There are five leadership skills we believe women can develop to reach their full potential as leaders. These include strong leadership skills, power and influence, negotiating, overcoming resistance and networking skills. Collectively these skills will help you reach your full potential and help you develop your career in C-suite positions.

In the corporate sector, women are still not reaching their full potential or being promoted into C-suite positions.

In 2020 only 19.3% of executives and 7.9% of CEOs were women in corporate companies within the European Union. However multiple studies have found that both men and women don’t differ much in effective leadership styles, if anything women have been found to be slightly more talented in this area.

The real problem clearly is not that women don’t have the proper skills to become strong leaders but that there are more obstacles for women than men.

Ultimately women do not need to change to become great leaders, but in a world where men dominate the C-Suite corporate sector, things need to change for women to take a well-deserved seat at the table.

We have put together the top five leadership skills for women, that you can develop to guarantee you get ahead of your male counterparts and reach your potential as a women leader.

1. Leadership Skills

One of the most obvious skills that women can develop is leadership skills.

Leadership comes with a whole host of skills beneath it, that collectively create strong organisational leaders. These include skills like emotional intelligence, communication proficiency, decisiveness, motivation and effective delegation to name only a few.

Many of these skills come very naturally to women but it’s always worth upskilling and developing these further in a professional way. You can do this by attending an ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) course.

2. Power and Influence

Power and influence go hand in hand to achieve organisational goals and objectives.

Women who use their power effectively can influence others behaviour, this, in turn, is what prompts employees into action.

Some employees may try to resist efforts to make them perform, but by gaining respect and trust through your hardworking mentality, emotional intelligence and motivational mindset, strong women leaders will be able to overcome this confrontation.

Always remember to have confidence in your own abilities as a leader and then power and influence will naturally occur.

3. Negotiating

Negotiating is a crucial skill to have if you are wanting to progress in your career.

Research has found that women are less likely to negotiate for better positions or higher pay due to gender bias. This is because women who do negotiate are told they are ‘too bossy’ or ‘intimidating’, however, you are twice as likely to get a pay rise if you were to negotiate.

Firstly, make sure you do your research, ask your male and female peers who have asked for pay rises on what to expect. Next practice your pitch, remember to say why you deserve that job promotion/pay rise. Talk about your achievements and visions for the future.

Lastly, make sure you are asking for a specific amount. Men are more likely to ask for more than women in the same positions, so never undersell yourself. If anything, oversell yourself so you are in a better negotiating position and more likely to get the amount you want and deserve.

4. Overcoming Resistance to Change

Change is inevitable in any organisation and those that change for the better thrive in the modern world. However, overcoming resistance to change can be somewhat difficult with multiple employees, some of which will have been in the company for many years.

The best way you can overcome this as a women leader is through great communication and employee engagement.

There should be a constant flow of communication throughout the time of change, so employees are always informed.

The next thing you must do is engage with the employees, listen to what their thoughts are on the change. Ask them questions about whether the change is working and what they think would make things better. This paired with both formal and informal communication will develop trust among your employees, making it a smoother process.

5. Networking

So many women dismiss networking as they find it insincere and sometimes manipulative. But networking can be extremely beneficial.

Women need a strong network of trusted partners that can help them get results and influence other people. For you to be a successful women leader you need a network of mentors, sponsors, coaches and leaders in your sector. These new connections can help you develop, earn promotions and gain new opportunities.

These five tips are just a starting point for women who want to progress themselves as leaders. There’s still so much bias towards women in C-suite positions and developing these five skills can help combat that in a male dominant sector.

Take the next step

Here at Salford Professional Development, we offer leadership courses so you can develop these skills and more, helping you reach your full potential. The Women in Leadership Course develops all of these skills you’ve just read about – with access to our exclusive networking support group.

Leadership skills can either be learned or naturally occur in individuals with certain personality traits. In this blog post, we will look at the top five leadership skills you need to become a successful manager or director within your organisation.

Why are leadership skills important for organisations?

Having strong leadership skills within an organisation are so important in creating productive, successful teams. Many organisations believe that the best leaders are those who are very good workers, who know the organisation’s products, goals and procedures.

However, this does not prove that someone possesses the necessary leadership skills to mentor, motivate and direct colleagues in an effective way.

The most effective way in which all leaders can become successful is through training.

87% of employers said that ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) training programmes positively impacted their business.

Top 5 Leadership Skills

There are multiple leadership skills individuals need to be successful leaders in the workplace. We’ve chosen the top five to create a great foundation for your first steps in becoming a strong leader.

1 – Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is not only about being self-aware but about having empathy too.

To be self-aware you must identify that your emotions affect those around you. You also need to recognise that your ego can sometimes stunt your progress as a leader. So, you will need to let this go in order to be aware of both your strengths and weaknesses.

Empathy on the other hand is how you put yourself in someone else’s shoes. This will inevitably help you deliver constructive criticism fairly and wisely, whilst also being approachable and a good listener when your team needs help in difficult situations.

Having these skills will make you more emotionally intelligent and in turn, you will gain trust and respect among your colleagues and teams.

2- Decisiveness

Decisiveness ultimately is the ability to make decisions quickly and confidently.

Having great research, problem-solving and planning skills, where you can use your own experiences to confidently make decisions, for the best results, can really help you improve business efficiency.

It’s also good to recognise that having knowledge of each department and how the department operates can really strengthen your decisiveness skills, giving you that background knowledge to proficiently lead.

Leadership courses are the best way to improve this background knowledge.

