Being a Leader is a skill that will help you in any profession. However, the difference between being a leader, and an effective leader, can be the decider if whether your business will succeed or fail. If you are a new business owner and doing this for the first time it can be tough. With that being said, how can you become an effective leader? Here are some tips on how.
Respond to Your Team
The basic principle of leadership is being able to effectively lead your team/company. Autocratic leadership does not offer many great results, so being able to listen to and respond to your team is key in being an effective leader. For example, if a member of your sales team comes to you as a manager and says that a system could be tweaked as it is hard to implement.
How should you respond?
You could say deal with it, but that would not boost morale or help the team member at all, and if multiple people from the same department are saying the same, maybe they are right.
As an effective leader, you would sit down, listen to what they suggest as they are the best equipped when it comes to the selling department. Then based on their suggestions, implement a new system. The results could be more sales which would equate to higher revenues and possibly profits. Being an effective leader is not just morally better, but also in the long term leads to higher equity and monetary gains too.
Avoid Arrogance
It is very easy to fall into the leadership trap and thinking you are above everyone else. But the harsh reality is that you need to be held accountable for your actions as a leader. If your actions anger the majority of the staff at your company they may leave and then that leaves you having to hire more people at short notice, which leads to considerable losses in a monetary and skill sense.
Or, on the other hand, they could go to the higher commands in the company and complain, which would lead to some form of disciplinary or the loss of your role. In business, everyone has the power to change the business or its leaders, so do not become consumed within the role, and use it as a force for good.
Focus on Personal Development for Yourself and the Team
As a leader, you have the responsibility of managing and directing the way the business and its team are going. Setting the direction and strategy. But, at the same time, the personal development of both yourself and your team also comes down on the shoulders of the leader. You can attend courses on corporate business leadership which could help develop your expertise as a leader. You could analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your team, and use them to help build each other up and help each other build up their weaknesses. All of this, in turn, will lead a well-developed team, an efficient and happy business that will inevitably lead to higher monetary returns on investment.
Keep Learning!
Never stop learning, use these tips and put some of these theories to the test, and watch your business or team flourish!
