There is nothing that feels better than landing yourself a leadership role when you have worked for it for so long. It’s your dream job on paper, and you have a larger team under you with better responsibilities: why wouldn’t you want that job? The problem? The day-to-day realities of being in charge are surprising you because you really didn’t think that the corner office and the higher salary would be a bad thing.
When you’re the person in charge, you want your employees to feel good and work well, and while you think that you’re doing everything possible to make life easy for them in the workplace, you may not be. Employees want so much more out of their jobs than a free breakfast (though that’s a great perk to include!) and you need to be a better leader to know that you are offering people the right things. The best leaders out there are offering health benefits, free project management courses to help employees to better themselves and they’re doing all that they can to improve the energy of the team. Are you doing all of these things? You have to do what you can to make employees feel empowered, ready to take on anything and confident in their jobs. You don’t have to have a team circle before work to put your hands in and chant your company name, but you do need to show that you care about others. So, here are some ways that you can be a better leader today.
You need to learn how to listen. This is the very first thing that you have to do. Leaders don’t just listen to the good things people tell them; they listen to the criticism and they take it on board. It’s only the authoritarian leaders that don’t listen, and those who aren’t paying attention are going to miss the finer details. Hear what people are telling you and take their ideas on board. It’s very possible that – even though you’re in charge – other people are going to have a better idea of what’s correct compared to you. You need to strengthen your team mentality and one way to do it is to show your employees that you welcome the things that they have to say.
Leaders learn the difference between the people who are professional and who are amateur in their office. You need to learn how to cherry pick the talent and elevate them while balancing teaching the amateurs how to be more talented! Your job is to lift everyone in your business, and even though there will be people who stand out, you can still make those who don’t feel as if they have potential, too.
Leaving your ego at the door is the last way to better yourself as a leader. You need to remember that you may be the one at the top of the chain, but you were once at the bottom. You need to be a little more humble in the things that you are doing. You want to guarantee that the work gets done while showing a little humanity with it. Don’t be the leader people fear; be the leader people want to come to for help and advice.
