What is Leadership and Management and what does it involve?

Become an indispensable leader and learn how to manage business relationships at every level. Leadership encompasses the key sets of skills needed for influential management and leading a successful team. This knowledge is transferrable across a host of roles and managerial positions such as Business Manager, Team Leader, and Services Manager.

Entry-level leaders such as Team Leaders can be responsible for fostering positive workplace relationships and environments. Strong leaders may also find themselves in C-Suite Executive positions, such as CEO or Executive Director, and be skilled in change management, people management, and communicating with stakeholders. 

Along with experience, formal qualifications build the much-needed skills for success by learning how to oversee finances, budgeting, inventory, and supplier management, as well as core people management skills. Professionals working in office environments can also develop skills in operations, HR, customer service, change management, and business development – depending on the size and structure of the business.

WHAT SKILLS DOES A STRONG LEADER NEED?

Leaders need a strong mix of hard and soft skills to succeed in managing effectively. Learning skills like delegation, empowerment, and employee engagement lays the foundation for leading a workforce of any size. Other skills you need can be learned through formal qualification, such as optimising team performance and fostering positive working relationships. 

The top soft skills for leaders are:

Communication
To communicate with clarity and confidence, coupled with the ability to listen, illustrates respect and empathy. There’s no single greater skill, in or outside of the workplace.

Teamwork
Effective teamwork creates results that are greater than the sum of its individual parts. Mediation, negotiation, and idea exchange are components of teamwork.

Adaptability
The ability to embrace or create change requires an open mind, confidence, and optimism. Particularly in times of change, adaptability is crucial.

Creativity
Often described as ‘thinking outside the square’, creativity is about formulating new solutions in a different way via imagination and innovation.

HARD SKILLS

  • Performance management know-how
  • Communicate with influence to ensure transparency and stakeholder buy-in
  • Advanced conflict resolution

SOFT SKILLS

  • Able to work under pressure
  • Organisation skills
  • Active listening
  • Emotional intelligence

TRAITS

  • Ethical integrity
  • Trustworthiness
  • Approachable
  • Diplomatic

JOB ROLES

General Manager

Average Salary
$118,000

A General Manager can work in a range of different industries. They are commonly responsible for developing, managing and executing business operational plans. They are leaders and communicate effectively with their teams, and have a high level of written communication necessary in management and executive positions.

Business Manager

Average Salary
$100,000

Responsible for a variety of sectors within the business, business managers work on new strategies to increase business growth, manage client relationships, and innovate new processes to improve efficiencies.

Business Development Manager

Average Salary
$79,000

Specialises in business development activities, creating plans for business growth and analysing current processes and systems to develop solutions that will positively impact the business. This may also include optimising marketing and hiring strategies.

Team Leader

Average Salary
$72,000

A team leader is a team’s immediate supervisor and the communication point between management and lower-level staff. They can be hands-on in task delegation, dispute resolution, employee management and work hard to improve a team’s efficiency in order to meet specific department or team targets. A team leader is like a second-in-command below a manager.

Office Manager

Average Salary
$67,000

Working as an office manager can see you working in a range of industries. From managing the day-to-day operations of an office to managing people and tasks, they are responsible for making the office run efficiently.

Chief Executive Officer

Average Salary
$160,000

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company is responsible for the company’s overall management.
They specialise in executing the business strategy, liaising with both stakeholders and employees to effectively run a business.

Sales Representative

Average Salary
$61,000

Sales representatives are in charge of selling products or services that a company offers. This may be in person, but is most likely over the phone or via email. Sales representatives can also be a part of the customer service department in some organisations, however most professionals in these roles focus solely on converting interested people into customers.

Business Associate

Average Salary
$70,000

Business associates can have a variety of responsibilities within an organisation, depending on the company structure. Entry-level business associates will have administrative responsibilities, data analysis and reporting, documentation of processes, some billing responsibilities and working on improving business efficiency.

Business Analyst

Average Salary
$81,000

Entry-level business analysts provide support to the business by documenting business requirements, processes and procedures. They analyse data and reports to come up with suggestions for improving business operations to achieve organisational goals.

General Manager

Average Salary
$118,000

A General Manager can work in a range of different industries. They are commonly responsible for developing, managing and executing business operational plans. They are leaders and communicate effectively with their teams, and have a high level of written communication necessary in management and executive positions.

Business Manager

Average Salary
$100,000

Responsible for a variety of sectors within the business, business managers work on new strategies to increase business growth, manage client relationships, and innovate new processes to improve efficiencies.

Business Development Manager

Average Salary
$79,000

Specialises in business development activities, creating plans for business growth and analysing current processes and systems to develop solutions that will positively impact the business. This may also include optimising marketing and hiring strategies.

Team Leader

Average Salary
$72,000

A team leader is a team’s immediate supervisor and the communication point between management and lower-level staff. They can be hands-on in task delegation, dispute resolution, employee management and work hard to improve a team’s efficiency in order to meet specific department or team targets. A team leader is like a second-in-command below a manager.

