Core Competencies for Leaders

The Most Sought After Skills for Senior Management

A globalized economy, flat hierarchies and extensive online communication – the job market has changed dramatically in the past few years. With these changes, the demands on employees have also increased. Technical knowledge alone is no longer enough in today’s business world – international studies show that professional success is at least 50 percent dependent on soft-skills, like teamwork.

What soft skills will help you succeed?

So what skills do you offer that make help you take your career a step further? Here, we’re sharing the most sought after skills for senior management, and showing you how to best invest in your career!

Spending a lifetime working in the same position? Today, that’s practically unimaginable. Constantly changing processes demand that tasks are also adjusted – so it’s imperative that employees react with flexibility and open mindedness.

A jobseeker who wants to improve his career opportunities must stay aware of the direction in which the labor market is developing. A study commissioned by the Boyden Global Executive Search discovered that soft-skills are increasingly more necessary for leadership positions.

The surveyed subjects valued soft skills in leaders like Openness and Sensibility (87%), Adaptability (82%), as well as international business experience (56%).

In another poll, 70 CEOs confirmed that they consider soft skills as “important” or “very important” when considering their candidates. So ask yourself two questions: What does the labor market of tomorrow look like?

What kind of additional skills will benefit me in my career? Before you set out to learn a random set of soft skills, try to specify exactly what kind of industry you’re looking to work in, as well as your position in the labor market.

Flexibility, Mobility, and Speaking Skills

Through consistent globalization, it’s practically considered commonplace now that managers will be temporarily relocated abroad. Mobility is a basic requirement for management positions, to help companies adjust and react to changes in location.

Mobility is, of course, not a skill that one can learn in a seminar – rather, it’s about your natural ability to respond flexibly to changes. To take on a (temporary) leadership role in a foreign country, you need specific language skills.

Depending on the industry, English – or at least business English – is usually a requirement. Today, language skills are of paramount importance if you plan on climbing your career ladder. While certifications differ from service to service, language courses are often comparable on a global scale. For the TOEFL-test, as well as the Cambridge Certificate of English, the Council of Europe has developed a Europe-wide standard.

Communication Skills

Senior professionals have to explain, present, and debate very frequently in the work place – regardless of whether they’re communicating their expectations to their team, convincing their superiors of a new company strategy, or presenting the results of the last project.

For this reason, courses in rhetoric and reasoning, debate or presentation skills could be incredibly useful to you in a professional sense. Learn how to effectively communicate – and interpret – important directives, and how to carefully choose your words to convey the right message.

How can you best build a convincing argument? What kind of body language should you use to demonstrate your confidence and competence? As a senior professional, rhetorical skills are essential – if you’re not convincing, no one will ever be convinced by you.

Social Competencies and Team Building

The time of the lone wolf is long gone – in almost every company, teamwork is a necessary part of the daily agenda. In fact, a team that works well together is invaluable – it can also function as a think tank. This goes doubly so for managers, as team orientation is a key qualification.

This is more than efficiently managing and structuring a team of employees, but it’s also about creating a team spirit. Meanwhile, in almost every major city, seminars and training courses are available on the subject of team building. Prove that you can do more than just effectively lead a team, that you can also work as a real team player.

So now you see, there’s an entire spectrum of extra skills that can help you to improve as a leader. Are you prepared for the next step in your career? What are you waiting for then?



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