Leadership is something that every entrepreneur and business owner needs to master in order to ensure that they are able to surround themselves with the best possible team to help them to achieve their goals. The saying goes that staff leave bosses, not jobs and this means that the way in which you choose to lead will go a long way to ensuring the happiness and effectiveness of the team around you. There are tons of articles on leadership best practice and how to ensure that you are proficient in this area, but we are highlighting just a few that seem to come up time and time again as the foolproof ways to rally your team around you. They include the following:
Being Ethical
The first quality that is sought after in a leader is strong ethics. Someone that is ethical and has high moral standards will naturally be respected and staff will aim to emulate this behavior. Staff will trust this leader and strive to deliver in this safe environment of mutual respect and trust.
Self-Organising but also Empowering
Someone who is self organised is easy to follow. When a leader knows what his role is in the organisation but also affords his staff the same respect and empowers their team to be responsible for their areas of work, this is a recipe for success. Clear communication is key in this area and making sure that everyone is aware of their role and what is expected of them is hugely important.
Being committed to ongoing Learning
Employees also look up to a leader that is continuously learning and not so set in their ways that they won’t change course when they clearly need to. A leader that is learning on an ongoing basis is open to change, looking for new ideas and approaches and supplies a safe environment to try new things. Teams that operate under these kinds of leaders are given the freedom to express new ideas, which leads to quicker growth.
Nurturing Growth
The best leaders nurture growth, they are constantly looking for ways in which both they and their staff can better themselves. They do this by being committed to ongoing training as well as being a mentor to their juniors. This in turn creates a feeling of gratitude and loyalty from staff.
These leadership skills sound simple enough, but it is easy for leaders to slip into negative and counterproductive behaviors if they are not constantly checking in and making sure that they are the kind of boss that will encourage their staff to not only stay, but grow and enjoy their working environment. Are you the kind of leader that makes your team want to follow?