The most important skill to develop in your pursuit of a successful business career is one that is related to leadership.

If you are looking to make the transition from senior management to director level or even taking on your very first line management role, then leadership in its raw form is where it’s at.

Leadership is an influence process, based on a combination of vision and persuasion. You need a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how to achieve it, and then you need to set the direction you want to go in and persuade other people to come with you.

Simple? Well, you also need the right set of circumstances to allow your leadership to flourish. Situations involving change, disruption and new initiatives, for example, are all chances for individuals to seize leadership opportunities and grow their capabilities. So, of course you need to consider your visionary and influence skills, but also think about your own business circumstances and look for opportunities to step into leadership roles.

Are leaders born or made? Many moons ago, supporters of Trait theory believed leaders could be identified based on physical characteristics, social background or moral views in other words, people who looked, talked and acted the part. The reality is that nowadays everyone is a potential leader, though not necessarily permanently. When you propose an idea or offer your services you are taking the lead, if only briefly. Informal leadership like this is based on behaviour rather than a formal assigned role, and better organisations look to cultivate this.

Certainly, it always seems easier to persuade those people who report to you and as such depend on you for salary appraisals and bonuses. It is always harder to persuade and influence when you move from line management into staff roles.

Aside from circumstance and the leader’s own ability to set the vision and persuade, the final factor that completes the leadership triangle relates to followers or supporters. It is said that good followers make a leader great, and nowadays the emphasis is increasingly on the leader themselves to operate as a ‘servant leader’ and create the environment and situation where their teams can rapidly flourish. Whether you are leading a team of two or 200, if you try to adopt this change in leadership philosophy it will pay dividends over the longer term.

So, if you are wondering why you are struggling to make your next move upwards, it is probably time to think about your essential leadership skills.