The Executive’s Guide to Accelerating and Sustaining Leadership Skills: Leadership is by no means a one-and-done set of skills. But because an executive’s schedule is always jam-packed, improving these competencies mid-leadership tends to be a challenge.
Want to know how our top executives accelerate and sustain their leadership skills? Check out Arden Coaching’s guide below.
Leadership Skills Tip #1: Seek New Sources of Feedback
In the workplace, feedback shapes the outcomes of long- and short-term projects. At the executive level, in the context of evaluating personal leadership skills, executives often need to go about how they seek feedback a little differently. This can be done in numerous ways. Ask for feedback from a colleague spontaneously, request a peer you don’t interact with as much for their opinion of your last presentation, or seek feedback from someone that you tend to disagree with.
Without knowing where you stand, it’s difficult to know what you need to do better. Off-the-cuff feedback can be immensely helpful for gauging your current performance so you can improve in these areas.
Leadership Skills Tip #2: Diversify Your Job Goals
As an executive or upper-level manager, it can be easy to forget about your personal goals and focus solely on the numbers. Executives who actively pursue leadership development distribute their energy between their business initiatives (making sure they sell x amount of dollars this quarter) and personal goals for their leadership skills (improving emotional intelligence for greater team effectiveness).
You’ll be surprised how much easier attaining your professional objectives becomes when you make way for your personal leadership goals to unfold.
Leadership Skills Tip #3: Never Stop Learning
Out of sight, out of mind. The less you see the topic of leadership around you, the less likely you are to pursue 
improvements in your own practice. One of the top ways to advance these skills is to expand your knowledge on the subject. Read, go to seminars, and subscribe for newsletters from your favorite CEOs and leadership gurus.
The more exposure you have to new tricks and tactics in leadership (even if it’s only for a few minutes a day from your inbox), the better your skills will become.
Leadership Skills Tip #4: Get an Outsider’s Perspective
In the executive role, stress comes with the territory. When things aren’t going as planned or changing circumstances cause problems, even executives seek help. Many rely on a mentor or a coach to push them to think creatively rather than getting stuck. This person may not always be a boss; it could be someone who’s removed from the situation, a retired colleague, or someone from an entirely different company.
By getting to see a new point of view for your challenges, executives are more open to opportunities they may not have previously known were there. Getting these insights from someone who’s not involved is often more illuminating than hearing them from those with whom you typically interact.
If it’s been awhile since you took stock of your leadership efforts, be sure to try the tips above. As a personal improvement that impacts the work around you, keeping your leadership skills on track is essential.
If you’re considering a partnership to provide perspective alongside your daily challenges, check out Arden Coaching’s free eBook How Does an Executive Coaching Engagement Work? to find out
the details behind Arden’s coaching process that promotes leadership skill development and long-term change for executives.
