Business education is a key aspect for any aspiring entrepreneur. Those who want to start their own business will have to learn a lot of new information. Understanding how to launch and promote a product is crucial, but it is equally important to be able to work with a team and always be its leader. After all, you cannot solve business problems alone. We will look at if it is possible to learn leadership, and if so, how to do it.
The three main qualities of a leader
You are not born with leadership. Most people that we call “natural leaders” have come a long way to become leaders. Here are the main qualities you need to develop in yourself to become a good leader:
- Self-control. It is important for a leader to remain calm in any situation, because the team always adopts his attitude. If the leader is confused or looks like he doesn’t know what to do next, the team will also panic. As a result, the chances of the project’s success will drop significantly.
- Confidence in your strength. The ability to make decisions and the willingness to take responsibility for them are essential qualities for a leader. Anyone who constantly doubts their actions will not be able to coordinate, unite, and direct their team.
- Charisma. The ability to win people over or to charm them at first sight is a necessary quality for a leader to build long-term relationships with business partners, as well gain the respect of a team.
The list of useful qualities for a leader is endless. However, these three qualities are essential. Without them it is almost impossible to effectively lead a team.
How you can develop the three main qualities of a leader and how Lectera courses can help you
More often than not, leaders acquire these qualities through making very expensive mistakes. It is much safer to learn them yourself with the help of exercises and special techniques.
For example, the most common cause of self-doubt is childhood trauma. The result of psychological trauma can be instantaneous and short-term, but it will eventually become a part of the subconscious and distort your whole life in the future (and you won’t even notice it!).
In order to build self-confidence you need to work through childhood traumas that you may not even be aware of. Ideally, you should meet with a psychotherapist to do this.
If you want to fix your psychological problems and scars on your own there are educational courses that can help. For example, there are Lectera courses. The course “How to Believe in Yourself and Become a Charismatic Leader” examines in detail how childhood traumas arise and how they affect our lives. Having this knowledge is the key to overcoming uncertainty and achieving more.
How a leader can build rapport with a team and why it is so important to do so
The ability to build relationships with people is the most essential skill for a leader. In order to find a common language with a team and with business partners, a leader needs:
- The ability to build relationships with a group of people from the start. A relationship with a group of people is not the same as a relationship with one person. It is important to remember this when working with a team: regulate relations in it, resolve conflicts right away, take into account the strengths of each team member when building work processes.
- High emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is our ability to work with, recognize, and manage emotions. People with high emotional intelligence understand their emotions well. This helps them maintain a positive attitude and better understand the feelings of others.
- Public speaking. Every leader will have to speak in public one day. A good performance will not only help improve your relationship with your team, but will also open up new business prospects for you. Apple managed to attract funding for its projects not only thanks to innovative technologies, but also thanks to the outstanding public speaking skills of Steve Jobs. He managed to present his company in such a way that people believed in his ideas.
- The ability to influence and convince. This skill is indispensable for both teamwork and negotiation. It is much easier to compromise and negotiate favorable terms when you have the skill of persuasion (it also includes the skill of non-verbal communication, which is useful in your personal life).
How to improve your communication skills with Lectera courses
Charisma is a skill, not an innate character trait. You can develop it by working on your communication skills. You will automatically become a more charismatic person if you know how to win the sympathy of others.
In the business world, having charisma primarily means that you are able to influence other people. Influence has many dimensions. An example of an influential person could be a teacher who commands the discipline of his students during a lesson, or an employee with whom colleagues consult on all issues, and even a parent who can easily organize children on the playground. A person can be authoritative in one area, and at the same time rely entirely on the opinion and experience of others.
It is important for a leader to become an influential person primarily in two areas: gain influence in a team and learn how to make the perfect impression on business partners. The former will allow him to easily manage the team, and thereby increase its efficiency, and the latter will open up new ways to develop business and quickly close deals. It is very important to gain credibility with your team and among business partners:
- Be able to control your body, facial expressions, and voice
- Find an individual approach to other people and be able to identify “points of contact”, unobtrusively and appropriately
- Know the basics of business etiquette
All of this can be learned in the Lectera course “Incredible Speaker: Complete Manual for Audience Impact”. It discusses in detail the methods and techniques of influence that are appropriate in business communication and will help a novice entrepreneur quickly acquire business contacts.
It isn’t necessary to get a business education at an elite university in order to become a leader. You only need to follow a few points to do this: be a professional in your field, develop strong will power, improve your ability to communicate with people, and respect your team in the same way that you want them to respect you.