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18 Key Leadership Competencies for 2025

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Written by Neelie Verlinden  16 minutes read

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
Contents Contents

What are leadership – Competencies for leading
18 Key Leadership Competencies for
competencies? others
2025 Success

Importance of leadership – Competencies for leading

What are leadership competencies?
competencies yourself
Importance of leadership
competencies
Types of leadership How to develop leadership
competencies competencies Types of leadership competencies

Competencies for leading the

organization
– Competencies for leading the FAQ
organization Competencies for leading others

Competencies for leading yourself

How to develop leadership

competencies

On a final note

Relevant Articles 

What are leadership competencies?

Leadership competencies refer to a specific set of knowledge, skills (technical
and soft), and attributes that make a person an effective leader. They are
integral to modern workforce management and succession planning.

There isn’t one unique set of leadership competencies that works across all
industries and companies. Even different leadership positions within the
same organization may require different competencies. Therefore, a lot of
organizations work with a leadership competency framework, which is a
collection of competencies they have identified as key to success for their
leaders and their organization.

When leadership competencies that you have on board align with the vision
of the organization, it creates a competitive advantage. It’s also important to
note that the value of a leader is not just defined by their individual success,
but the success of the entire team they manage.

It’s essential for HR to have a good understanding of leadership competencies 

so that they can effectively develop current and potential leaders, as well as
upskill themselves.

“Think of leadership like sports or music. You wouldn’t send someone to

a three-day sports clinic and then expect them to play for the season, and
yet we often send new leaders to one-off workshops and think they’re
trained. Just as athletes and musicians need to practice regularly, so, too,
do leaders need regular training.

While such training programs can be costly, companies can implement a

low-budget in-house peer learning program to train current and future
leaders. Such a program also helps to engage and retain employees.”Mark
Herschberg, Author of The Career Toolkit

Importance of leadership
competencies
Defining and developing leadership competencies in your managers, business
leaders, and yourself as an HR professional is essential for many reasons,
such as:

Inspiring and motivating employees – A strong leader has the power

to inspire, energize and motivate their entire team to work together to
achieve shared goals, leading to more effective collaboration,
innovation, and productivity.

Effective leadership is key to organizational success – Motivated

employees create a positive work environment that everyone benefits
from, and, in turn, leads to better performance. Therefore, it’s vital to
identify the employees who possess the natural potential to lead and
nurture this. Done effectively, leadership development will lead to
sustainable success for the organization.

Building strong relationships – People with strong leadership

attributes and competencies are not only able to build strong
relationships with their team but also with shareholders and
customers, which is essential for long-term success.

Making informed decisions – Developing leadership competencies

helps leaders consider problems and challenges from different
perspectives, analyze potential outcomes, take calculated risks, and
make decisions that help propel the organization forward.

 Navigating and driving change – Leadership skills are vital to
identifying the need for change, executing change management
processes, managing periods of uncertainty and disruption, and
maintaining stability and continuity for the organization.

Types of leadership competencies

Although leadership competencies vary between roles, there are some core
leadership competencies that are essential for every leader, regardless of the
industry and company they are in. Being able to understand and spot these
leadership competencies enables HR to make better-informed decisions
when it comes to hiring, developing, and promoting leaders.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) distinguishes three

competency categories, namely:

Competencies for leading the organization (e.g., conflict

management, decision-making, change management)

Competencies for leading others (e.g., emotional intelligence, being a

good coach, inclusiveness)

Competencies for leading the self (e.g., self-management, courage,

learning agility)

Other categorizations are possible too. For example, Deloitte’s Leadership

Capability model identifies two distinct elements. The first is developable
capabilities, which are the learned factors that are acquired and change over
time and reflect what a leader can do. The second is leadership potential – 
those are innate factors that are hard(er) to develop, stable over time, and
reflect how a person is.

In this article, we’ll explore the three main types of leadership competencies
presented by SHRM in more detail. It’s important to note that the below list of
leadership competencies isn’t exhaustive and that many competencies can fit
within multiple categories.

Competencies for leading the

organization
1. Social Intelligence (SI)

Social intelligence refers to our awareness of different social situations and

dynamics and our own interactions with others in those settings. According to
Psychology Today, it is one of the best predictors of effective leadership.

In the workplace, a leader with strong social intelligence knows when to talk
and listen, what to say, and when to say it, which leads to effective
communication, and helps to minimize conflict.

2. Problem-solving

Effective leaders must be able to use their knowledge and experience to

identify and analyze problems. Before voicing a potential solution, a
competent leader will test multiple options to see how viable each one is and
only present it once they are confident in the outcome.

