58 Examples of Team Leadership Skills

John Spacey, updated on August 15, 2023

Team leadership is the practice of directing and representing a team. This implies the use of influence over the authority. As such, effective team leadership relies on talents in areas such as communication and social skills. Ideally, a team leader also captures the respect of a team with domain knowledge and skill. For example, it is difficult to lead a team of software developers if you know nothing about coding. The following are common team leadership skills.

Advocating	Bias for action
Building comradery	Building trust
Clearing issues	Coaching
Collaborating	Constructive criticism
Creativity	Cultivating talent
Cultural capital	Decision making
Delegation	Difficult conversations
Domain knowledge	Domain talent
Driving productivity	Emotional intelligence
Feedback	Goal setting
Improvising	Influencing
Leading by example	Listening
Managing constraints	Managing up
Mentoring	Message framing
Monitoring work	Motivating
Negotiation	Networking
Organization	Personal resilience
Planning	Politeness
Presentations	Problem solving
Public speaking	Recovering from failure
Relational capital	Reporting progress
Risk management	Self-direction
Setting expectations	Setting priorities
Shaping team culture	Social intelligence
Stakeholder management	Strategy
Team building	Team communications
Team structure	Time management
Training	Verbal communication
Visual communication	Win-win thinking

Notes

Team leadership is about influence and direction whereas team management is about authority and control. In theory, a team leader requires no formal authority.

Next: Management Skills

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