With 50% of employees quitting their jobs to get away from their manager, leadership skills have become more important than ever. In this article we list 5 important competencies you can measure today to ensure you choose the right leaders in the workplace.

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Why Do We Need to Identify Leadership Potential?

Finding effective leaders is essential to creating the following successful outcomes:

• Motivating and directing employees
• Facilitating innovation and change
• Creating positive workplaces
• Building team confidence and morale

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THE 5 WINNING TRAITS OF POTENTIAL LEADERS

#1: Problem Solving Skills

A human’s ability to solve problems takes 2 approaches: being analytical and being creative. Because teams and organizations are faced with problems, it’s no wonder that a problem solver possesses a good leadership advantage.

Expected behaviors of a problem solver:

• Thinking ahead to anticipate problems and issues
• Being creative when solving problems
• Seeking out opportunities for change and improvement
• Generating innovative ideas

#2: Learning-focused

Leaders contribute to better results when they take learning and improvement as an integral part of team culture. Treating work as a continuous learning boost people’s intrinsic motivation for them to strive harder and become better at what they do.

Behavioral tendencies of learning-focused people:

• Seeking out opportunities to gain new knowledge
• Spending time researching new developments
• Being open about their weaknesses and seek to improve these
• Believing that they can develop their talents

#3: People Smart

Social intelligence is an important people skill which enables leaders foster better relationships. No matter what industry leaders belong to, their ability to deal successfully with people remains a key to their long-term success. Being people smart is, perhaps, the most useful trait for leaders dealing with followers.

Socially intelligent people are:

• Adept at reading social cues when interacting with people
• Skilled at understanding other people’s emotions
• Have effective listening skills
• Enjoy interacting with other people

#4: Drive to Succeed

A leader’s drive for success inspires the team to work harder and smarter, creating results that contribute to organizational success. A leader having the right competitive spirit opens up a more exciting way of achieving success.

Ideal behaviors seen with inner drive:

• Working hard to achieve success in the workplace
• Thriving on working at a fast pace
• Striving to outperform others
• Demonstrating ambition and motivation to advance

#5: Desire to Lead

The capability to lead is key, but the desire to do it is an important piece of the puzzle as well. Organizations must also weigh in a person’s desire to lead others because it interplays with the first 4 qualities listed here. Good leadership, after all, starts at the right mindset.

Typical behaviors of people with desire to lead:

• Seeking out opportunities to lead others
• Feeling confident in positions of authority
• Easily persuade others to see things from their point of view
• Be effective at negotiating

In Conclusion

Measure the 5 Critical Competencies of Potential Leaders:

• Lateral Thinking is a measure of an individual’s tendency to think ahead and to generate novel strategies and ideas.
• Learning Focus is a measure of an individual’s motivation to learn new knowledge and skills and to continually develop themselves.
• Social Intelligence is a measure of an individual’s tendency to dedicate time and effort into understanding other people’s thoughts and perspectives.
• Inner Drive is a measure of an individual’s motivation to work hard and strive to achieve success.
• Desire to Lead is a measure of an individual’s motivation to take responsibility for a team.

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