Five really useful tips to IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP in Five minutes!
Leadership has the single biggest influence over every important factor of a business. Strategy, Operations, Team functionality, Employee Engagement and Customer Satisfaction.
Show me a business with poor leadership and I will show you a business that is dysfunctional, inefficient, struggling to keep its head above water.
Show me a business with great leadership and I will show you a business that knows where it is going, has efficient operations, teams that thrive, employees that love their work and customers who are raving fans. Show me a business with poor leadership and I will show you a business that is dysfunctional, inefficient, struggling to keep its head above water.
I have been fortunate to experience the vast impact of leadership in many walks of life, as an entrepreneur, as a CEO, as a consultant and as a professional sportsman. There are some undeniable leadership elements that transcend every leadership role in every industry. When these simple fundamentals are applied you will find your leadership rocks and your business is on a role.
1. DECIDE
This may sound very basic but leaders forget that one of their most important roles is to make decisions.
Working with or for leaders that procrastinate and put things off is one of the most annoying things in the world. We want answers and we want them now? Where are we going? What are we doing? Why are we doing it? How are we doing it? All day every day people are looking for answers to these questions. When they’re not answered productivity declines, engagement falls away, customers head elsewhere. It’s not about immediate and fast it’s about getting it done. I use this rule of thumb.
For small decisions like buying a new printer, getting business cards done etc I make the decision instantly because there is not a huge impact or consequence if its not 100% right. So fast works here, get it out of the way.
For medium decisions like office furniture, website changes, ordering stock, customer complaints, I try to get these done in 24 hours. These are important decisions that need some consideration but shouldn’t take up all my time.
by getting the minor and medium decision out of the way I can give the major decisions the consideration and attention they deserve
Finally there are major decisions, such as a new business vehicle, recruiting new staff, launching a new product that I want to get spot on, by getting the minor and medium decision out of the way I can give the major decisions the consideration and attention they deserve. I want to get these important decisions right. What’s minor, medium or major for you will depend on your business size and structure but having a methodology allows the decision process to be understood and to flow.
2. COMMUNICATE
Having your own office can often mean you get tucked away from the day to day operations. This often means that there is a communication disconnect and when people don’t know what’s going on they often come up with their own interpretation and that’s almost always wrong.
use the communication channel that will have the greatest impact
We live in a world that now communicates in a multitude of formats across multiple mediums. Phone, text, email, written, meetings, social media just to name a few. It’s important that leaders understand that they need to match their messages to the medium. If you have something really important to communicate, use the communication channel that will have the greatest impact. This is most likely to be the least used communication channel. For instance a major staff restructure should not be communicated in a mass email if email is the natural way that people communicate general work issues. You need to step it up, have a staff meeting and announce it. On the other hand don’t call everyone to a meeting to tell them something trivial.
When you master the art of matching the strength and importance of your messages to the right medium you will find your staff and your customers relate to you better.
3. WALK THE TALK
As a leader the biggest influence you have over another person’s behaviour is your own behaviour. People will do what you do, not what you say to do. So if you talk about customers being the most important part of your business but treat them like dirt, you can be sure your staff are treating them the same way you are.
People will do what you do, not what you say to do
If you say punctuality is important yet turn up late for meetings, people will interpret that it’s not really important.
Talking a good game doesn’t make it a good game. You have to back the talk with actions that are congruent, then people will really get it and behave accordingly.
4. DON’T MAKE THEM GUESS
When something goes haywire or something is not right you can tell in a leaders body language and facial expressions. But because the leader doesn’t communicate their frustrations other than through they’re body language, everybody has to guess what the problem might be.
To overcome this in my companies, we have a system that makes it easy for staff to understand what’s right and what’s not. On the day they start we give them a single sheet of paper. At the top of the list is my 5 Non Negotiables. These are the 5 things that will cause me to get really cranky. Things like Never be Late for anything – ever. Each of these comes with an explanation, so Never be late for anything-ever is followed by “the greatest disrespect you can display to another team member or to customers is that your time is more important than theirs. So always be early. If we say 10am to the customer, have it ready at 9am. If we have a meeting at 2pm, show up at 1:50pm ready to go.
When I am obviously cranky about something and staff can see it in my body language, they can also predict which of the 5 I’m cranky about and they will often come to me with an explanation rather then me having to confront them.
My team also have they’re 5 non negotiables with me. Things like being paid on time or personal expenses being reimbursed withinin 24 hours. That way the staff know that the things that are important to them also get addressed quickly.
5. CATCH SOMEONE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT
If you want to create a culture that buzzes, where people look for opportunities to impress, than you have to find people doing the right thing. Typically leaders find or hear about employees doing the wrong thing and then have a rant about it, giving he person what for. If instead you look for people that have done something significant, useful and positive and rave about that to others, you will find that others will also look for the pats on the back.
make catching someone doing the right thing every day your priority
Research has shown that the number one thing employees want at work (even more than money) is recognition, a simple thank you. If you make catching someone doing the right thing every day, like doing something extra for a customer, coming up with an idea to speed up processing, helping another employee out in a quiet period etc. more people will do the right thing which ultimately makes the business function better.
Get more tips for building leadership, confidence, integrity and trust fast so that you become a remarkable leader in your business and your life! https://rowdymclean.com/leadabilitybook/