Office Manager

Average Salary
$67,000

Working as an office manager can see you working in a range of industries. From managing the day-to-day operations of an office to managing people and tasks, they are responsible for making the office run efficiently.

Chief Executive Officer

Average Salary
$160,000

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company is responsible for the company’s overall management.
They specialise in executing the business strategy, liaising with both stakeholders and employees to effectively run a business.

Sales Representative

Average Salary
$61,000

Sales representatives are in charge of selling products or services that a company offers. This may be in person, but is most likely over the phone or via email. Sales representatives can also be a part of the customer service department in some organisations, however most professionals in these roles focus solely on converting interested people into customers.

Business Associate

Average Salary
$70,000

Business associates can have a variety of responsibilities within an organisation, depending on the company structure. Entry-level business associates will have administrative responsibilities, data analysis and reporting, documentation of processes, some billing responsibilities and working on improving business efficiency.

Business Analyst

Average Salary
$81,000

Entry-level business analysts provide support to the business by documenting business requirements, processes and procedures. They analyse data and reports to come up with suggestions for improving business operations to achieve organisational goals.

What kind of careers need strong leadership skills?

Leadership is a vital skill to have in any sort of managerial role, whether you’re leading a small team or a whole company. To be successful at every stage of your leadership career journey you’ll need to demonstrateboth hard and soft skills.

Leadership careers can begin with entry-level positions such as office manager or team leader. With years of experience, and a high-level formal qualification, you could utilise your leadership and managerial skills to become a capable CEO or Executive Director. 

The skills you acquire through a leadership diploma can take you across industries, making you employable in a range of roles. Due to the transferable and generalised nature of leadership, you can move between sectors as your career advances.

Leadership Trends in Australia

As we have moved through changes in the world and in the workforce, strong leadership skills are imperative to maintain engaged employees and keep morale and productivity levels high. 

The quality of leadership management matters to engage and retain staff. Management studies show that:

  • 75% of workers want better managers and leaders
  • Only 44% believe they have effective workplace leaders
  • 56% of workers feel disengaged from ineffective leaders

Leading teams through remote work

Remote work is here to stay and leaders require unique skills to lead, encourage and manage their teams and employees virtually. 

Leaders need to build enough trust with their team to ensure work is done to schedule and standard while gaining confidence from their workers to deal with issues and problems in a remote environment. Using technology effectively, setting clear boundaries, and scheduling regular one-on-ones are all important aspects leaders need to be across when handling remote workers. 

The well-being of workers

Being an inclusive leader means being aware of the needs and well-being of your workers. With only five in ten (56%) believing their most senior leader values mental health, leaders have room to ensure they are managing their employees in a way that both the worker and the company are happy. 

Workplace well-being isn’t just beneficial for keeping employees happy but also enhances productivity, profits, and performance. A great leader can improve the well-being of a company as a whole when they improve the work lives of their team. 

Leading millennials and Gen-Z

When it comes to well-being and inclusivity in the workforce, Gen-Z and Millennials are leading the way. Learning how to lead the younger generations will become essential as 27% of the workforce will be Gen Z by 2025 according to McCrindle data. 

What is important to them, what motivates them, and what generational differences and boundaries, if any, will you have to conquer? These are all questions managers and leaders need to ask to proactively work with younger generations. 

Industry Insights

COURSES IN LEADERSHIP

If you’re ready to pursue a career in leadership, having a formal qualification behind you is essential to success. Our leadership certificates, diplomas, and advanced diplomas can propel your leadership career whether you’re managing and leading small teams or leading a company.

A Nationally Recognised qualification will teach you a range of interpersonal and formal skills to lead effectively. You’ll graduate as a highly qualified candidate with the relevant skillsets employers are looking for, prepared to go straight into a managerial role. 

The value of our Leadership qualifications is that the skills covered are broad enough to allow you to tailor your final career choices to your interests. Thanks to the online and self-paced study options available, you have the opportunity to begin your career while still studying.

WHY STUDY WITH CAL?

Real Outcomes. Guaranteed.

Our Real Outcomes Guarantee is our commitment to you and your career goals, ensuring that your studies will give you real-world benefits.

Our team, assessments and feedback are all focused on helping you in your career, not just completing your course. As the only RTO offering this, our guarantee is part of our ongoing work to go beyond just a piece of paper.

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CAL Careers Hub and Career Counselling

We support you beyond achieving your qualifications – we want to help you be as prepared as possible for taking the next step in your career. Our Careers Hub gives you complimentary and exclusive access to resources and personalised advice from our in-house Career Coach.

My experience with Jenni the career counsellor was exceptional…The feedback was so helpful. She was encouraging too, and made me feel more sure about how to ‘sell myself’ to the target employers. I am very impressed with CAL’s careers hub – many resources that I will use. Thank you very much for your help.

– Samantha M.

Every member of our team is here to support you beyond achieving your qualifications. We want you to be as prepared as possible for taking the next step in your career. As a CAL student you’ll gain access to our Careers Hub through our online learning hub ‘Spark’.

Learn more about the cal career hub

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