Strong leadership skills can improve many facets of your work experience as well as your organization’s—and your own—potential for long-term success. Whether you aspire to head a Fortune 500 company or to work for higher-ups, it’s good to take advantage of opportunities to improve and expand these skills.

Let’s bore down into some WIFMs (what’s in it for me) that can result when you develop yourself as a leader:

• Career Advancement: If you aspire to hold a managerial role, showing you have strong leadership skills while working in the trenches for higher-ups can put you on a fast-track to move up the work ladder and eventually on to a leadership position. However, for those who have no ambition to work in management, the leadership skills you display can lead to career advancement as well—i.e., better, more challenging assignments and higher pay. This can translate into greater career satisfaction and happiness.
• Respect: Whether you are a manager, the company owner, or an employee in the trenches, your strong leadership skills can generate respect for you from those you manage and/or your peers. Additionally, if you’re not in management or an owner but you still demonstrate great leadership, your bosses may treat you more like a peer, giving you the respect accorded a member in a leadership role. Wherever you are on this work spectrum, the respect you receive will make it easier for you to do your job—respected people hold sway—and more enjoyable.
• Well-functioning Workplace: Having the esteem of your peers and/or employees not only leads to greater career satisfaction, it can also lead to a well-functioning workplace. That’s because the peer and/or employee respect you’ve earned can foster and translate into an atmosphere of cooperation. That can lead to a healthier, more enjoyable, and more efficient workplace for all.
• Team Spirit: When a workplace leader inspires team spirit in other employees, they and others feel that they are “in it together” and take pride in their joint accomplishments. This can lead to stronger interpersonal relationships and thus, a richer and more rewarding work experience for everyone.
• Self-esteem (Sense of Accomplishment): When you are a workplace leader of any stripe, it’s highly rewarding to see the fruit of your leadership and labor result in success for you, your peers and/or employees, and your company. This leads to a sense of accomplishment and a boost in your self-esteem, which can translate into finding success in personal arenas as well.
• Stronger Financial Bottom Line: When strong leadership leads to higher self-esteem, team spirit, a well-functioning workplace, and respect, the result can also be a better financial bottom line for the leader and their company.

So, if you’re ready to kick your leadership into high gear for a meaningful and successful work experience, contact leadership training and career coach Tamara Raymond of IMC Leaders to get started. She’s just one email away: traymond@imcleaders.com.