3. Conflict management 
Conflict is inevitable in an organization when navigating people with different
personalities, beliefs, cultures, and moods. Therefore, competent leaders are
able to reduce and manage such conflict, which leads to stronger teams and
better performance. The art lies in finding a way to combine both people’s
opposing views rather than making a choice or asking them both to
compromise.

This is one of the leadership competencies examples that fits within leading
the organization as well as leading others.

4. Decision-making

Decision-making is one of the key leadership competencies because it’s at the

core of a leader’s responsibilities. A good leader knows when to make a
decision by themselves, when to consult their team members or peers and
get their opinion on a certain matter, and, perhaps most importantly, when to
take a step back and let others decide.

5. Setting and sharing a compelling vision

Strong leaders build a compelling shared vision with other leaders and their
team, are able to inspire and influence those around them to translate that
vision into action, and create positive organizational change.

Where your organization is heading in the future will be one of the key
reasons why someone will want to (and continue to) work there. It’s also why
customers and business partners would be attracted to your company.
Therefore, leaders must be able to set and share a vision that rallies everyone
behind it.

9 Leadership Competencies Every Successful HR Leader Needs [2022]

Check out this Learning Bite on leadership competencies you need to be a successful HR
Leader! 

6. Change management
Organizations are continually evolving, especially as they grow. Sometimes
these changes will be small, for example, a new way to clock in and out of
work. Other changes will be bigger and take place over a long period of time,
such as the digitization and automation of processes or the move to a more
hybrid or remote way of working.

An effective leader must be able to prepare their team for such changes and
guide and support them through it. This requires strong communication skills
and the ability to simplify complexities.

7. Innovation

The market leaders in every industry are always highly innovative and
creative. The result of this is products and services that continue to increase
the value of their offering or the customer experience.

To achieve this, an organization must have innovative leaders who allow (and
encourage) their employees to be creative, offer a collaborative work
environment, and view mistakes and failures as a necessary precursor to
innovative success.

8. Entrepreneurship

Effective leaders have an entrepreneurial mindset and are constantly looking

for new opportunities, ways to make processes more efficient, and improving
products and services for customers. Their strategic skills enable them to take
calculated risks to meet and exceed organizational objectives.

Competencies for leading others

9. Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are also known as people skills or soft skills. This includes
treating people with sensitivity and respect, responding to the needs of
different people in different scenarios, active listening, giving and receiving
feedback, non-verbal communication, problem-solving skills, and teamwork.

10. Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Emotional intelligence centers on our ability to understand people’s emotions

and emotional situations. It’s also about our capacity to understand and
manage our own emotions. 
Emotional intelligence comprises several components:

Self-awareness – Knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

Self-regulation – Being able to manage our own emotions.

Motivation – People with high emotional intelligence are usually also

highly motivated.

Empathy – People with empathy and compassion tend to connect

better with others.

Social skills – The social skills of emotionally intelligent people show

they genuinely care for and respect others.

“Leaders with high emotional intelligence are usually good at empathizing

with others, managing stress, and navigating conflict, all of which contribute
to building a positive team culture,” explains Jamie Olson, VP of People &
Culture at a learning software company Continu.

11. Coaching ability & trustworthiness

One of the key leadership competencies is the ability to be an effective coach

for their team and peers. For example, knowing when to (gently) push
someone to move past their comfort zone, giving useful feedback when
necessary, and helping people find their personal vision.

“The easy way to lead is to tell people what to do, but then they don’t need to
think on their own. Coaching allows people to develop in a meaningful way, it
builds trust and helps the individual to activate their strengths to get things
done,” notes Susie Tomenchok, Executive Coach and facilitator at Syndeo
Institute at the Cable Center.

Trust is crucial for a successful coaching relationship. It’s also vital for leaders
in building and maintaining strong relationships with the people they
manage, as well as customers and clients.

Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei explains what the three
component parts of trust are:

Being authentic – To be true to yourself at all times.

Having rigor in your logic – Ensuring the quality of your logic and your
ability to communicate it.

 Empathy – Being empathetic with the people we interact with, actively
listening to them, and seeing things from their unique points of view.

12. Inclusiveness

Good leaders know how to create a work environment in which everybody

feels welcome. They make sure that every employee is treated equally and
respectfully, has the same opportunities and resources, and can participate
and thrive. In other words: good leaders are inclusive.

According to research by Harvard Business Review, inclusive leaders share

the following traits:

A visible commitment – To diversity, challenging the status quo,

holding others accountable, and making D&I a personal priority.

Humility – They are modest about capabilities, admit mistakes, and

create space for others to contribute.

Awareness of bias – They show awareness of personal blind spots, as

well as flaws in the system, and work hard to ensure a meritocracy.

