Skills All Leaders Need – Measure Yourself Against HBR Research

A recent Harvard Business Review report looked at what skills managers had that had the greatest impact.  They asked over 330 thousand professionals to identify which skillsets their own bosses possessed that had the greatest impact on their success in that position.  Key findings included:

1. Whilst some different skills and traits are needed at different levels, for example more senior leaders need to be more strategic, in the main managers at all levels required the same fundamental skill set.
2. The top three skills identified were ‘Inspires and motivates others’, ‘Displays high integrity and honesty’ and ‘Solves problems and analyses issues’.
3. Close place runner-up traits included ‘Drives for results’, Communicates powerfully’, ‘Collaborates and promotes teamwork’ and ‘Builds relationships’.
4. ‘Displays technical and professional expertise’ was down in 8th position.  Whilst important, many managers are promoted to leadership because they displayed excellence in their field of work but then need to go on to develop skills needed to be an effective manager.

The full findings can be found here on the HBR Blog