It’s no secret that effective leadership is the cornerstone of many successful businesses. When it comes to leaders who truly stand out and make a difference, however, organizational leadership skills are key. Compared to “traditional” definitions of leadership, organizational leadership is focused on not just motivating and guiding teams but also setting and pursuing strategic goals for the good of the company as a whole.
With solid organizational leadership in place, businesses can foster a strong corporate culture while improving performance and boosting employee engagement — and with the right leadership skills, you could even be the next great organizational leader.
Elements of Effective Organizational Leadership
Effective organizational leadership calls for several foundational elements that enable and empower leaders to guide their teams successfully. These pillars of organizational leadership range from vision and strategic planning to communication, accountability, integrity, and adaptability. Together, these factors can support effective leadership within any organization, regardless of size or scope.
Vision and Strategic Planning
One of the most essential pillars of effective organizational leadership is the ability to set a forward-looking vision and make decisions that align with a company’s long-term goals and vision while enabling cohesive and focused team efforts in the process. In other words, organizational leaders are able to look past short-term goals and outcomes to do what’s in the company’s best interest years down the road. As you might imagine, this level of strategic planning and vision requires a thorough understanding of the company’s mission, values, and objectives.
An article on strategic planning from the Forbes Coaches Council addresses the question of why certain business strategies struggle to succeed: “Some would say it’s because of leadership; others might say it’s because of strategy,” executive coach and strategy consultant Ciara Ungar writes. “Perhaps the real issue is that we consider the two to be binary in our strategic planning process.” Instead, the role of soft skills should be considered integral to executing a strategy, as these can help leaders communicate their visions effectively.
Communication and Influence
Just as in traditional management, there is no overstating the importance of communication and strong influence in an effective organizational leader. Organizational leaders must have solid verbal and written communication skills in order to build trust within teams and throughout organizations. Likewise, communication skills ensure clarity in relaying messages, which helps keep team members on the same page.
Accountability and Integrity
Another essential component of effective organizational leadership in any company is a sense of accountability and integrity among leadership and management. In fact, these two elements go hand-in-hand and are foundational for building trust within an organization. Team members are unlikely to be motivated by a leader if they don’t trust their leaders to be honest, act with integrity, and hold themselves accountable for their own actions.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a gap between expectations and reality. According to a comprehensive Workplace Accountability Study of more than 40,000 employees, about 85% expressed uncertainty surrounding the goals of their current organization and a resulting inability to align their actions accordingly. Nearly as many respondents affirmed that leaders are key to driving accountability at work, yet only a fraction of leaders effectively clearly define or communicate their results or organizational impact.
Adaptability and Innovation
In addition to the above qualities, the best organizational leaders know how to adapt and innovate in any imaginable scenario. All too often, leaders face problems that require them to exercise their creative problem-solving skills to make critical decisions with little time to waste. By having a strong sense of adaptability, innovation, and flexibility, leaders can handle obstacles as they arise while fostering a culture where new ideas are not only welcomed but also encouraged and valued.
Benefits of Strong Organizational Leadership
When businesses have strong organizational leaders in place, the entire company can benefit in numerous ways that range from increased employee engagement to enhanced corporate culture and organizational performance.
Increased Employee Engagement
Strong organizational leaders succeed in creating work environments where team members feel that their ideas are valued, their contributions matter, and their work is important. In this sense, effective organizational leadership can increase employee engagement because when employees feel that they are valued, they tend to be more motivated to do their jobs and contribute to organizational goals. This increased engagement, in turn, can benefit the company while creating a positive work environment that has become so crucial to workers.
Fostering Strong Corporate Culture
One area that many businesses struggle with is establishing and maintaining a strong sense of corporate culture that sets them apart from others. Organizational leaders can play a pivotal part in shaping and maintaining a positive corporate culture by motivating and leading team members, demonstrating that their ideas are valued, and maintaining open lines of communication between workers and management. All of this can contribute to a positive corporate culture that aligns the entire workforce and promotes a true sense of belonging among workers.
