creativity
Another important skills leaders should nurture and grow in themselves is creativity, which is often stunted when doing repetitive tasks every day, thinks WPBeginner co-founder Syed Balkhi.
"One day you'll need to use that creativity in a marketing campaign or piece of content," Balkhi explains. "Much like a physical muscle, you have to learn to exercise your creative thinking skills." A possible solution is to always try to come up with unique approaches to the issues you're facing.
Positivity
"Everyone has bad days or goes through a slump where they're not motivated in their work. So, it's important to continue to work on being a motivating and positive leader," Formidable Forms founder Stephanie Wells shares, explaining her opinion on leadership.
According to Wells, staying motivated and positive is essential for a good leader who wants to maintain a good working environment for all employees. "Because your bad mood can affect your entire team, you need to make sure you continue to work on recognizing the good work of others, helping your team members and developing rapport," she concludes.