Best Startup
As a business owner or manager, it’s important to make sure you’re constantly working on your skills in regard to managing your team. From ensuring your team communicates effectively, to assessing your own abilities to handle conflicts in the workplace, there are many skills you will need to develop to be an effective leader. Keep reading if you’d like to learn more about how this can be done.
Taking Feedback On Board
Just because you’re a business owner or manager, it doesn’t mean you no longer have to receive feedback on how effective your performance is. You should make sure you allow your team to provide feedback on your leadership skills, and whether there is anything that could be improved. This can be done either face-to-face in a meeting or through anonymous feedback forms to allow staff to voice their honest opinions.
Once you’ve received feedback, you need to make sure you’re implementing it in the workplace. For example, if a member of staff suggests that they need more support in their role, try and find time to give them that support, or pair them with other team members that you know could help them.
Taking Criticism On The Chin
It’s important to remember that you may sometimes receive some negative feedback as a team leader, and it’s essential that you learn to take this on the chin. Taking feedback too personally can lead to your rapport with certain team members being affected and could create an awkward atmosphere in the workplace. Instead of jumping to feel offended, try and think about the reasons behind any negative feedback, and what could be done to improve them.
Leading By Example
The best way to make sure your team has a good work ethic and displays the attributes you’re looking for is to lead by example. It’s unfair to expect your team to have positive workplace attributes if you’re not displaying them yourself. If staff see you working hard and taking an interest in your role and your team, they are more likely to respect you and want to work hard for you in return.
Strive To Be A Top Communicator
One of the most important factors to be an effective team leader is to be a highly effective communicator. The importance of this carries through from communicating positively with your team, customers, and different departments, to being able to hold effective work presentations. Poor communication can lead to an array of problems that affect your ability to be a good team leader.
How To Improve Employee Morale
Employees workplace experience is fundamental to whether your business succeeds or not. If your staff aren’t happy, work is unlikely to be carried out effectively and could also see a high turnover of staff. Not only does a high turnover mean you have the expense of interviewing and hiring new team members, but it will also affect how smoothly the business can run. Constantly having to train up new staff is time-consuming and takes attention away from working on other important projects.
A team that has been working together for longer is more likely to have developed a rapport and be able to work together effectively. Holding regular meetings or team-building exercises can help to improve colleague relationships, as too can providing rewards for good work to help boost morale. As a team leader, you should be continually striving to improve your employee experience both for their benefit and the benefit of the business.
Give All Levels Of Employees A Voice
It’s not only senior staff that are able to provide valuable insight and feedback on important projects or areas that affect the business. Junior employees should also be given the chance to speak up on important projects and how they think they could be improved.
Employees who feel valued as part of the team are more likely to stick around and want to build a career with your business. These junior employees could be the future senior team members of the business, so you should be supportive of them and equip them with the skills they need for their future.
Supporting Your Employees In Their Career Ambitions
Part of being a supportive team leader is supporting your staff in their career ambitions, whether that’s with the business or elsewhere. Take an interest in the skills your employees want to develop and invest in their training where you can. This will not only help to improve business performance but will also ensure employees feel valued within the business.
Be sure to ask employees about what their goals are for the next 5 years or so and where they see themselves. Where possible, try and support them in this. For example, if they are aiming for a managerial position in the future, try and equip them with the skills, experience, and training they will need to get there.