Enhanced Organizational Performance
Last but certainly not least, strong organizational leadership can also have a positive impact on overall company performance. When organizational leaders can effectively lead teams toward achieving strategic goals for the long-term benefit of the company, the business inherently benefits from improved productivity, increased efficiency, and successful achievement of organizational objectives. These are all outcomes that may not be achieved with “traditional” leadership skills alone, as traditional management professionals are often less focused on achieving long-term strategic goals and more on the day-to-day operations of the company. A successful organizational leader, on the other hand, can look at both everyday operations and the big picture.
Essential Skills for Effective Organizational Leadership
Looking to enhance your own organizational leadership skills? Consider the various essential skills and characteristics that you’ll want to build upon. You may already possess some of these, especially if you’ve thrived in a leadership or management role in the past. However, remember that the most successful organizational leaders exercise these skills and more while also thinking about the long-term strategic goals and objectives of the company. In other words, a great organizational leader is never truly done learning or improving upon these skills and competencies.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence — or the ability to process, manage, and express emotions in a healthy way — is a critical skill for any effective leader to have. In a leadership position, emotional intelligence can help you be more self-aware of how you’re feeling and then regulate your emotions in a way that helps you avoid impulsive actions and stay on track.
Similarly, emotional intelligence is essential among organizational leaders because it provides the skills necessary to recognize and respond to others’ emotions (such as those of your team members). Exhibiting emotional intelligence as an organizational leader, you may be better prepared to handle conflicts in the workplace, motivate your teams, and improve your working relationships with team members.
How can you build upon your own emotional intelligence as a leader? Make an effort to be more mindful in your everyday life, taking the time to catalog your feelings as a means of developing self-awareness. You can also practice active listening, which can help you better tune into the feelings of others.
Decision-Making and Problem-Solving
Additionally, organizational leadership roles require leaders who have strong decision-making, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. With sound decision-making and problem-solving abilities, leaders may be better able to navigate challenges and make decisions that best align with organizational goals. In many leadership positions, time is also a factor when it comes to making decisions that could significantly affect the business, so these organizational leaders must work and think calmly under pressure as they weigh their options and ultimately make the decision that’s best for the company.
Leaders can build upon their decision-making and problem-solving skills by exploring different brainstorming methods, which can help you think critically about issues from different angles. Finding ways to evaluate options and assess risk while relying upon established problem-solving methods can sharpen your decision-making skills as a leader as well.
Strategic Thinking
At the end of the day, what sets organizational leaders apart from traditional management and leadership is the simple fact that organizational leaders can motivate and lead teams to work toward long-term strategic goals that align with the company’s needs, mission, and objectives. In this sense, great organizational leaders should have solid strategic thinking skills that enable them to plan effectively and, in some cases, anticipate (and plan for) future challenges that may arise.
Collaboration and Team Building
The most inspiring organizational leaders are also those who can build successful teams through collaboration, trust-building, and the promotion of a cohesive, supportive work environment and culture that values diverse input and cooperation. When organizational leaders bring teams together and get them working productively, efficiently, and in harmony, the entire company can benefit from improved performance and the achievement of strategic goals.
Leaders can improve upon their team-building skills in a number of ways, starting with a focus on both verbal and written communication. From there, learning about different methods of conflict resolution (and how/when to use them) can go a long way toward building stronger teams and empowering them to work together.
Ready to Develop Your Organizational Leadership Skills?
Serving as an organizational leader takes a great deal of skill and knowledge, along with the ability to think strategically with long-term goals in mind. If you’re interested in taking the next step toward becoming a great organizational leader, then you may wish to pursue an organizational leadership degree from Johnson & Wales University.
Specifically, our Master of Business Administration (MBA) program with a concentration in organizational leadership can help you build the foundational business competencies and strategic thinking skills needed to make a difference in your industry. Plus, this program is offered with a career-focused online curriculum, so you can complete your degree in as little as two years without putting the rest of your life on hold. Get in touch to learn more or get started with your online application for admission today!
For more information about completing your degree online, complete the Request Info form, call 855-JWU-1881, or email [email protected].