While everyone wants to be an effective leader, not everyone knows how, or even what that means. However, there are five basic leadership skills that can help you develop into a great leader that everyone would enjoy working with. While leadership is a continuous learning process, we recommend these give major skills before worrying about other skills that can be developed later.

First, effective leadership skills revolve around good communication skills. I do not care what you have heard before, if you cannot communicate with others you cannot be a leader. Regardless of whether you communicate in person, over the phone, or even using e-mail you need to be able to communicate with others well in order to be successful. If you cannot get your point across easily and effectively then you will not be very good as a leader. We recommend always working on this leadership skill no matter what.

Another important aspect of effective leadership skills is the ability to realize that as a leader not everyone will like you. You are not supposed to be friends with everyone when you are the boss. Leaders must often choose between doing the right thing for a project, and keeping their friends happy. Realize that your friends will not always agree with everything you have to say. Great leaders manage to work it out anyways, but most people have a lot of trouble with mixing business and friendship. We recommend avoiding this as much as possible so you do not run into issues.

Effective leadership skills also include the ability to make decisions on your own without permission all of the time. You must be willing to get out there and make a decision and stand behind it. Even if you made the wrong decision, you still took the chance to make that decision and that says something. You have time to improve your decision making skills later. Nevertheless, effective leadership skills demand that you be willing to take a risk at times.

Additionally you should be able to inspire people to excel. If the people you work with are counting the minutes until they can leave instead of doing their best then you need to work on this skill. Your people should desire to only work harder, not watch the clock harder. Come up with ways to encourage creative thinking and dedication to their jobs.

Another effective leadership skill is the ability to develop your own emotional intelligence. If you cannot develop your own skills, then how can you possibly help your team develop theirs? It is simply impossible. Be willing to admit that you still have room to grow and your team will be more likely to work with you. One of the hardest parts about being a leader is admitting that you are not perfect and that you have room to improve as well.

Remember, these five effective leadership skills are just some of the most essential. This is not a complete list of all skills needed. There are other skills that aid in being the best leader possible as well, but we recommend mastering these first before attempting others.