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Develop Your Leadership Competency

Employer quote: "Leadership should be balanced...  

,,,with a willingness to learn, to hear others' points of view and to work with them. Offering their skills and talents as a resource shows not only leadership but willingness to step up and in. "

Leadership competency:

Leverage strengths to motivate, collaborate and guide. The ability to use a positive attitude to influence and empower others to reach a shared goal through strategic thinking and effective decision-making.

Ways to develop leadership skills:

  • Take on a leadership role in a group or organization.
  • Demonstrate initiative at your job/internship by taking on additional responsibilities.
  • Motivate team members with a positive attitude and leverage their strengths when delegating work.

Reflection questions:

  1. What are your strengths?  How do you use these to motivate and lead others?
  2. How does a leader’s attitude impact the group/team?  What are some important traits of an effective leader?
  3. Do you enjoy making decisions?  Why or why not?  How do you make decisions?  From a place of feeling or logic?

Practice interview questions:

  1. How do you recognize and leverage the strengths of others to reach a goal?
  2. Describe your leadership style.  Provide an example of when you used this style to lead a group or project.
  3. Share a time when you had to make an unpopular decision with a group you were leading.