3 – Communication

Communication skills not only mean effectively speaking clearly to a team but also writing, listening and presenting in a clear and concise manner.  

This is such an important leadership skill to have when there are so many different communication forms. This could include team meetings, one-on-ones and companywide presentations.

All the while communicating through different workplace platforms such as phone, email, video meetings, chat, and social media. Plus, these conversations need to be constant with the employees and leaders in order to create a trustworthy open-door ethos within the organisation.

4 – Motivation

To be a successful leader you need to inspire employees.

You can do this through motivation. You need to learn how and what motivates each individual so that you can encourage them to be more productive and passionate about their work.

An effective way to motivate is to provide them with recognition, this improves their self-esteem allowing them to confidently undergo more work tasks. Or you could give employees more responsibilities to increase their overall personal asset to the company.

5 – Delegation

Taking on too many tasks is the downfall of many leaders. That’s why it is so important to delegate tasks around the team so that your time and skills are better utilised.

Leaders need to evaluate what their employee’s strengths and weaknesses are to match the right task to the right employee. Leaders must also trust their employees, to create a strong team environment.

In having this trust, you will gain mutual respect from your employees.

How can you develop these 5 leadership skills?

Mastering all five of these leadership skills; emotional intelligence, decisiveness, communication, motivation and delegation all help towards developing your own personal development and career. Evidently, you will need to practice this over time and understand your own leadership style to fully excel as a successful leader. Great ways in doing this are to learn from already strong leaders, gain a mentor or improve your skills with a leadership course.

Take a look at our leadership skills courses and begin your development today. https://www.salford.ac.uk/spd/leadership-and-management-courses

I have the pleasure of coming to Salford in December to speak to FM professionals about “The skills shortage and shifting workforce demographics”

My brief is this:

• Attracting a diverse range of new talent
• Developing professional career pathways for the FM workforce
• How to measure performance in a meaningful way
• The transition from traditional hard FM models into customer-focused workplace solutions Read more…..

The World of Facilities Management

The world of facilities management is dynamic and evolving. We are seeing rapid progress in technology, social aspirations, and our work environments.

The need for FM professionals to innovate, adapt and deliver value has never been greater, as more and more organisations are recognising the importance of the built environment to their core business. Read more…..

Why is the health and wellbeing of your staff important?

“Look after your employees and your employees will look after your business”

This statement has been known to organisations for decades (or at least since workers rights became a little more prominent).

A good leader knows that in order to work towards success, you need to have support from inspired, knowledgeable professionals to encourage behaviours that drive the organisation’s vision.

However, many leaders forget that basic needs of their staff need to be met in order for these professionals to operate at maximum capacity – Your team need to be happy, motivated and healthy!

Read more…..

Many directors and CEO’s throughout the UK have a true passion for their business and a genuine feeling of responsibility towards their organisation, as well as the staff that help to make it work.

However, in difficult times, when cash flow isn’t quite balanced and money is tight, people can change…

The boss that was once an advocate for positive attitudes and working together to make progress, all of a sudden becomes the devil in disguise and makes the lives of their subordinates the equivalent to living in the pits of hell.

When push comes to shove and there are demons at your door, some bosses go into self-preservation mode and as a result choose to disregard the potential impact of their decisions on customers and suppliers, as well as staff.

This isn’t the case 100% of the time, but most of you will have heard horror stories of this occurring and been disgusted by the attitude of those involved.

Read more…..

By now we all know the business environment is by no means smooth sailing and we all venture into stormy weather at some point.

Businesses are very much like ships at sea, and like any ship, your business requires a captain to ensure it reaches its destination.

You are the leader of your vessel, which means it’s your challenge to navigate your way through the rough and stormy seas whilst keeping your crew safe. As part of this responsibility, it’s up to the captain to identify when things are not running smoothly.

A great captain can identify when their ship is running into dangerous waters or even predict when their crew is under pressure. Perhaps at this point of realisation, the captain must act quickly to solve the problem, restore employee productivity and improve business performance; so that their ship can stay afloat.

Read more…..

Like many things in life, when it comes to project management the success of your project begins way before the work gets underway. For this reason, choosing the appropriate project management framework for your requirements is an important decision in any project.

In an ideal world, all our projects would run smoothly. Unfortunately, in reality, that’s not quite the case. A staggering 97% of organisations believe project management is critical to business performance and organisational success.

So, how can you be confident that your project is managed effectively? There are lots of frameworks out there and the decision is not always an easy task.

Have you ever heard of the analogy oranges and onions?

If not, I’ll explain… Read more…..

Mind the Gap Ladies!

Did you know that approximately less than 24% of women hold a senior role across the world in 2018?

I’m sure this isn’t news to you… since The Equal Pay Act 1970, we all know it’s illegal to pay women less than men for equal work; “an act to prevent discrimination, as regards terms and conditions of employment, between men and women”.

Clearly, the question isn’t about women being paid less than men. Instead, the question we ask is how many men hold higher paid positions in comparison to women? Read more…..

While growth is exciting for UK businesses, there’s no question that the world in which we operate is becoming more chaotic and challenging.

Let’s face it, we are all being challenged to face change management in all aspects of the businesses. What many organisations fail to understand is how the power of growth is impacting their leadership styles.

The question you need to ask yourself is how is your leadership style affected by growth? And, are you a HERO or a VILLAIN, in this case?

All heroes have different powers, and all leaders have different leadership styles. But it’s for you to understand if the style you have adopted makes you a hero or a villain? Read more…..