Curiosity about others – They demonstrate an open mindset and

deep curiosity about others, listen without judgment, and seek to
understand those around them with empathy.

Cultural intelligence – They are attentive to others’ cultures and adapt

as required.

Effective collaboration – They empower others, pay attention to the

diversity of thinking and psychological safety, and focus on team
cohesion.

13. People management

When it comes to leading others, good people management is crucial,

especially for HR leaders. Depending on the leadership level, this involves the
process of overseeing the training, development, motivation, and day-to-day
management of employees.

Good leaders give their teams the 5 c’s of people management: clarity,
context, consistency, courage, and commitment.


Competencies for leading yourself
14. (Learning) Agility

The pandemic shed light on how important it is to be able to quickly adapt to

rapidly changing circumstances. This goes for everyone in the workforce, but
especially leaders, as they need to support and guide others – and the
organization – through these sometimes challenging times. As such, agile
leaders aren’t afraid of change; on the contrary, they embrace it.

“Agility is the ability to move a business quickly in response to external or

internal circumstances. In the organization, it looks like receptiveness to
change, willingness to review courses of action regularly, and a flexible
mindset,” explains leadership development and career coach Diane Gallo.

Good leaders also have the ability to continually learn, unlearn, and relearn,
also referred to as learning agility. They know how important it is to keep
developing, growing, and using new strategies to tackle the increasingly
complex problems they face in their organizations.

15. Industry knowledge and expertise

People change jobs, companies, and industries more often than they did ten
years ago, and developments in some areas (particularly in technology) are so
rapid that it might seem impossible to stay on top of them, in addition to
other leadership responsibilities.

However, effective leaders understand it’s still essential to develop a certain

expertise in the area and company they’re leading in, and to be aware of
future trends.

16. Managing yourself

Managing oneself includes workload, emotions, schedule, and more. One can
only manage others effectively and succeed in the leadership role if they are 
able to manage themselves.
Everyone has their own way of doing this, but being well-organized, planning
ahead, and knowing how to prioritize are key elements for mastering this
competency.

17. Courage

Leaders frequently need to make decisions, some of which will be challenging

and necessitate taking a calculated risk, and this requires courage.

Courage also means standing by your values and your team and defending
them in front of others when necessary.

18. Organizational citizenship behavior

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) describes all the positive and

constructive employee actions and behaviors that aren’t part of their formal
job description. It’s anything that employees do, out of their own free will,
that supports their colleagues and benefits the organization as a whole.

The five most common types of OCB are:

Altruism – When an employee helps or assists another employee

without expecting anything in return.

Courtesy – Polite and considerate behavior towards other people.

Examples of courtesy at work include saying good morning, asking a co-
worker how their holiday was, how their kids are doing, how a project
they’re currently working on is going, etc.

Sportsmanship – Being able to deal with situations that don’t go as

planned and not demonstrate negative behavior when that happens.

Conscientiousness – Employees don’t just show up on time and stick

to deadlines but also plan ahead before they go on holiday so that their
colleagues won’t be drowning trying to manage their workload.

Civic virtue – How an employee supports their company when they’re

not in an official capacity. Civic virtue can be demonstrated by
employees signing up for business events such as fundraisers or
running a marathon for a charity with a team of co-workers.

Leaders must set a good example to inspire others, and one way to do so is
by demonstrating the OCB they would like to see in others.

How to develop leadership
competencies
Now that you have a clear understanding of the top leadership competencies,
let’s explore how you can start developing these in your employees, and also
in yourself as a (future) HR leader.

It’s important to note that developing leadership competencies is not an easy

and straightforward process, so below, you will find a brief summary of what
you can do.

Conduct a leadership development assessment

Conducting a leadership competencies assessment or self-assessment will

help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees and identify key
areas for development. This will be different for everyone, so it’s important
not to take a blanket approach and tailor leadership development initiatives
accordingly.

The assessment should be based on your leadership competency model to

make sure that what you’re assessing are the qualities you need at your
organization.

“Leadership competencies should be connected with organizational

values and culture. It is crucial to involve stakeholders across the
business so that leadership competencies drive behaviors and success.

Any leadership competencies developed in a bubble and filtered down

are unlikely to become truly embedded, believed or felt – and it is a
missed opportunity to influence change & progress across the workforce
when they are not included in the change. Displaying the leadership
competencies is more important than simply stating what they are and
expecting employees to live them.

