Leadership Training Programs for Employees: 15 Skills to Teach

Just as Leo Tolstoy famously opened Anna Karenina with the observation that "all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy on its way," so too can we say that all successful companies share certain characteristics, while struggling teams often suffer from a unique combination of issues.

But unlike the tragic characters in Tolstoy's novel, your organization can rewrite its story by investing in initiatives such as leadership Training for employees to develop leadership skills.

A well-thought-out leadership development training program, either through workshops, online courses, and/or mentoring programs, empowers employees to become better team members and improve their leadership qualities and competencies, ultimately improving organizational performance.

The bottom line is that leadership training programs are not just a perk but an investment in your organization's future.

Below we review key leadership skills and why these valuable skills will help leaders improve business leadership and employee performance.

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15 Key Leadership Skills to Learn for Employees

To be a better leader and team member – and boost leadership abilities, here are fifteen different leadership styles and skills professionals can learn:

1. Communication Skills

Knowledge of how to communicate effectively is vital for any employee with goals of assuming a leadership role in the future.

A management training or leadership development program for employees should specifically focus on key aspects of communication. Such programs typically cover:

• Understanding different communication styles: Leaders need to be aware of their communication style and how others might perceive it. They also need to be able to adapt their communication style to the needs of their audience for maximum effectiveness. Some forms of communication styles include passive communication, aggressive communication, passive-aggressive communication, and assertive communication.
• How to communicate clearly and concisely: Leaders need to communicate their ideas clearly and concisely, both in writing and verbally. This means avoiding jargon and using language that is easy for everyone to understand.
• Mastering Nonverbal Communication: Nonverbal communication includes body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. It can be just as important as verbal communication in conveying a message.
• 5 Cs of Effective Communication: Employees should learn how to communicate with clarity, conciseness, consideration, completeness, and courtesy.

6. Adaptability

As H.G. Wells famously put it, “Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative." For forward-looking companies, ingraining this in company culture makes a company future-ready. Through training programs, corporate leaders and employees learn to be flexible in a changing environment

In teaching adaptability, leadership training programs teach the following key elements of adaptability:

• Resilience: Resilient employees bounce back from setbacks, demonstrating perseverance and maintaining a positive outlook.
• Innovation and Creativity: Encouraging a culture of innovation fosters creative problem-solving and continuous improvement.
• Being better equipped to face challenges: The more adaptable a leader is, the better they will be able to support colleagues and direct reports in facing challenges and pivoting as necessary to address them.
• Getting out of the comfort zone. Employees learn ways to get out of their comfort zone, such as taking advantage of corporate training programs to learn new skills, constantly interviewing, and how to manage up senior leadership for better career prospects.

7. Team-Building Activities

Team building activities are an integral part of creating effective team dynamics. They assist with nurturing potential leaders, inspiring strategy, giving first-time and experienced leaders a chance to organize events across departments, and assisting in conflict management. By teaching team-building activities, employees learn:

• How to build and lead teams: Leaders create a positive team culture, fostering collaboration, communication, and mutual support.
• How to motivate team members: Leaders inspire and motivate team members, aligning individual goals with the overall vision and mission of the organization.
• Improving communication skills for business leaders and also for each individual team member.
• Strategy execution, including solving team tasks, resolving conflict, and implementing change.
• Effectively delegating tasks to direct reports or to other stakeholders to improve workflow.

Learn more about work retreat ideas here: Work Retreat Ideas to Re-Energize Your Team

8. Strategic Thinking

In the course of their work, employees will be required to be strategic. This can take the form of making strategic decisions within your own unit or department, advising current leadership, etc. Moreover, in team meetings, employees might be required to ask strategic questions, consider opposing ideas, etc.

Leadership development programs can further teach the following as part of strategic thinking:

• How to Be Strategic: Employees with strategic vision inspire others by articulating a compelling and achievable future state that aligns with company vision.
• Long-Term Planning: Strategic employees plan for the long term, considering organizational goals and potential challenges.
• Aligning Actions with Organizational Goals: Leaders ensure that team actions are aligned with the broader objectives of the organization.
• Uncover biases and understand how they impact leadership competencies and relationships.
• Proper resource allocation, including advocating for the team and individuals.

9. Coaching and Mentoring

80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence. There is overwhelming evidence that coaching and mentoring make one an effective leader. As part of developing great leaders themselves, teaching this valuable skill assist employees to:

• Develop and coach team members: Employees are taught how to invest in the growth of their team members and provide guidance and opportunities for skill development for individual team members. This assists with talent management, improvement of leadership qualities in others, improving company culture, and developing leadership skills.
• Providing constructive feedback: Constructive feedback is essential for the continuous improvement and development of team members.
• Knowledge transfer: Through coaching and mentoring, trained employees learn effective ways of knowledge transfer to junior or new employees. Ultimately this practice helps in the preservation of institutional knowledge. This can lead to preserving a customer-centric culture that is unique to your company in a competitive industry.

Learn more: What's the Difference Between Coaching and Mentoring for Businesses?

10. Interpersonal Skills

Also known as "people skills," interpersonal skills in the workplace refers to how employees relate among groups and with other key stakeholders, such as customers. Where technical skills get the job done, interpersonal skills are what make you rise up the leadership ladder.

As part of a leadership development program, employees get to learn the following key elements of leadership development and interpersonal skills:

• Building Positive Relationships (Relationship Management): Leaders build trust and rapport, creating a positive and collaborative work environment.
• Networking: Effective networking helps leaders establish connections, share knowledge, and access valuable resources.
• Building Rapport and Social Awareness: Leaders who build strong relationships connect with team members on a personal level, creating a supportive and inclusive culture.
• Effective Communication: Mastering effective communication leads to eliminating ambiguity, making people want to listen to you, understanding non-verbal communication, etc.
• Leading and Influencing Others: Possessing a high level of interpersonal skills builds trust and credibility. This makes implementing a preferred leadership style easy when an opportunity arises.

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