The three essential leadership skills: technical, interpersonal, and conceptual

Leadership

Technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills

Interpersonal skills entail knowing how to interact with others. No employee desires to have a boss who is inconsiderate or rude or one who has poor human skills. All these could reduce productivity and employee morale. Managers with effective human skills tend to have subordinates who have positive attitudes and strong desires to increase productivity. Managers are always expected in any organization to have harmonious relationships with those below them like supervisors, peers, and subordinates (Yukl, 2012).

Conceptual skills refer to an individual's aptitude to formulate ideas. These skills include formulating abstractions, thinking creatively, understanding issues, solving problems, and analyzing complex situations. Within the business context, these skills are viewed as integral prerequisites for top executive positions. Conceptual skills differ from technical skills and interpersonal skills. The three types of skills assume vital roles for certain purposes and in certain situations. However, conceptual skills hoist the widest application as they could pertain to virtually anything.

Yukl (2012) shows that people with strong conceptual skills have superb cognitive abilities to solve problems and think creatively. In the business world, a person with these skills could come up with a business idea or an idea for a new product. The person will be able to examine complex issues and formulate specific and effective courses of action. Such people have the ability to examine how ideas are interconnected. Individuals with strong conceptual skills are typically perceived to be effective managers or leaders (Phillips, 1993). Presumably, their ability to understand the company as a whole and design creative strategies is critical in such a case. Top executive managers require technical skills, interpersonal skills, and conceptual skills.

Technical skills entail knowing about physical processes and other things. For instance, if a waste management process requires three steps, people with high technical skills will know how to implement each of the three steps. Often, people acquire technical skills from technical colleges or on-job training. Supervisors heading departments are managers with strong technical skills (Phillips, 1993). This may be achieved through learning: "Lincoln essentially treated his subordinates as equals; they were colleagues in a joint effort. . . . The best leaders never stop learning. They possess a special capacity to be taught by those with whom they come into contact" (138).

Path-goal theory and multiple-linkage theory

According to Yukl (2012), a leader may exhibit any or all of the leadership types in line with the Path-goal theory. The best leadership type depends on the detailed situation and the individual follower. Path-goal theory hypothesizes that when followers are under-experienced to handle complex tasks, the best course of action is to adopt a directive leadership. When tasks are boring, stressful, dangerous, and tedious, this theory argues that the most effective leadership style will be supportive leadership (Yukl, 2012). It is believed to increase follower satisfaction and effort by enhancing self-confidence, minimizing unpleasant aspects of work and lowering anxiety levels. It is suggested that participative leadership will increase follower efforts in the face of unstructured tasks by increasing follower autonomy and role clarity.

The Path-goal theory is similar to the multiple-linkage theory because both theories insist that the work of leaders is to increase the attractiveness of goals to the followers. However, Path-goal theory emphasizes the importance of situations in determining the appropriate course of leader action and does not entirely rely on the use of contingent rewards. Path-goal theory paves way for a long time dedication to goals and intrinsic motivation by followers (Phillips, 1993). In addition, the theory stresses that the work of leaders is to eliminate barriers that could occur en route to achieving goals while simultaneously encouraging followers to overcome these roadblocks on their own. On the other hand, the multiple-linkage has failed to address these issues.

The multiple-linkage theory builds on earlier theories of leadership and group effectiveness. This theory suggests that the overall consequence of certain leader behaviors on the performance of a group is complex and consists of four sets of variables (Yukl, 2012). These variables include criterion variables, managerial behaviors, situational variables, and intervening variables. Some of these variables tend to be highly influential in determining the effectiveness of a leader. Another set of variables moderating the impact of leaders on group performance involves situational characteristics. Two situational factors influence the efforts of followers like intrinsically work-motivated properties and formal reward systems (Phillips, 1993). In the multiple-linkage theory, intervening factors could be directly affected by situational characteristics. On the other hand, situational variables could directly affect intervening variables.

Elements of emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability for a person to recognize and manage his/her emotions, as well as other people's emotions. The following diagram is a summary of the four fundamental elements of emotional intelligence:

Figure 1: Elements of Emotional Intelligence

Self-awareness -- this refers to how aware a person is and how accurately a person can assess his/her emotions. Most people are often busy that they rarely take time to think about how they are responding to situations and how they come across. It is challenging people to see how other people are responding to them because most people tend to see what they want to see. As such, they tend to avoid uncomfortable actions of seeking feedback from others. Phillips (1993) shows that Lincoln "advised others to 'never add the weight of your character to a charge against a person without knowing it to be true'" (54).

Self-Management -- this is the ability of a person to control his/her emotions. This aspect also incorporates a person's adaptability, optimism, achievement, and transparency. A key factor here is whether an individual reacts or responds to situations.

Social Awareness -- this focuses on service and empathy level, which form social awareness. A person improves his/her awareness by fine-tuning his/her radar for the emotional environment in a group and recognizing power dynamics. This involves taking personal responsibility even in the most awkward and unwanted situations (Phillips, 1993).

Relationship Management -- this refers to developing other people by serving as an inspiring leader and change catalyst, collaborating with high performing teams and managing conflicts; all these are aspects of relationship management. A person will be higher on these characteristics if other people perceive him/her likeable and able to work well with diver groups even in the midst of conflict and stress. Therefore, for a person to achieve this, he/she requires the other three elements (Yukl, 2012).