There are many ways to gain leadership skills.

Many cases are where a person finds him- or herself promoted to a position, and having to learn the skills as they go along.

In other cases, a person has leadership ambitions, but find that there seems to be no way to acquire, improve and prove leadership skills with their current position.

Even if you are not attempting to move into a leadership position, having the perspective of a good leader can improve your position and your outlook on work in general.

In an Inc. Magazine article, I learned about 10 tips for leadership when you are not the boss. These tips can give you more skills than landing a leadership position.

Making sure you are working for the betterment of your group, your department, your company and your leadership chain can be one of the best ways to provide your own best working environment.

Communication and setting clear, positive expectations can be the leading up you need to make sure you are controlling more of your work and your career.

Keep in mind some steps to work on your leadership skills:

• Be approachable
• Be positive
• Keep the bigger picture in mind
• Add solutions with a future direction

I had a time where I had a co-worker George, who was stuck looking at the negative. They made a judgement about another person when they had only seen what they did once from a few hours effort. Even if that other person was a bad as they said at that moment, that didn’t mean that person’s work was always a problem. Yet George was already stuck in that mode. He spent all of his energy describing how poor they saw this other person. I talked George through the situation. I reminded him that looking at the problem instead of the solution made him part of the problem. By seeing there were issues and deciding there were changes that could be made, helped George from being stuck in the problem. George move away from making things bad for himself and the other worker and became part of the solution by offering constructive advice.

Each of us have a choice in how we approach the negative. We can tie ourselves to it, and let it pull us under, like being chained to a rock at sea. Or we can look at the positive, leading up out of the issues, overcoming the issues by bouying our attitudes above the problems. This will show that we have the right perspective to be trusted and appreciated, and it might even let us be the best choice for the next, good leadership position.

Leading up will give you the advantage you earn.