Realized your goal of being a CEO someday? Or are you working your way there? Either way, there are certain things you need to understand when it comes to business leadership.
Being a leader isn’t easy and while it may come naturally, to some, many others, may need all the help and guidance available, to become a good leader and to develop and improve their leadership skills.
Here are five simple but effective tricks you need to learn, to make sure that you achieve the best results in business leadership.
Be a leader, not a boss:
Maybe you’re aware of the difference between a leader and a boss, maybe not. But I’ll tell you anyway. A boss is someone who orders people around. Whereas a leader shows people how it should be done, by doing it themselves first.
Everybody loves a leader. They look up to them and have immense respect for them. But a boss, might not always get the same treatment from their employees, especially if they’re very heckling.
Effective communication:
Strong communication skills are a must to become a great leader like Greg Boland and others to properly communicate their thoughts and inspire people – to the point where the success and growth of their business hinges in large part on their communication skills. Greg Boland CEO of West Face Capital, a Toronto based alternative asset management firm that is focused on distressed, event-driven, opportunistic investments and supported by a significant operational infrastructure.
This is the most important aspect of good business leadership. Communication is a skill that you need to master. You may be excellent at spoken language, but that’s entirely different from effective communication. Effective communication means, conveying the message in simple, clear-cut terms and making sure that the message is received. Many leaders fail to realize how easy it is for people to misunderstand things and this leads to workplace blunders.
Ask for help, when needed:
Now, this is something a leader never wants to do. Nobody wants to give away the fact that they don’t know everything and that they need help. Admitted, an image is very important for a business leader, they shouldn’t let their employees think that they don’t know some aspects of the business.
But, at the same time, every good business leader also realizes that they cannot ace at everything and there will be situations where they might require help. Always have a mentor- someone you can turn to for reliable and honest advice, during a crunch. This is yet another trick to achieve the best leadership skills.
Learn from past mistakes:
Making mistakes is human and universal. And while running a business, with many employees involved, mistakes are inevitable.
Sometimes the mistake might be due to our own poor judgement of a situation, or a new competition, or a product. When such incidents occur, do not lose heart. You can either run from your mistakes or you learn from them. When you learn from them, you’ll be better prepared for the next time, and that is how you grow better leadership skills.
Be compassionate and empathetic:
Most people tend to keep their emotions separate from business. While this may help with certain things like, avoiding interpersonal workplace relationships and maintaining workplace decorum, it doesn’t do any good to be aloof about your employees either.
Always be empathetic. Try to understand a situation from that person’s point of view. When you let your employees see your softer side, they tend to connect a little more with you and that would reflect upon their work. At the same time, make sure to not let them take advantage of your kindness. Be a kind yet firm leader.
Hope this gave you some insight on where to focus. So, follow these 5 little tricks to get the best results in business leadership.
