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Whether you're in a formal leadership position or not, you need good leadership and management skills if you're going to make best use of the opportunities open to you. (After all, you can get much, much more done when you have the help of other people.) The good news is that you can learn how to lead and manage effectively!

Although there is some crossover between leadership and management, they are essentially two different skill sets. Find out what makes a great leader in our article and video that answers the question, "What is Leadership?   " Then discover the key skills needed to manage a team in our guide to Team Management Skills   .

You'll also find it helpful to take our two self-tests: How Good Are Your Leadership Skills?   , and How Good Are Your Management Skills?   . Plus, you need to know how to motivate people effectively    and build a great team   .

Problem solving and decision making are two areas where you'll need to excel to be a success in your career. (Together with people skills, they're what make up "good judgment" and "wisdom.") Like leadership and management, these two areas are closely related.

The first step in effective problem solving is identifying and understanding the cause of the problem. Tools such as Root Cause Analysis   , the 5 Whys technique   , and CATWOE    are essential at this stage. There are also other great tools and techniques that you can use, depending on the type of problem you face - our How Good is Your Problem Solving?    self-test will test your skills, and help you identify where you can improve.

Once you fully understand your problem, you can choose the best option - that is, make the best decision. However, this is harder than it sounds, so you'll need to arm yourself with a variety of decision making tools.

Start by assessing your skills in our decision making quiz   . As part of this, you'll learn about the key stages in the decision making process, including deciding between options (where tools such as Decision Matrix Analysis    and Paired Comparison Analysis    are useful) and deciding whether to go ahead (where you need to use tools such as Impact Analysis   , Risk Analysis   , and Cost/Benefit Analysis   ).

The ability to communicate clearly is key to your success, whatever role you're in.

If you want to improve your communication skills, start by taking our communication skills    quiz. Also, make sure that you know how to plan your communications    effectively.

Active listening    is a very important communication skill. This is when you focus on the other person, and you make sure that you understand exactly what he or she is trying to say. Conflict resolution    and negotiation    are other areas that you'll need to work on to be a great communicator.

You'll find a huge amount more on communication in the Communication Skills   section of this website.

Time management is one of the most important career skills areas. Not only does it help you to be more productive; you'll also be much less stressed!

To manage your time better, take our How Good is Your Time Management?    self test. Also, make sure that you know how to prioritize    and schedule    your time effectively.

It's also important that you avoid procrastination    - this is when you put off tasks and activities that you should be focusing on right now.

When you know how to "lead yourself" and make good choices for your future, you'll be that much further ahead when it comes to the other skills areas that we've already looked at.

Start by setting personal goals   , using the principles of SMART    to accomplish these. As part of this exercise, analyze your strengths   , and make sure that you understand the values    that you hold.

No matter how positive you feel now, it's also important to learn how to deal with negative thinking   . From there, you can build on your self confidence    and self esteem    until you can achieve goals that really matter.