The prospect of becoming a leader in their field motivates many people to work hard, perfect their skills and take on new projects. But at a certain point, career leaders need more than professional skills and the willingness to work hard. Social skills are in demand. One of the most important is the ability to take on a leadership role.

There are born leaders, but everyone can learn the necessary skills with a little practice. If you want to take your professional career to the top, be prepared to put all your energies into it. These 9 strategies will help you improve your leadership skills and make your career.

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1. Be disciplined

A good leader must be disciplined. Discipline in your professional life is necessary to be a successful leader and to motivate others to be disciplined as well. Your leadership qualities will be evaluated based on your discipline.

Prove you are disciplined at work by meeting deadlines, keeping appointments, and finishing meetings on time. If you’re more of a chaotic guy, you’ll find it harder, but you can start small: start cultivating good habits at home, such as getting up early and doing sports every day. With these and other habits you can gradually acquire more and more discipline.

2. Taking on more projects

A wonderful way to develop your leadership skills is to take on more responsibility. Of course, you need to accept tasks as much as you can really handle. If you want to grow beyond yourself, do more tasks that listed in your job description. To learn new things, you need to step out of your comfort zone. By taking this step, your bosses will perceive you as someone with initiative.

3. Learn to follow

A real boss has no problem leaving the control to others if necessary. You should not feel threatened if someone disagrees with you, criticizes your opinion or brings in their own opinion. Be open and acknowledge achievements. This will not always be easy, but if you value and respect your team members, the team will be more likely to work for you.

4. Develop situational awareness

One characteristic of good leaders is the ability to see the big picture and anticipate problems before they occur. This is especially useful when you are working on complex projects with a tight deadline. Anticipating potential problems and making suggestions to prevent them from arising in the first place is priceless for a team. With the same ability, you will also be able to take advantage of opportunities that others overlook, which will definitely earn your recognition.

5. Inspire others

As a leader you are part of a team and inspire and motivate everyone you work with. If your team members need support or guidance, help them. Sometimes employees just need someone to listen to them and be friendly to them.

6. Educate yourself

The best way to become a good leader is to learn something new. This will keep you mentally fit and keep your skills up to date. You will notice the benefits when you face a new challenge, a situation that is very promising for managers.

7. Delegate to your team members

You can’t be the best at everything. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you will learn to be a good leader. Delegating tasks not only gives you more time to focus on what you do really well, it also motivates others in your team.

8. Settle conflicts

Not everyone will always have a good relationship with each other. Instead of ignoring conflicts between employees hoping they will resolve themselves, discuss the issue privately with those affected. You should also consider the possibility of reassigning team members if the conflict cannot be resolved.

9. Be an attentive listener

As a manager you are not always in the spotlight. A crucial ability of a good leader is to listen to and build on the suggestions, ideas and feedback of others. Good listeners know that communication is not just words: Non-verbal signals such as eye contact and body language are at least as important.

Excellent leadership skills are very important for a career, but as you probably already know, leadership involves much more than just taking responsibility. As the American politician John Quincy Adams said: “You are a leader when your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more”.