Top 3 Counselling skills Every Leader Should Have
In many cases, you come across a situation where you can easily make out that the opposite person is in great distress and need your help, may it be by words only. For any field, people who are associated with it need to have a feeling that the company, person, or organization cares for them. It is the duty of a leader whoever oversees the concerned organization to make people feel the same. The role of a leader is important in different organizations. For the leaders, some of the skills are primary requirements. Coaching skills for leaders include many skills among which one and foremost important is making the followers feel that they have their leader with them.
The importance of coaching skills No doubt, coaching skills for leaders can help them get to win more followers and desired respect and dedication for specific tasks. To be a good leader, one needs to possess various skills that can help him stand out from the followers and set an example to them. For various fields, one needs to have a different type of person who can demonstrate the right skills at the right moment. A leader must be a patient listener, good analyst, good thinker, a person with a positive attitude, empathetic, and a good coordinator who can assess the tasks and activities being done to achieve the same. He needs to be a person with different plans for different situations and one who is ready to take responsibilities and initiatives. Among these skills, one needs to check the coaching skills also as the leader needs to be capable of setting an example. However, among all the skills that are required to make one a leader, here are discussed a few, which are a must.
1. Be a good listener From the viewpoint of leadership, one must have skills to listen carefully and patiently, whether they are grudges, problems, or even relevant topics. One who speaks maybe a subordinate or a follower, but for the leader, it is necessary to listen to him. Here listen does not mean only to say yes or repeat the words, but he must demonstrate his concerns also while listening that can make the opposite person know that the concerned person listens to him carefully and tries to understand as well as help the problem or whatever he says. Among the top coaching skills for leaders, this one is a must. Patient listening can help a leader in many ways. Many times the person may have the feeling of being ignored, and at that moment, if he is listened by the leader, he can know that his views were wrong, and he is an important person of the team. It also helps one to get motivated and present new ideas that may be in the interest of the team or concerned situation. Patient listening can also open the door for healthy discussions, which may be much important in some situations. Especially in the case where democratic decisions must be taken, this skill can prove much helpful to a leader and makes him a good leader from just a common leader.
2. Be Empathetic For the followers, it is necessary to message what they feel in the group to the leader. The leader must be empathetic and know the actual situation. If one becomes aggressive, the situation may get spoiled. It does not matter whether the leader shows any concern to the situation or takes any action; the empathy to the concerned person may also pacify him. Hence in case of some tricky situation where a leader can also do almost nothing, he can maintain the team and keep the group united against the concerned situation. As a coaching skill, this is one of the most required coaching skills for leaders. To be empathetic means, one needs to listen to the opposite person carefully and show his interest in discussion with the help of different words and gestures. At this stage, the leader needs to display that he is ready to listen and listens carefully to what the speaker says. He also displays that he is concerned for whatever things are said and prepared to act on the same as per the best possible solution. This can help one to bring forth the issues in the group and offer the necessary information to the leader also. From the viewpoint of counselling also, one needs to have a concern with the followers or the people who have come up with the issues. If one can listen carefully, the person feels it easy to overcome the hesitation of opening and present the problem properly. Hence if one wants to solve an issue in a short time, this skill is much necessary to possess.
3. Good Analytical skills Among the required coaching skills for leaders, this is another skill that one must develop. One needs to have a proper understanding of the mindset of people, especially followers so that he can drive them in the right direction towards the achievement of the goal. One needs to take hold of the situation, analyse the same taking various situations in mind, and offer the most viable and feasible solution that can help to overcome trouble. In analytical skills, one needs to have a fair idea of pros and cons as well as other probabilities of a situation to have the most optimum solution.
One needs to know the side effects of actions in advance. The leader is one who can carry out the activity in a way that can prove beneficial to everyone, including the subordinates and followers, and at the same time, it must not be harmful to any party. The leader must be aware of a situation that probably the opponents or followers cannot think also. A good leader must also be a good coordinator who can assess the situation and message the concerned person to take action, which can prove helpful to the group as a whole. He must be assertive and cool-headed who can change the things as per the demand of the situation without bearing any impact on the ultimate task that needs to be achieved. A leader must also be a good orator and demonstrate his acts though his body language as well as words and behaviour. There are many more skills that a leader needs to have. However, these are some of the primary and most essential skills that are expected from a leader by his group as well as followers, and if one does not have these skills, he needs to develop them.