How to develop strong leadership skills + six examples

There’s never been a more critical time to nurture the leaders in your organization. 

Our latest Workforce Trends Report found that layoffs at the top are leaving managers to fill leadership gaps. In fact, the number of direct reports per upper-level manager increased by a massive 81% compared to the previous year, putting added strain on leaders.*

Meanwhile, with 10,000 people reaching retirement age daily in the US until 2030, Millennial and Gen Z professionals will soon dominate the workforce.** This shift compels HR teams to focus on equipping new and existing senior roles with experienced candidates who can guide and mentor younger employees.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. By identifying and developing the competencies that turn high-potential employees into effective leaders, you’ll stay ahead of work trends and help your company thrive.

With that in mind, we’re sharing six essential leadership skills examples that your People team should look for when hiring or promoting team members.

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* Leapsome Workforce Trends Report, 2024

** SHRM, 2017

What are leadership skills?

Leadership skills are abilities and behaviors that help someone guide others toward accomplishing a shared goal. In practice, these skills usually sit at the intersection of judgment and people management. A leader sets directions, handles decisions, and gives feedback to others, and — if things go well — earns their trust.

A traditional career growth path includes building strong leadership skills, but defining them is easier said than done. Most organizations already know they want leaders who communicate clearly and make good decisions. The challenging part is helping people translate those abilities into consistent behavior.

When HR leaves leadership expectations open to interpretation, management quality becomes too dependent on each individual’s choices. One team gets clear expectations and timely feedback, while another gets vague directions and corrections at the last minute. Both managers may sit under the same leadership framework, but the employee experiences differ. And according to Gallup, managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, so a clear, efficient manager is much more likely to have deeply engaged direct reports.

That’s why HR needs to help leaders assess, develop, and reinforce their skills.

How leadership skills impact every rung on the ladder

Leadership skills determine whether a business strategy becomes a successful practice. A company can set strong goals and OKRs at the top, but great leaders use those goals to guide day-to-day decisions that make every employee feel like they’re contributing without burning out. 

Everyone can — and should — build leadership skills, no matter their role. But those skills affect different parts of the employee experience depending on how much responsibility is on their shoulders: 

• Employees: Leadership skills create a more visible path to growth. Employees can build strong communication, sound judgment, and emotional intelligence (EQ) through regular interactions, which builds trust that they’ll be a capable, successful leader.
  
  
• Managers: Communicating with direct reports and helping them develop their skills is part of everyday work. The best managers don’t wait for formal review cycles to course-correct when quality drifts. They have a continuous coaching mindset and notice when someone needs more context, when a decision is slowing the team down, or when an employee is ready for more responsibility.
  
  
• HR leaders and executives: Leadership at this level is about operations and business strategy, not just development. Execs and other higher-ups must collaborate to determine what’s most important for the company, then have to clearly communicate information about these goals and strategies to managers, who turn those directions into actionable steps for their teams.

6 top leadership skills + how to improve them in the workplace

Making a difference as an impactful leader takes a special combination of skills and abilities. It’s not just about a person’s qualifications and years of experience; they need the right blend of soft and hard skills to cultivate a healthy and productive workplace culture.

While these skills are desirable across the board, consistently embodying them is non-negotiable for an organizational leader. After all, senior team members set the tone for your entire organization, so it’s logical that they must demonstrate a higher degree of competency across the board.

Here’s a breakdown of the six most crucial leadership skills — with tips and examples for each.

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1. Communication

Effective communication yields better business outcomes — it’s as simple as that. Recent studies suggest it can boost productivity by up to 72%. So, leaders need top-tier communication skills (e.g., active listening, speaking, written communication) so team members feel heard and know how to work more effectively and grow. 

The specifics can vary by seniority. A manager might excel at adapting communication styles to different team members, while an executive might confidently address board members, partners, and the public; they’d also need to be capable of conveying the organization’s vision, strategy, and value internally and externally.

This gives you an idea of how, even if someone is already a strong communicator, there’s always room to refine these skills as they move into higher-level roles. 

