These soft skills are the hardest to acquire.

Four skills to work on RIGHT NOW to be a better leader!

I want to keep this one as short and to the point as I can. So, let’s jump right in.

Computer programs can now write movies, paint art, design websites, plan your calendar and even write books without the traditional training we had to go through way back in the day (1990/2000s for me). So how do we stand a chance?

The key is soft skills. The skills we learn and develop through interacting with other human beings but don’t often realize we’re learning them. These skills are largely forgotten and ignored, and sometimes never even addressed.

These are the skills that artificial intelligence will have a hard time competing with as it starts to take over the planet (jk, of course, that’s actually just a movie…or is it?).

So what are some of these skills?

Public Speaking

The ability to speak clearly and intelligibly in front of others is a skill we have always needed as humans. We, humans, love autonomy and want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Public speaking skills are what can harness a crowd to move in a direction and influence behavior. As a leader, this is crucial. We have to be able to get our teams to the places we need them to go. So, improve your public speaking! Jump at the chance to speak in front of others. (I am working on a more detailed post about this).

Listening

Actually listening to your people. Actually listening to what people say is crucial in understanding what they need, and what their desires are. And most importantly, making sure they are feeling valued and part of the team. If you can get people to feel valued, they will not want to leave your team. Most people quit their bosses and the toxic work center they work in, so tackle that issue by listening to what they say because they probably have tons of insight for you.

I know this is a tough one but remember to be interested before being interesting. start by asking questions and listening to others before focusing your attention on yourself. This will help you connect better.

Critical thinking

What is critical thinking anyway?

This one is difficult to teach and comes with plenty of trial and error. These failures amplify our critical thinking and also expose us to variety. Diverse experiences are key to gaining critical thinking skills. The quicker we become in practicing our critical thinking skills the better we can be at making speedy decisions.

• Adhoc decision making.

• Adhoc: created or done for a particular purpose as necessary.

Fear of making a decision can and has been detrimental for so many people. Some of my best decisions have been those I made on a whim and in the spur of the moment. The ones in take too long on and dissect too much are the ones that are sometimes further away from the target.

Build critical thinking skills by vetting the information you receive, looking for other viewpoints (even if you disagree), and asking a lot of open-ended questions. Do this over and over again, and again.

Parting thoughts:

I have spent over three years teaching new Sergeants in the United States Air Force leadership and I have noticed that we cannot get far unless we take small steps. Sure, you can take giant leaps and get somewhere quickly but the true destination and distance are only found through small choppy steps (this is what we called them in basic military training).

Do each of these in small steps. Don’t dive right into a 30/45 minutes speech, start with a 5-minute speech. The goal is to start with small actionable moments to develop the habits to amplify these skills.

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P.S. If you are looking for another cool substack to read, check out…