Top leadership skills on resume

For executives, managers, or supervisors, leadership skills are essential. Take a look at our writing tips and examples to find out how to include your leadership skills on your resume.

A leadership skill is essential for nearly any job, whether you’re a manager or a member of a team.
You must demonstrate your leadership skills in your next job application if you have led others to success in your workplace.

What are leadership skills and why do you need them?

When it comes to organizing people around a common goal, leadership skills are key. The process starts with developing a plan, inspiring people to believe in that plan, and following that plan through to the end.

Effective leadership skills are crucial to achieving goals for individuals, teams, departments, and organizations.

Including strong leadership skills on your resume is an excellent way for you to show prospective employers that you have the ability to excel in a management position and would be a great addition to their team.  There is no doubt that leadership skills are important, but it can be very difficult to demonstrate them as examples on your resume.

Here are ten of the most effective leadership skills that you should know about, as well as three other tips on how to showcase them effectively on your resume, to help you.

Organization & Time Management

It is a difficult task to be a successful leader, as it requires constantly juggling tasks, prioritizing deadlines, monitoring progress, and reevaluating everything once it has been completed, as well as supervising and managing employees.

Having excellent time management and organizational skills is a prerequisite for being a successful, strong leader.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your organizational and time managemen -related leadership abilities:  

Responsible for managing a team of 20 writers while working remotely. Managed publication deadlines during the pandemic by delegating tasks. Achieved a 20% increase in annual writing distribution for 2020

List of Organization & Time Management skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Attention-to-detail
• Decision making
• Delegation
• Flexibility
• Financial forecasting
• Planning

Communication

The foundation of effective leadership is great communication. Team members must understand collective and individual goals, expectations, and how to seek help when needed as leaders.

A project manager, for instance, must ensure that everyone working on a project understands what to do and when. As a result, they often have to coordinate between different departments and teams.

The key to effective communication is to keep in mind the fact that communication is a two-way street, so you must also be a good listener.

The following is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your superior communication and leadership skills:

Managing client relationships with the firm’s manager. By developing an app, we were able to enhance communication in relation to project completion progress, which resulted in a 40% increase in customer satisfaction as a result

  List of Communication skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Providing feedback
• Delivering presentations
• Public speaking
• A high level of non-verbal communication
• Active listening

Adaptability

The ability to meet deadlines can always be impaired by problems, no matter what your job is.

In today’s rapidly changing economy, any leader must find innovative solutions to unexpected situations.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your Adaptability – related leadership abilities:  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I switched to remote management. Utilized weekly team meetings and online training sessions to improve sales techniques of team members and exceed predetermined 2020 sales targets

List of Adaptability skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Calm under pressure
• Flexibility
• Organization
• PStrategic thinking
• Problem-solving
• Technological capabilities

Delegation

Management involves ensuring that all necessary tasks are completed by the deadline when managing people and projects. Keeping your team productive will require proper delegation of workloads, as well as realistic expectations regarding timelines for project completion.

In order to delegate effectively, one must also assign tasks based on the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team.

When setting up an advertisement campaign, a good leader provides direction while entrusting the concept, design, copy, and other responsibilities to the appropriate people – without micromanaging or taking on too much.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your delegation-related leadership abilities:  

My responsibilities included managing a team of five sales representatives, assigning tasks to each one based on the company’s needs and workload.

 List of Delegation skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Detail-oriented
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills
• Strategic thinking
• Planning and forecasting
• Scheduling
• Organization

Conflict Resolution

Regardless of the professional setting, conflicts can arise. Even minor disputes should not fester under a good leader, as they undermine morale and productivity.

Conflict resolution is a skill that is difficult to master; therefore, it makes a valuable addition to your resume as a leadership skill. Having the ability to resolve a conflict in a way that leaves everyone involved feeling heard, understood, and respected is a valuable skill that employers value highly.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your Conflict Resolution -related leadership abilities:  

Manage a team of 10 retail associates and help them with a variety of tasks. Through team-building exercises and weekly meetings, I have had the opportunity to resolve several disputes in the past, in which employees were able to express themselves and participate in discussions

 List of Conflict Resolution skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Professionalism
• Teamwork
• Patience
• Active listening
• Emotional intelligence
• Mediation

Problem Solving

A leader, a team, an idea, a plan, or even the best of intentions do not always go according to plan. A knack for charting the most appropriate course forward is essential, as is the ability to roll with the punches while remaining objective and positive.

In a brainstorming session with their team, effective leaders may identify ways to reduce costs without compromising the quality of their work.