The need for strong communication skills is amplified in remote or hybrid teams, where clarity and consistency become even more vital. Research shows that remote employees who feel included in company communications are nearly five times more likely to report higher productivity.

“Clarity is inclusion. Define exactly how and when to communicate…what’s urgent, what’s async, and what’s collaborative.” 

— Priscila Bala, CEO at LifeLabs Learning

Example of communication skills in leadership

As mentioned above, a good leader should be able to convey their perspectives, clearly explain tasks, and negotiate effectively using a combination of active listening, public speaking, written communication, and verbal communication. However, it’s equally important to acknowledge individual leadership styles — which are less easy to measure but crucial to establishing connections with clients, colleagues, direct reports, and other business leaders. 

Some of the world’s most successful business and thought leaders take a less-than-traditional communication approach, embracing authenticity over formality. 

For example, Michelle Obama’s communication style is centered around engaging with people on a human level, blending warmth, humor, and composure in her speeches and interviews — proving there’s no “one way” to communicate well.

As a leader, tailor your communication approach to your audience while maintaining authenticity.

2. Innovation

As managers are called upon to do more with less, effective leadership development goes beyond relying on tried-and-tested practices. Leaders must foster innovation by encouraging new ideas, initiatives, and approaches.

There are many ways for employees to showcase innovation at different levels. In a managerial role, this could be as simple as developing ideas to improve internal processes or advocating for an HR automation tool that could save time and money.

However, an executive might focus on the big picture and the organization’s overarching innovation strategy. They might steer the company toward a new product line or a remote or hybrid model, for example, making calculated risks for long-term gains.

At Leapsome, we call this “challenging the status quo,” and it is one of our core values. As our co-founder and co-CEO Jenny Podewils put it: “We don’t walk the beaten path just because everyone else does. Instead, we reflect, challenge, and seek out better ways.”  

Example of innovation skills in leadership

Innovation doesn’t have to be about creating the next groundbreaking product. Leaders should aim to challenge conventions with meaningful ideas.

For instance, apparel brand Patagonia launched its “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign on Black Friday 2011, urging consumers to reconsider the environmental impact of overconsumption rather than just pushing sales.

This counterintuitive move put Patagonia’s sustainability values front and center, deepened customer loyalty, and sparked conversations about mindful shopping.

Innovative leaders similarly question norms, iterate on better solutions, and inspire team creativity — even if it goes against conventions.

3. Strategic thinking

At the highest level, leaders will shape organizational strategy, considering complexities like market positioning and industry trends to drive growth and long-term resilience. For executives, a forward-thinking attitude is crucial to identifying and acting on potential obstacles and opportunities in their niche, industry, and the business world as a whole.

Indeed, strategic thinking is often considered one of the most valuable leadership skills, with a 2023 survey reporting that 70% of leaders agree on its importance. In addition, a natural affinity for strategy is rare, and only 30% of participants responded that they’d received training in that area. 

As such, this is a skill to actively look for and cultivate in your teams. For example, team leads should integrate strategic thinking into their recruitment and hiring process and ensure their reports understand and feel comfortable working toward overarching strategic goals. Goal-setting tools like Leapsome Goals can help with this as they enable team members across all levels of an organization to set, track, and report on their objectives. Users can even use the feature to set up cascading goals, which enables leaders to break down high-level objectives into smaller targets to ensure everyone is working toward the same results and sees how they’re contributing to the big picture.

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Example of strategic thinking skills in leadership

Strategic leadership looks different in every business. 

Netflix’s pivot from a DVD rental service to a streaming platform is one of the most successful examples of strategic thinking in business. CEO Reed Hastings recognized an emerging consumer need and transformed the company before others caught on, turning Netflix into a leader in on-demand content.

4. Decision-making

“Managers need to constantly adapt while staying human, intentional, and connected to their teams.” 

