This is a guest post by Lewis Jacobs, a free lance writer and social media specialist.
You’ve heard the phrase “natural born leader.” But what if you aren’t a natural born leader? How do you go about acquiring the skills and tools and the confidence to become a leader in your own right?
Hopefully, you are learning what it takes to be productive and to help those on your team to be productive as well. One way to increase your leadership “productivity” is to turn to social media and online communities. Where to turn though?
Basecamp
Project management is a skill every leader needs. Being a leader means being able to communicate effectively to a team, and that comes into play big time when you have a goal to meet. Basecamp is an online community where you can effectively manage projects from the development stage through the final product.
You can create projects, add checklists, start discussions with your team, upload multiple files to the same place and even keep your team informed with an updateable calendar.
Another reason Basecamp can help sharpen your leadership productivity skills? You can keep everyone up-to-date even when they’re out of town, out of the office or just out of the loop. Basecamp provides daily recaps, and gives you the ability to go back to different days to see any progress that was made.
iGoogle
An effective leader is informed. That could mean anything from staying on top of news in your industry to keeping tabs on breaking news in different fields. iGoogle is a great way to do both.
Setting up iGoogle only takes seconds and customizes your Google page to your preferences. Select different areas of searches you want to be informed of, and they’ll be there waiting for you in your own personalized Google dash.
Why is this important for leadership productivity skills? By staying informed and reading various articles, you can get ideas for brainstorming as well as seeing what’s new in your line of business.
/NOTE/ iGoogle will no longer be available after November 1, 2013.
HootSuite
Leaders need to have great organization and communication skills. Whether you’re managing a group of people, or managing details of your own life, you need a way to keep track of things. HootSuite is a great way to keep an eye on many moving parts, all at once.
Think of HootSuite like a real-time dashboard. You can manage multiple social media sites from one platform, schedule messages ahead of time and have complete control over your social networks. You’ll learn time management as well as become an expert at handling many things at once.
Trello
Trello is an online tool that you can share and use for quick and fluid communication. When it comes to building leadership qualities, flexibility is one of those things that you need to have in your arsenal. Being able to expect the unexpected and handle quick changes is an irreplaceable trait.
Trello lets you invite members to your “board.” There you can make tasks quickly and easily, assign people to tasks, and move them in real time. Need to make a quick change? No problem. Trello is an accommodating site that lets you change and update tasks incredibly easily.
When changes are being made, it can be hard to keep up – Trello has a real-time tracker so you can see who is doing what at what time.
Trello is also great for strategic development. Lead your team through different brainstorms and ideas by posting thoughts on a Trello board.
Yup, Twitter. Even though this is a social site everyone is familiar with, it is a weapon that many successful leaders and CEOs use. Why? It’s the clearest and simplest form of online communication.
You can connect instantly with hundreds and thousands of people, share ideas, create hype with hashtags, make yourself relatable and strengthen relationships.
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With all of these online options for you, it makes it easier and more convenient to become a productive leader. Make sure have reliable local internet options to prepare you for your online leadership.
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