When you were working your way up the corporate ladder was there a leader with whom you connected? A leader from whom you learned a lot? If so, what can you do today to be a better leader for your employees?
Here are three keys that I have found that will help you craft a better leadership style. You just might become that leader who inspires others and that one special leader your staff remembers when they move onto their own endeavors.
Three Keys To A Better Leadership Style
Understand how your staff perceives you. Do you have an easy relationship with them? Do your people get nervous when you enter a room? Do your staff members offer suggestions on processes? Is there a level of trust between you and your staff? What can you do to enhance any of those areas and make your leadership style be one that others want to emulate?
Are you a mentor to your staff? Do you help them to grow and thrive? A good leader will want his employees to succeed and grow. Keeping employees in a box will lead to their stagnating and to their productivity waning. Make them feel as though you are a partner in their growth and success. Their growth and learning will help your business thrive.
Set expectations within your organization. If your staff doesn’t know what’s expected of them, if they aren’t aware of what they can to do improve, how will they know whether they are meeting or exceeding, or operating under expected requirements? This begins at the start of hiring someone when you set forth their job duties and responsibilities. Give your staff a metric to shoot for that they can measure themselves and their personal and business growth against.
What are some of the stumbling blocks you have toward being a leader that your staff looks up to? Do you need to hone your communication skills? Talk with a trusted staff member and ask them for their honest insight on your leadership style. If you feel it needs improvement, work toward making that happen. A happy workforce is your best option for a healthy bottom line.
Are you the curious type? Do you have conversations with colleagues or employees that end in one sentence? Do you ask open ended questions or do you ask questions that simply require a yes or no answer? Asking yes or no questions doesn’t offer the participant a chance to interact or truly respond. Asking questions is a fine art that entrepreneurs should hone.
Here are some of the reasons that asking questions just might make you a better leader.
Even though you are the owner or manager or leader, asking opinions of your staff and other managers on the team shows everyone that you value their input. Asking for opinions and insight makes for a more open working environment and you just might hear an answer to a solution that you’d never imagined. Give your staff a voice!
If you’re looking to delegate, you need to talk with those to whom you want to delegate. This will be a way to engage with them and more importantly, gauge their interest in a possible increase in responsibilities. Talk to staff members before you simply hand out new work tasks.
If you’re moving your company toward a particular goal, ask questions of those involved to see whether they need more resources, whether there are any snags in the process and what other resources they may need from you to take the project to fruition.
If you’re in the habit of coaching your staff toward higher levels of success, you need to not only talk with and to them, you need to listen to their needs and whether they are on the trajectory they imagined they’d be.
You’ll be more approachable if your employees know that some of the ideas they suggest are truly taken into consideration. We have all worked with employers who listen and nod but immediately forget what we’ve said once the conversation is over. Don’t be that kind of leader.
Are you a good “asker of questions?” Do you take time to build relationships and have conversations with colleagues, staff and vendors? If you can’t remember the last time you had a productive conversation with them, take a look at your own conversation style to see if it needs to be changed.
The Summer 2016 Olympics are a thing of the past, but we want to take some time in this article to talk about whether your business deserves a gold medal. We bet it does! Even if you’re never going to get up on the podium and have a medal hung around your neck, here are some things that many entrepreneurs do that warrant gold medal treatment.
They create.Entrepreneurs are creators. They take their idea and run with it. They find ways to address a pain point. They are innovators.
You’re your own boss. Do you remember the leap of faith it took to make the change from employee to employer or entrepreneur? It was scary as hell, but you did it! You are your own boss and you just might be making opportunities available for others.
You use your talent. We all have talents. Some may feel more hidden than others, but everyone has a unique talent that they could potentially use to start their own business. What’s your talent?
You’re doing a better job. When you’re working for a company you may find yourself frustrated with the status quo. This is especially true if you see a better, faster, more efficient way to take on a task and your ideas aren’t being considered. As your own boss, you can take your ideas and run with them!
What prompted you to start your business? What do you do each and every day that warrants a gold medal? If you asked your customers or your staff what would they say sets you apart from the rest and would make you the gold standard to aspire to? We’d love to know.
If you’re still wondering what your talents are and how you can uncover them so you can make the leap into business ownership, send me an email and we can talk about how unique you are!