— Anja Schauer, Global Head of Customer Success at Leapsome

According to Gartner’s 2020 report, “The Future of Data Analytics: Reengineering the Decision, 2025,” 65% of business decisions are more complex than they used to be. With that, decision-making is another essential skill leaders must have to evaluate problems and develop solutions that benefit their team and the entire organization.

• Emotional intelligence
• Logical reasoning
• Creativity
• Problem-solving
• Collaboration
• Analysis

In addition, some decisions are bound to be unpopular with some employees, clients, or other stakeholders. Leaders must establish trust by displaying thoughtfulness and confidence, as well as building meaningful professional relationships in the long term. Indeed, employees working toward leadership roles must be able to make tough decisions to benefit as many team members as possible, leading with conviction while remaining open to constructive feedback.

Example of decision-making skills in leadership

Every leader faces urgent situations at work, from smaller nuisances to large-scale operational setbacks. These scenarios require swift and decisive action, so having strong decision-making skills is essential to find quick solutions and minimize fallout.

Say you run an online shop and suddenly run out of branded packaging materials. Do you prioritize sending orders, even though they would be sent in unbranded packaging? Or do you wait to receive new packaging materials to maintain your usual quality standards? Who will communicate with the customer to tell them either way? And how? A good leader should be able to make a logical, effective decision that aligns with both company values and customer expectations.   

And decision-making doesn’t only apply to emergencies, either. Business leaders have to pivot strategies and adapt to new variables regularly, whether that involves entering a new market or revising the organization’s pricing strategy. An effective leader should be able to use experience, intuition, training, and decision-making protocol in all those situations to calmly decide on the best course of action.

5. Reliability

Reliability underpins trust — and trust correlates with 50% higher productivity and 40% less burnout in high-trust companies. 

Senior managers and executives must consistently demonstrate reliability, especially during turbulent times.

Donald Thompson, CEO and co-founder of The Diversity Movement, explained that reliability is a baseline expectation for C-suite professionals:

“Yes means yes, no means no, and people can count on your commitments to be followed through. As a leader, you have to show up and put in a hard day’s work just as you ask your team to do. You also have to be there to support them — to help them succeed and grow.”

Example of reliability skills in leadership

Imagine that a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at a mid-sized SaaS company is working on a comprehensive go-to-market (GTM) strategy for a new product launch. They might demonstrate their professional reliability throughout that process with:

• Clear and consistent communication — Setting a realistic timeline for presenting the GTM strategy, breaking it into milestones (e.g., competitive analysis, messaging framework, marketing channel plans), sharing the timeline with key interest-holders, and providing regular updates.

• Reliable follow-through — Ensuring every deliverable is completed on time and coordinating with the team to avoid delays. For instance, if the content team faces challenges creating product messaging, the CMO may step in to facilitate brainstorming sessions and keep the project on track.

• Contingency planning — A week before the presentation, the CMO discovers that a competitor has announced a similar product. Instead of panicking, they might incorporate competitive insights into the GTM strategy, showcasing their ability to adapt and deliver a high-quality plan despite unforeseen changes.

6. Empathy

“The best [leaders] care deeply, they know where you want to grow, challenge you when needed, and make space for honest feedback.” 

— Luck Dookchitra, former VP of People and Culture at Leapsome

It’s easy to think of leaders as purely authoritative figures — but true success often relies on emotional intelligence. 

Demonstrating empathy via active listening, self-awareness, and open-mindedness helps leaders handle tough conversations tactfully, build genuine relationships, and enhance team morale. These traits can help leaders cultivate a healthy, people-centered work environment, improving the employee experience and overall performance.

“By understanding each team member’s unique needs and creating an inclusive environment, leaders can empower their teams to innovate and adapt, achieving more with less effort,” commented Jill Katz, Founder and Chief Candor, Courage and Care Officer at Assemble HR, in our 2024 Workforce Trends Report.

Example of empathy skills for leadership

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes empathy is a catalyst for innovation. 

In a Vanity Fair interview, he said: “If I look at the most successful products we [at Microsoft] have created, it comes with that ability to meet the unmet, unarticulated needs of customers.”

