Leadership 101 – 5 Things On Which To Focus As A Leader

Yesterday I introduced the topic of Leadership, as we’re going to start expanding more on the Human Resources aspect of owning a business.  Specifically, I shared what NOT to do as a leader of employees.  Today, we’re going to be looking at what TO do as a leader.

At all of the companies I worked at while in Human Resources, we would conduct “employee opinion surveys”.  Without a doubt, the teams who scored highest for job satisfaction, had the best morale, and admired and respected their managers all had bosses who truly lived out tried and true leadership principles.  There are loads of leadership qualities that definitely help, but I have my Top 5 that I think are the most impactful to employees – and, what I strive to focus on in my own leadership abilities as I lead my own team:

5 Things on Which to Focus as a Leader

1. Ensuring you are providing a fun and safe work environment – who wants to work in a dreary, depressing, unsafe workplace?  Believe it or not, this happens a lot – as a leader, you can ensure that your employees are coming to work in a fun, exciting, vibrant environment that they look forward to every day.  If you’re not laughing with your team at least once a day, you might need to look around your environment and see what sort of conditions your team is working under!
2. Provide your employees with regular, consistent and honest feedback – if a manager doesn’t provide an employee with feedback – routine feedback – then they have no idea how they are doing.  Also, if you have performance issues that you need to address, they need to hear this much sooner than the point you’re ready to terminate their employment.  If you’re not conducting a regular 6 month check-in to assess their progress, goals, etc. then it’s a great idea to consider implementing employee reviews.  Your employees will thank you!
3. Ask employees for their input – what processes they would change, what they need from you as a manager, etc. – by asking them for their input this will create an open and honest environment where you can learn first-hand what they feel is working well, what could be better, etc.  Maybe they need more of your time in the office, they’d like to recommend a systems change that will save your company hundreds of dollars, etc.
4. Set goals and give employees clearly defined parameters to work with – just like children, us employees need to know what the parameters are that we can work with (our “playground”) so we know how far we can push our limits and how much freedom we have.  Once you set goals collaboratively with your employee, they will feel empowered and more excited about taking ownership with their job.
5. Listen – Oy.  Too many managers talk AT their employees as opposed to listening TO them.  People want to be heard, they want to express themselves.  Definitely practice “active listening”, looking for non-verbal cues such as body language and behavior to help you understand the employee’s message they’re trying to convey.  Too often managers are distracted, thinking about how they are going to respond next, and don’t hear the full message the employee is trying to convey.  If a manager can truly practice active listening then communication will likely improve ten-fold.

Think about the best manager you’ve ever had.  What made them an excellent leader?  Did they possess any of the above leadership traits? If you’re in a leadership role, your challenge this week is to choose on of these 5 things to focus on and incorporate it into your leadership style. Your employees will thank you!