When determining the leadership competencies which should be in play

across the organization, you have to consider strategic ambitions and
organizational values to ensure you are driving behaviors for success.
This allows the continual evolution of your internal culture and allows
space for creating connections with your employees and your customers
– enabling them to truly experience your organization and ensuring what
is expected internally is what it also felt externally. Authenticity is key.”Jay
Barrett, Founder & HR Executive of the HR consultancy Culture Canopy


Identify suitable methods of leadership
competency development
Mentoring and coaching

Pairing potential leaders with experienced ones is a brilliant way to develop

leadership skills through practical and theoretical learning. It’s possible to
learn a lot about a company, its product offering, and target customer from
people who have spent considerable time working for it. In addition, peer
mentoring can help you enrich your leadership develop program.

Coaching can also be effective, especially when it comes to learning more

about non-verbal communication, active listening, and mastering how to give
and receive constructive feedback. AI-based coaching is growing quickly,
giving HR more opportunities to design leadership coaching programs for
employees.

Formal training

Formal leadership training can include practical guides and seminars, and is a
popular choice. In fact, the corporate leadership training market is expected
to grow by $26.7 billion by 2024.

Certain leadership competencies will be delivered more effectively in a formal

way, for example, people management training, conflict management, and
change management.

Focus groups and workshops

Group workshops and focus groups are another way to develop leadership
competencies. In a group setting, people can gain more practical experience
and potentially learn different techniques they may not pick up from working
one on one with a mentor.

Self-directed learning

With the right resources, employees can develop leadership competencies in

their own time and at their own pace. Some people may be too busy to
attend a workshop during the day or have family responsibilities that prevent
them from sitting down with a coach after hours.

An example of self-paced learning is our Strategic HR Leadership Certificate

Program.

Ephraim Schachter, Founder of a leadership development consultancy

CSuite Accelerator, emphasizes the importance of fostering a leadership
mindset throughout the organization and proposes three steps to do so:

Instill a leadership mindset throughout the organization by

promoting the importance of leadership at all levels.
Encourage employees to take ownership, initiative, and
accountability in their roles.
Provide resources and support for leaders to develop their
emotional intelligence, communication skills, and resilience.

KK Byland, CHRO at American College of Education, adds: “Organizations

can celebrate leadership at all levels. You don’t need to have direct
reports to be a “leader”. When organizations recognize and celebrate
those who are moving the mission forward that will lead to organizational
success and higher engagement from the workforce.”

Job shadowing

Job shadowing is common in succession planning when a person will work
with someone with the plan to eventually take over their role. But job
shadowing can be effective in simply giving an employee a stronger idea of
what it means to be a successful leader at an organization and what a typical
day might look like.

Professional certifications and accreditation

There are various online and in-person certifications and accreditations that
can help people develop their leadership competencies. As we’ve already
mentioned, online offerings tend to allow students to learn at their own pace,
which allows them to fit it around their existing responsibilities.

Create leadership development plans

Create leadership development plans for employees to help them develop

their leadership competencies and prepare them for a managerial role in
your organization. Typically, this will be a structured and personalized long-
term plan that is tailored to the needs of the employee and the organization.
It will outline a set of learning objectives and other activities the employee will
complete to reach their goals.

You can also create targeted HR leadership development programs that focus
on upskilling and developing HR professionals into leaders who are ready to
face an unpredictable future landscape at work. Within this program, there
will be an emphasis on developing core HR competencies and leadership
skills through a range of training and assessments.

A leadership consultant and coach at the Leadership Forum, Dr. Wanda

Wallace, advises breaking down each leadership competency into its
component behaviors and then training the behaviors and the associated
habits.

“Every competency I see has a host of behaviors that make that competency
real. Teach the specific, actionable components. For example, giving feedback
is about observing the team member, getting comfortable delivering a hard
message, being able to manage emotions, and knowing when to coach and
when to wait,” says Dr. Wallace.


On a final note
Leadership competencies vary between industries, organizations, and the
ranks and roles within those organizations. What’s important is that HR
understands the unique leadership competencies necessary for leadership
success in each role, so they can make better decisions when it comes to
hiring, developing, and promoting leaders.

It’s equally important that employees believe their organization prioritizes

their development and provides the structure needed for them to
successfully advance in the business and perform in their roles.

If you want to become an expert in learning & development and future-proof

your HR skill set, check out our Learning & Development Certification
Program!

FAQ
What are leadership competencies? 

What types of leadership competencies are there? 

What are examples of key leadership competencies? 

How do you identify leadership competencies? 

How do you demonstrate leadership competencies? 

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
 Neelie Verlinden

Neelie Verlinden is a digital content creator at AIHR. She’s an expert on all things
digital in HR and has written hundreds of articles on innovative HR practices. In
addition to her writing, Neelie is also a speaker and an instructor on several
popular HR certificate programs.

Learn more
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