Is your business at a point where you need that special “something” to propel you toward the next level of success? What is that “something”? For some entrepreneurs, working with a business could be the next step in your business and helping it grow.
How to find a business coach
If you’ve decided this is the time to get your own business coach, what steps can you take to find one? Here are my tips:
Ask colleagues if they use a coach and if they’d recommend him or her.
Do a search on Google for business coaches in your particular niche.
Find a coach that will offer a complementary session; you need to be a personality fit if your coaching is going to benefit you and your growth.
Know what you’re looking for in a coach. What do you feel you need? Where are you stuck? If you don’t have an idea of what you’re seeking in a coach, you will be spinning your wheels.
Make sure your personality is a fit. If you’re quiet and reserved, a coach who is loud and brash may not fit your style.
Set goals with him or her and have measurable goals along the way that show you you’re headed in the right direction.
If you begin working with a coach and you just don’t feel it’s of benefit, talk with him or her and let them know. Maybe you can reboot and get back on track.
Have you ever considered working with a business coach? If you worked with one, what was the outcome? I’d love to know.
I’ve worked with coaching clients in the past who told me, “I don’t want to offer my employee that training… what if they excel at it and then they take that knowledge and leave me for a new employer?” I urge entrepreneurs to not be so short-sighted as to stifle the growth of an employee and his or her skills because you fear they may “abandon you” if they gain knowledge. Believe me, if they were going to leave, they will leave regardless of the additional training or not because chances are, they had one foot out the door.
Don’t stifle a great employees’ desire for self improvement — you will be the ultimate beneficiary of their success, after all. Here are some of the reasons you may lose a superstar:
You don’t offer feedback. They don’t know if they are performing at, or under, par. Offer constructive criticism. Schedule time to sit down and discuss performance and where they’re hitting, or missing, the mark. Don’t let them work in the dark.
Don’t overwork your staff. Yes, many companies are doing more with less, but that can lead to employee burnout and to your best employees seeking employment where they have a personal life. Schedule time off. Don’t make them feel as though they have to be on-call 24/7 — unless the nature of your business demands it and they should be made aware of this up front.
Don’t overpromise. If you bring an employee on board with promises of “sky’s the limit” promises and you find you can’t follow through, expect them to leave. Only make commitments to your employees that you can keep.
Share the big picture. Even if an employee doesn’t have to focus on the big picture because his or her job doesn’t require being “in the know” it helps bond the team and keep everyone’s focus if they know what the ultimate goal is.
You don’t offer room for creativity. Every job has the potential for individual creativity. If you have an employee that thinks outside of the box, let them explain to you how their creative idea will impact the company and its mission and if it seems it might fit, let them run with it.
What reasons do your employees give when they tender their resignation? Could you have addressed it, had you known? Do you need to revamp policies to help keep your superstar employees?
Are great salespeople made or born? That is still a question that is up for debate. There are some things that aren’t up for debate, however and those are that there are some characteristics that top-performing sales people share. If you run a business and work with a sales force, these are some of the qualities you will want to hire for or train if you find an individual that is stellar, but who may not possess all of the following qualities.
Here is what to look for in a top-performing sales person:
They believe in your mission and your product. If they don’t believe in what you’re doing and what they are selling, the relationship will not be a successful one.
They have a positive attitude. Sure, everyone has a bad day, but if you have a sales person who lights up the room and lifts the spirits of his co-workers, you have someone with whom you want to partner.
They are engaged. If you have a sales force that likes to have fun as well as work hard — congratulations! Look for sales people who can help formulate the sales message, work with their co-workers to find solutions to challenges.
They know how to “sell” your product or service. Yes, they need to believe in the company and its mission, but they also need to know the best way to sell what you have to offer. They understand that they are more effective if they’re offering a potential client a solution to a pain point.
They are credible. In order to build a relationship with a potential client, your sales force needs to build a relationship and show they are credible and reliable. Not everyone engenders confidence and respect, but if you have someone on your sales team who does, you have a gem.
What characteristics do you find relevant? Do you have difficulty finding, or retaining, sales people who have those qualities? If so, give us a call and let’s discuss your challenges.