By encouraging employees to genuinely listen to customers’ challenges, Nadella fosters a culture where solutions address real pain points. This empathetic approach guides product development and unifies teams around a shared purpose, strengthening alignment across the company.

Five ways for employees to level up their leadership skills

Employees don’t need to wait for a management title to start developing leadership characteristics. In fact, Forbes research shows that the strongest future leaders usually start by taking ownership of their work before someone hands them authority. 

To build a strong foundation for leadership skills, employees should practice them in low-stakes situations, like leading a project or making a recommendation instead of only flagging a problem. These five leadership improvement examples can help employees build the skills they need for bigger responsibilities down the road.

1. Ask for feedback before review season

Instead of waiting for an annual performance review to get formal feedback, ask for it after big projects or difficult meetings to find out if others see leadership potential in your actions.

To avoid polite and vague answers, don't ask “How am I doing?” Try something more concrete, like, “Was my update clear enough for the team to act on?” or “Did I bring the right people into the decision early enough?”

Asking for feedback is less about looking for praise and more about finding patterns that flag potential growth areas. If their manager’s leadership and communication skills are strong, the employee will get new information that helps them spot the gap between their intention and their actual impact. 

Make these conversations a regular occurrence in scheduled 1:1s, where employees and their managers can work together to turn weak spots and habits into development goals.

2. Build emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to read the room, understand your feelings and reactions, and respond in a way that moves the work forward in a compassionate, people-first way. It’s an important example of leadership skills you’ll need for future roles and your current position. Strong EQ will help you give feedback without coming across as defensive or argumentative and handle mistakes and learning opportunities without bringing your other tasks to a halt.

To develop more EQ, notice how you behave when pressure rises. If you rush to defend your point or deflect the conversation, it’s a cue that there’s room for improvement in self regulation and reactions. Slow down enough to analyze what’s happening before you respond: What are you feeling, and is it an accurate representation of the situation?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Future of Jobs’ 2020 report notes that EQ is one of the 10 most in-demand skills in the workplace, and their 2025 report confirms that EQ-related skills (like resilience, flexibility, and agility) are rising in importance. Considering emotional management is coming into major cultural focus, employees are looking for strong EQ in their workplace experiences. Future leaders need to strengthen their emotional resilience and self-awareness beyond technical expertise. After all, if a leader has a hard time hearing critical feedback and struggles to pick themselves up after receiving some, it’s much more difficult to motivate and empower teammates with honesty.

3. Take ownership of work beyond your task list

Your leadership skills become more visible when you take responsibility for the entire outcome, not just your assigned piece of work.

This can be as simple as documenting the next steps after a complex meeting, clarifying ownership on a shared project, or helping a teammate resolve a conflict instead of waiting for someone else to intervene. 

Taking ownership doesn’t have to mean taking over. Assuming accountability for your projects is one of the clearest ways to build your leadership credibility, as managers often notice employees who can connect their work to the wider goal.

4. Learn how to own and communicate decisions

“If it’s your decision, you should be the one who communicates it. Plain and simple.” 

— Melanie Naranjo, Chief People Officer at Ethena

Decision-making is more than just picking an option and hoping it’s the right one. Leaders also need to take responsibility for the choice and its consequences (positive and negative), and help others understand what comes next.

Making and owning your decisions builds leadership credibility because it reduces confusion for everyone else. While people might not agree with every call, they can understand why you made it.

This skill is easy to practice long before formal leadership roles are on the table. For example, if you need to change a project timeline, explain how the decision protects quality, reduces risk, or reflects a change in business priority. Then, make it clear who needs to adjust their work and how the project’s timeline is affected.

5. Regularly practice your skills

Many employees say they want to “become a better leader,” but this career development goal is too vague and unspecific to practice during the workday. 

Instead, choose one leadership behavior and connect it to your day-to-day work using SMART goal strategies. If you want to communicate better, your goal might be to send clearer project updates to the rest of your team over the next quarter. Or, if you want to improve your decision-making, you might bring three recommendations to the next quarterly stakeholder meeting and advocate for your choices.

