What are leadership abilities at a new job?

I just got a new job working for the same company I did before but in a different city. Originally the manager here wanted to make me a manager but since nobody over here knew me they didn't want some new guy coming in at such a high position. So now I'm stuck doing the same job I did before. The mangers here pulled some strings to get me this job and they also kept my pay rate the same (which I'm supposed to keep secret). My manager at the old job talked me up big time and really helped me out, so that's why the managers here pulled all these strings to get me here.

When I got here my new managers told me they were looking for someone with leadership abilities and from what my last manager said, they thought I could be a person like that. Since I couldn't start as a manager, they hired me with the intention of moving me up somehow down the road.

My question is: what should I be doing to show leadership abilities? At my last job I was there so long that I just knew how to do everything and so people would naturally come to me for questions or I'd be assigned to train people. I know the whole system here so I was able to catch on quickly, and I know to take initiative instead of constantly asking everyone what I should be doing. But beyond that, what else should I do? Just stick it out and hope they promote me? I can't exactly tell people what to do since I'm the new person here. What do leadership abilities mean?

IMHO,

Leadership abilities mean having the skills to either create a vision or support a wider company vision, and coalesce a team around achieve the vision. Leadership is seeing an obstacle, or a mountain to climb, and gathering fellow climbers, empowering them all to climb according to their strengths, and working as a team to get to the top.

Important leadership skills:

1. Empathy
   
2. Empowerment
   
3. Good Communication
   
4. Confidence
   
5. Compassion
   
6. Trustworthiness
   
7. Good Listening Skills
   
8. Strategic Thinking abilities
   
9. Relevant Knowledge
   
10. Motivational/Inspirational Skills
    

Just some thoughts.

Leadership abilities include, but are not limited to:

-The ability to communicate well with others

- the ability to solve problems

- strong knowledge of job duties

- willingness to work as a team player

- ability to work independently

- the ability to take on more complex tasks

- punctuality and reliability

Be careful that the term doesn't set you up to alienate people. Go in, bond with your peers, look up to them, learn from them, and work with the person above you on promotion milestones.

If you're perceived by your peers as an equal member of the team, you'll have support when promoted. If anything about you smacks of superiority, you won't have the support to GET promoted.

In your corner.

leadership abilities, IMO, mean standing out and being noticed.

Standing out and being noticed include:

- being on the ball regarding latest developments in your industry

- dressing to kill

- being polite and friendly to all co-workers

- being proactive and taking initiative, by not relying on one's manager/supervisor for all the answers

- producing high quality and high quantity work (which is probably the chief factor, but not the sole factor)

- offering suggestions to enhance work processes and arrangements (this is linked to the first point in a way)

- present solutions to problems, not only present problems