Employers recognize the importance of problem solving as a leadership skill because it often involves research and effort to develop solutions.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your Problem-Solving -related leadership abilities:  

Increased annual company revenue by 25% by improving e-commerce app functionality and collaborating with IT department

 List of Problem-Solving skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Analysis
• Creativity
• Flexibility
• Critical thinking
• Evaluation
• Research

Integrity

It’s common for people to think of integrity as honesty, but it can encompass a range of qualities, such as dependable and accountable behavior. It is excellent for your team to have a leader who displays integrity at work – they can make ethical decisions and maintain a positive attitude.

Integrity is the glue that holds all other leadership skills on this list together since a lack of it can lead to many negative traits in the workplace.

There are times when demonstrating integrity on your resume is more difficult than other skills, however, it can still be done.Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your Integrity – related leadership abilities:  

Mentored team of 5 nurses, ensuring patient care and quality of medical treatment were consistently upheld, while also respecting incoming hospital guests and immediately resolving any conflicts

List of Integrity skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Accountability/Reliability
• Confidentiality
• Dependability
• Ethics
• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Trustworthiness

Teamwork & Motivation

Leadership requires teamwork skills because good leaders realize they cannot complete every project or task alone. An effective leader knows how and when to ask for help from peers.

Motivation is key to great teamwork. It is impossible to get your colleagues’ jobs done efficiently if they lack morale.

Motivating your team through encouragement is also a good leadership skill.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your Teamwork and Motivational -related leadership abilities:  

Oversaw a team of 20 security guards and mentored them. Encouraged members to share concerns about security flaws with the group during biweekly team-building meetings

List of Teamwork & Motivation skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Collaboration
• Constructive feedback
• Delegation
• Encouragement
• Mentoring
• Organization
• Problem-solving

Technology Skills

Efficiencies must be maintained as well as innovation and growth must be driven by leaders. Knowing how to use technology effectively is a big part of doing this successfully.

Technology is an essential part of the job for leaders today, and they need to have the ability to use the technology and software that is specific to their industry, as well as to be aware of how to train their employees how to use them correctly.

You can easily highlight your tech-savvy leadership skills on your resume by listing them in the skills section. Your resume objective or resume summary can also highlight your proficiency if the technology is vital to your industry.

Here is an example of a bullet point resume summary that highlights your Technology -related leadership abilities:  

To support the firm’s 2020 store and employee expansion initiatives, I trained fellow agents on image editing software and social media management programs. In 1 year, productivity and retention were increased by 30%

List of Technology skills to include on your resume & LinkedIn profile

• Atlassian (Jira and Confluence)
• Google Drive
• Slack
• Software troubleshooting
• Trello
• Zoom

Showcase your leadership skills with these 3 tips

Now that you have a good understanding of 10 common leadership skills and how to display them on your resume, we have three additional tips for you to consider while writing your resume.

1. Discuss your leadership skills in your cover letter

Spend some time checking out some cover letter examples from other professionals in your industry. You’ll see that they outline relevant personal details, experience, and skills that make the applicant an ideal fit for the job.

When applying for a leadership role, address your leadership experience and qualities in your cover letter.

You may only have this single chance to convince the employer that you understand how to be a successful leader and that you’ve filled that role in the past. That may mean in a previous or current position, as a volunteer, or in a school or sports organization.

Any opportunity to highlight your leadership abilities — especially recent and relevant experience — is worth including in your cover letter.

2. Quantify your leadership experience on your resume

Your resume skills section can help you sell your great leadership skills to hiring managers by listing skills like “exceptional problem solver,” “good at delegating,” and “highly organized.”

Are you familiar with the old cliché about showing rather than telling? Quantifying your accomplishments on your resume proves more valuable to hiring managers and companies that you have leadership skills.

When you describe exactly how you’ve leveraged your leadership abilities in the past on your resume, you can quantify your accomplishments.

The following is an example of a quantified work experience bullet point describing conflict resolution and problem-solving skills in a manager:

Implemented a schedule that allowed 2 days of work from home per week in response to team concerns during COVID 19. As a result of safe and satisfied workers, productivity increased by 20%

3. Make sure you have evidence to support your claims during the interview

During your interview, you will probably be asked about many of the details you included in your resume. Be sure to highlight leadership skills you can demonstrate in person when you write your resume. After you have practiced giving examples of your leadership skills with family or friends, prepare for your interview.

It is always expected that you will be pressed for more details in your interview when applying for a leadership role or touting your leadership skills on your resume.

You can expand your knowledge of resume writing and interview preparation by taking this online course