Empower leaders with people enablement software

💬 “If you’re not already thinking about your plan for manager development in 2025, it’s time to add that to your list. Investing in managers is critical for distributed organizations to combat issues with retention, burnout, and workplace conflict.”

—  Shelby Wolpa, HR Advisor to Series A–C Startups and Scaleups

The best leaders set positive examples, engaging employees and external stakeholders with a mix of competence and authenticity. 

With the right knowledge, training, and support, you can develop leadership skills in employees and nurture talent throughout your organization.

Leapsome’s comprehensive set of HR and people enablement tools was designed to help every professional, including current and future leaders, maximize their potential.

With our platform, you can easily create insightful leadership surveys, conduct effective leadership evaluations, and identify people with management potential. In addition, our award-winning platform also supports goal setting, continuous feedback, learning paths, competency frameworks, HRIS, and more — all powered by AI.

Most importantly, these features work together as one holistic system that can be customized to suit your specific needs. They simplify your tech stack and streamline workflows so you can focus on what matters most: empowering your people.

“Leapsome is definitely solidifying the feedback culture at Modus Create. We are better-able to share resources with leaders and empower them to have conversations with their teams and build relationships with their reports. These conversations help create trust and transparency.”  — Stephanie Myrie, Human Resources Manager at Modus Create

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FAQs about leadership skills examples

What makes leadership skills different?

Many qualities, like strong communication or strategic thinking, matter for all employees. But leaders apply these skills at a broader scale, shaping policies, setting expectations, and modeling behavior that affects the entire company. They also need to earn trust, inspire confidence, and drive progress — requiring a distinct, well-rounded skill set.

How can I improve my leadership skills?

Even the most experienced leaders can (and should) expand and improve their skill sets to ensure they’re always learning, doing their best work, and keeping up with the latest research and trends. Some potential ways to do this include:

• Finding a mentor with strengths that are different from your own so you can learn from them
  
  
• Leading a group or club related to something you’re passionate about
  
  
• Participating in regular leadership training, workshops, and conferences
  
  
• Listening to podcasts or reading books by other leaders

What should I look for to hire someone with good leadership skills?

The definition of a “good leader” differs between organizations. However, there are some qualities that every resilient and effective leader should have.

We recommend looking for proficiency (or a strong will to improve) in the following areas:

• Communication — Does this person know how to manage a team and lead productive conversations with employees, other stakeholders, and the public?
  
  
• Innovation — Does the candidate have an entrepreneurial spirit and the confidence to take educated risks?
  
  
• Strategic thinking — Does the individual have a forward-thinking attitude and the ability to set ambitious but realistic goals for individuals and teams?
  
  
• Decision-making — Does the person demonstrate emotional intelligence, logical reasoning, and problem-solving skills?
  
  
• Reliability — Would employees, clients, and other business leaders trust this individual to act with fairness and integrity?
  
  
• Empathy — Does the candidate have the necessary interpersonal skills to foster a healthy company culture and handle difficult situations sensitively?  

What skills do leaders need?

Clear communication and decision-making skills top the list of good leadership qualities. Decision-making helps them choose a direction when there are trade-offs and limited information. Then, communication helps leaders articulate what needs to happen and why. Together, these skills determine whether everyone on their team can understand priorities and move work forward. 

While leaders need many other abilities to effectively guide people and build their trust (like emotional intelligence and critical thinking), communication and decision-making make or break team experiences.

What are some examples of leadership situations?

A leadership situation is any moment where someone needs to take responsibility for moving work forward or provide clear communication. That could mean motivating and inspiring the team when confidence drops, giving feedback to others, or noticing and communicating a change that affects everyone.

You don’t have to be part of management to lead in these situations. An employee can show leadership by helping their teammates make a decision or stepping in when a project starts to lose direction. The common thread that makes these situations a leadership opportunity is accountability: Someone sees what needs to be done and helps others act on it.