Whether you’re considering a career in teaching or looking for ways to improve your own skills, it can help to consider the qualities of high-performing teachers and professors.

This article outlines 10 of these characteristics and how they can help you succeed in your role. It covers topics such as communication, organization, time management and more.

1. Excellent Communication Skills

Communication is the ability to convey information to others in a clear and concise manner. This can include both written and oral communication.

In addition, good communication skills often involve the use of body language and facial expressions. These skills can help you to better understand the intentions behind what people say, and can be important for establishing trust with others in the workplace.

Excellent communication skills also allow you to create an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and receiving assistance. This is crucial for their academic success and fostering a non-judgemental learning environment.

2. Excellent Listening Skills

Excellent listening skills are one of the most important skills to possess, because they are a necessary part of effective communication. Without proper listening, messages are often misunderstood and may lead to misunderstandings, conflict, or even anger between the people involved.

Good listeners decode verbal and nonverbal cues like tone of voice, body language, and facial expression. They also use active listening techniques such as eye contact, nodding, and mirroring the speaker’s body language to show that they are engaged in the conversation.

Good listeners also don’t interrupt the speaker and wait until they’re finished before answering their questions or making a point. This can be difficult to do, especially when the person is delivering long-winded or detailed statements.

3. Excellent Organizational Skills

Organizational skills are a critical component of any successful career. They allow you to effectively manage your time and maximize productivity.

Excellent organizational skills also make it easy for you to plan your work and accomplish your goals. This is an important quality that every employer looks for in a job candidate.

To impress recruiters and show off your organizational skills, it's best to provide examples of how you use these skills in your job or at home. For example, if you have an organizational system for handling emails and meetings, you can mention this on your resume or during an interview.

4. Excellent Time Management Skills

Time management is a skill that people use to manage their time and schedule their work. It can help you accomplish more in a shorter amount of time and decrease stress levels.

Time is precious, and it can be difficult to fit everything you want to do into your day. That’s why it’s important to have excellent time management skills.

The key to achieving good time management is to focus on the most important tasks first and to stick with your goals.

You can do this by creating a to-do list and using a calendar. You can also set reminders on your phone or computer to keep you on track.

5. Excellent Leadership Skills

Excellent leadership skills are a key part of being a high-performing teacher or professor. Being able to set short-term and long-term goals is necessary for success in this type of role.

Being able to prioritize your students’ needs over your own is another important leadership skill that you need to have as a teacher or professor. It’s also important to be able to communicate effectively with your colleagues about any issues you are facing.

As a teacher, you have the opportunity to develop and strengthen these skills throughout your career. You will be able to draw on them as you continue working to change systems of educational inequity, whether you choose to teach again or pursue a different career path.

6. Excellent Problem-Solving Skills

High-performing teachers and professors are able to identify a problem, come up with creative solutions, and implement those solutions successfully. They also have the ability to evaluate their solutions and determine whether or not they achieved the goals they set for themselves.

This is a skill that employers value in candidates and it should be highlighted on your resume and in your interview responses. Employers want to know that you’ll be able to handle any challenges that might arise in your work.

It’s important to develop your problem-solving skills as you pursue your academic studies and throughout your career. You can do this by seeking out problem-solving opportunities, including working on practice problems or taking part in competitions run by professional bodies in your field.

7. Excellent Communication Skills

Excellent communication skills are a must-have skill for any professional. They allow you to communicate effectively with your coworkers, supervisors and clients/customers.

Teachers and professors have to be able to convey complex information clearly in verbal or written resources, present the content of their classes in a way that sustains student attention, and listen to students’ questions or problems – all with sensitivity and empathy.

Additionally, they must be able to encourage students’ learning and provide feedback about their progress. They also have to adapt their teaching methods to suit the different learning styles of students.

8. Excellent Decision-Making Skills

Decision-making is an important skill that can help you achieve your goals in your career. Whether you’re pitching a new product to the marketing team or choosing which employees to lay off, being able to make smart, logical decisions is essential.

Effective decision-making involves many skills, including intuition, reasoning, and asking questions. It also requires a keen eye for detail and the ability to consider all potential outcomes.

9. Excellent Interpersonal Skills

Whether you work in a team or alone, having excellent interpersonal skills is vital to success. This is because it helps you relate to other people and be compassionate when they face problems in their lives or have a problem with a project that you’re working on.

You can develop excellent interpersonal skills by consciously putting yourself in the situation where you need to use them, then practising and reflecting on what happened.

You can also demonstrate these skills on your resume and during interviews, which are a great opportunity to highlight them. Take note of the interpersonal skills that the employer is looking for based on the job description, then identify examples from your past experiences that show how you have used them. You can then weave them into your application documents and interview to give the hiring manager a clear idea of how you would fit into the company culture.

10. Excellent Learning Skills

Developing learning skills is crucial for everyone. Whether you are a child or a college student, you need to know how to learn and study effectively so that you can get the most out of your education.

You can improve your learning skills through a variety of methods, including assessing your preferred learning style. This will help you determine how you learn best, so that you can engage in the most effective learning strategies for yourself.

Another important skill to have is patience, especially when dealing with students. Patience is needed in managing classroom behavior, communicating with different perspectives, and even interacting with parents and other staff.