C Leadership Skills for the C-Suite
The C-suite is the most powerful group of senior leaders within a business. Reaching this echelon requires a plethora of experience and finely-honed leadership skills. Executives often start off relying on functional and technical execution skills to climb the lower rungs of the company ladder, but as they progress, they cultivate directional perspectives that help them make sound upper management decisions for the business.
Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking enables you to see the big picture and make informed decisions that align with long-term goals. It also helps you anticipate challenges and opportunities, develop contingency plans and foster a culture of innovation. Strategic thinkers often use critical-thinking skills such as analyzing trends, asking strategic questions and considering opposing ideas.
During strategic planning, leaders compile external information and internal data to determine how best to achieve company objectives for a given time period. They also identify any enabling or hindering forces that are working against them.
Leaders can hone their strategic thinking skills by learning from mentors and role models, collaborating with others and attending formal training. They can also practice by seeking out new perspectives on their current challenges and developing creative solutions for addressing them.
Decision-Making Power
Leaders at all levels must be able to make effective decisions. To do so, they must classify decisions according to their significance, magnitude and whether they should be delegated or not. Peter Drucker emphasized this in his 1967 HBR article “The effective decision.” The three decisions that matter most to senior leaders are big-bet, high-risk decisions that could change the direction of the company; frequent, low-risk, cross-cutting decisions that should be delegated; and ad hoc, urgent decisions.
Communication Skills
Effective communication skills are vital at every level of business, but they become more important as professionals move into leadership roles. Leaders who can communicate their vision clearly and honestly can build trust and inspire others, which can lead to higher productivity.
They also have the ability to listen to others and consider varying perspectives when making decisions. This can help them make better decisions that will benefit the company in the long run.
As executives advance into the C-suite, they must develop a deeper understanding of the lingo and business-speak that other departments use when communicating. This helps them better explain concepts to other executives and strengthens the bond between teams. It also allows them to learn from other leaders and gain valuable knowledge that can be applied in their own companies.
People Skills
Many people have leadership skills that allow them to manage small groups and departments, but c leadership takes the ability to inspire and guide an entire organization toward common goals. To achieve this, leaders must have a solid understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses and continually work to hone the hard and soft skills needed to succeed.
A top-level executive works as the face of his or her company and is expected to communicate a firm’s values, ethics and goals to employees and the public on a regular basis. This requires strong interpersonal communication skills, as well as the ability to build trust through positive interaction.
Another important soft skill that c leaders must have is candor, which is the ability to always speak truthfully and respectfully. It’s not an easy trait to master, but one that can be learned through mentoring and training courses.
Teamwork
The most productive teams are those that have supportive members who respect one another’s individual strengths and work cooperatively. These teams share knowledge, offer constructive feedback and create an open dialogue to resolve issues and problems. They also communicate clearly and set clear goals for success.
Teamwork is a necessary skill for accomplishing important tasks, and it’s critical for the health care industry. In fact, research shows a direct correlation between team training and an improvement in patient safety (Sims et al. 2004).
To foster teamwork, c leaders should ensure that all members are aware of their task responsibilities and are willing to cooperate for the common goal. They should also provide regular training, encouragement and coaching to support team efforts. When these elements are present, the results are higher morale, stronger work ethic and a strong team spirit that can conquer any challenge.