Which leadership skills are the most important? What are the leadership skills that you need most to progress to your next level? 

Wherever you are on your leadership journey, whether you are just leading yourself or managing thousands of people, there is always room for growth. We can all be better leaders, and there is always a competency that we can work on.

The Five Levels of Leadership

The idea of five levels of leadership (John Maxwell) or level-five leadership (Jim Collins) are not new, but how do we as leaders progress up through the levels? Based on my personal research, coupled with my experience as a leader and leadership coach, I have developed a competency framework to support leaders in their leadership development. It acts as both a self-analysis tool and a leadership development plan.

The five levels of leadership development are:

1. Personal Leadership
2. Interpersonal Leadership
3. Team Leadership
4. Senior Leadership
5. Strategic Leadership

The 5 Core Leadership Skills

As well as there being five levels of leadership, there are five foundational skills that relate to each level. As we progress on our leadership journey, we layer our experience and new talents on each of these core competencies.

The five core leadership skills are:

1. Communication skills – written, verbal and non-verbal communication, influence and facilitation
2. Management skills – managing work, performance, change, tasks and resources
3. People skills – interpersonal skills, growing teams and individuals, developing talent and culture
4. Thinking skills – decision-making and problem solving, critical and creative thinking, management of emotions
5. Awareness skills – self-awareness, situational awareness and the ability to flex our leadership style to the circumstances

Here is an explanation of each of the five levels of leadership along with the core competencies:

Level 1: Personal Leadership – Leading Self

What is personal leadership, and why is it important?

Personal leadership is foundational to every other level of leadership. It is about leading yourself well. As Stephen Covey states in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, we need private victory before public victory. 

Personal leadership is important to everyone because we all have an influence on ourselves, and we are not the leader in every context we experience. Mastering personal leadership is particularly important for those who have not managed others before.

Who is personal leadership for?

Personal leadership is for everyone, as whatever other roles we have, and at whatever stage of life, we have the responsibility for ourselves. We are the first of the people that we need to influence, both effectively and for the better. No matter how we climb, we can always be better leaders of ourselves.

Therefore, personal leadership is relevant to all but will be of particular interest to people operating primarily as individuals. This includes freelancers, self-employed workers and solopreneurs

Of course, it also applies to anyone who aspires to have greater responsibility for people and progressing up through the levels of leadership.

Which skills are most important for personal leadership?

Looking at the five core competencies, the following skills are examples of what is important at this level:

1. Communication skills – effective listening skills, writing skills, question technique
2. Management skills – prioritising and managing personal time, tasks and budget 
3. People skills – being a good team member, leading up, personal development,
4. Thinking skills – asking effective questions, emotional regulation, understanding basic decision-making processes
5. Awareness skills – understanding personality and character, basic leadership traits and styles 

Level 2: Interpersonal Leadership – Leading Others

What is inter-personal leadership and why is it important?

Interpersonal leadership is the first step in leading others. It is about positively influencing those you come into contact with, whether or not there is a formal management relationship in place. 

Who is interpersonal leadership for?

As with personal leadership, interpersonal leadership is relevant to everyone as we all interact with others (unless you are a hermit and never come into contact with anyone!)

Interpersonal leadership is particularly important for people who want to be good colleagues and effective team members. It is also vital to entrepreneurs who want to grow their ideas, as well as those thinking of leading teams.

In non-work settings, interpersonal leadership relates to anyone who is a member of a team or club, and anyone who wants to be a good friend and neighbour.

Which skills are most important for interpersonal leadership?

1. Communication skills – building rapport, contributing to meetings, having good conversations, receiving feedback
2. Management skills – effective delegation, supporting change, setting shared goals
3. People skills – understanding team roles, leading laterally, accountability
4. Thinking skills – understanding bias and heuristics, emotional intelligence
5. Awareness skills – understanding directive and non-directive leadership, followership, other personalities

Level 3: Team Leadership – Leading Small Teams

What is team leadership, and why is it important?

Team leadership is the first level of leadership where people lead multiples of people. This is important as the needs of the group as well as the individual come into play.

Who is team leadership for?

Leaders of small teams, generally with fewer than twelve people first-line reports, and most likely less than twenty in total. For example, this includes team leaders, supervisors, and 1^st line managers. Mostly, this means influencing groups of people in the lower double digits.

This level of leadership is especially relevant to newly promoted team leaders and supervisors or those starting on graduate management programmes. It also relates to young officers and NCOs (non-commissioned officers) in the military and emergency services.

In non-work contexts, it applies to parents, captains of sports teams or leaders of other small groups. 

Which skills are most important to team leaders?

1. Communication skills – persuading others, presentation skills, writing reports
2. Management skills – project management, team assessment, change management
3. People skills – team and people development, leading down, coaching skills
4. Thinking skills – adaptive problem-solving, creating processes, understanding emotional triggers
5. Awareness skills – situational awareness, understanding transactional, bureaucratic and action-centred leadership styles,

Level 4: Senior Leadership – Leading Leaders

What is senior leadership, and why is it important?

Senior leadership is about influencing large numbers of people, often in the hundreds. The other key difference to team leadership is that a senior leader is managing other leaders.

Who is senior leadership for?

Senior leaders include middle, through to executive managers, as well as some sole leaders of small organisations. It also includes senior commanders in the military and emergency services, regional politicians and others who are influencing people in the hundreds.

Which skills are most important to senior leaders?

1. Communication skills – negotiation, public speaking, conflict resolution
2. Management skills – programme management and change leadership, setting missions and planning budgets
3. People skills – 360 degree influence, mentoring, talent management, promoting positive cultures
4. Thinking skills – approaches to problem solving, assessing courses of action, lateral and creative thinking, psychological safety
5. Awareness skills – understanding larger contexts, applying situational, authentic and emotional intelligent leadership styles

Level 5: Strategic Leadership – Leading Organisations

What is strategic leadership, and why is it important?

Strategic leadership is level-five leadership, where a leader maximises their influence, often impacting thousands of people. 

Who is strategic leadership for?

Strategic leadership involves not just CEOs and C-level executives but also generals in the military and politicians. It also includes significant thought-leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, influential founders and visionaries. 

Which skills are most important to strategic leaders?

1. Communication skills – vision casting, media skills, advanced storytelling
2. Management skills – organisational management and change, acquiring resources
3. People skills – inspiring others, high-performing teams, attracting talent
4. Thinking skills – problem typology, strategic planning, innovative thinking
5. Awareness skills – spotting possibilities and opportunities, applying transformational, inquisitive and servant leadership styles

Improving Your Leadership Skills

So, using the competency framework above you can identify which level you want to start at and the skill that you most want to work on.

There are coaches to assist you and courses to teach you the skills.

Types of Coaching for Different Levels

There are lots of different types of coaches available, and there are not hard and fast rules, but the following types of coaches are likely to be the most relevant to the following levels:

1. Personal Leadership – Life Coaching
2. Interpersonal Leadership – Career Coach
3. Team Leadership – Team Coaching
4. Senior Leadership – Executive Coach
5. Strategic Leadership – Leadership Coach

If you would like to explore online training resources for each level of leadership with tools to help develop each leadership skill, click on the link below:

Leadership Development: Master the Top Leadership and Life Skills

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