How Do I Lead My Employees?

The topic of “Leadership” is extremely big.  There are a lot of speakers and authors who write about it.  But one of the often-missing parts of the story is – what comes before leadership?

A very big starting point is a clear destination!  Where are we going? 

Employees will want to know if they want to be led to that destination.  For example, the owner getting rich is probably not going to motivate employees very much – unless they also have a significant piece of the action.  But being the “best in the – City / Region / Country / World” - at solving XYZ problem for customers might motivate people.  They like to feel like winners.  Your job as leader is to give them a target for them to become the “best” at.  Or biggest.  Or something.

 An additional aspect of that is to consistently make every single decision consistent with that destination. 

 No exceptions. No “yes – but’s”. 

 A third aspect of that is to embrace risk taking – as long as the risks can be tested, contained and controlled until we know how to manage them and go big.  That means we have processes and procedures in operation to measure all the appropriate factors.  This can be tricky – we may need to measure more aspects of our business, and share the numbers, than we feel comfortable.  But if we are not transparent – we are not fully honest.  And therefore, we are not fully trustworthy in the eyes of our Team. 

 That leads us to a very important precursor to Leadership – and that is Management!

 Yes – precursor.  That means – it comes first.

 And NO – Management is not a dirty word. 

 Problems cannot be solved it we don’t know they are there.  We have to measure progress toward our Goals – and Vision - to know if we are doing things that take us in the right direction.  And how quickly.  That allows the Team members to learn better ways – and tune their efforts.  It also allows us to know if our training methods work effectively.  If we don’t already know how – it is time to learn.

 Along with measurements – and reporting results – good management requires frequent communication.  But communication about the right things.  Daily huddles about what we achieved yesterday, what we will achieve today, and where we need help are great places to start.  NOTE – I did not say what we did, or will do.  Outcomes are more important than activities.  Focus on outcomes.  And methods - to ensure they meet your standards of performance.  If you want repeat business and referrals – you need people doing things in ways that please and impress customers. 

 Kind of a side issue, but relevant, is we need to let go of the “superman syndrome”.  We want to make sure we hire people with the intention of helping them become better than we are – so we do not have to do that task anymore.  We can depend on them doing it better than we can.  Part of that means we need to make sure we hire well, and train well – and give them the tools to get better.  This is why the training and measurement systems are so important.  The numbers provide the feedback.  And then reward people for excellent results. 

 Otherwise, we stay slave to our own business.  If the topic of Leadership is important enough to you to read this far – I don’t think that was your goal.

 After all these are functioning successfully, then we can focus on destination … destination … destination.  And how to empower and excite our team to get us all there.  Because Together Everyone Achieves More.  And that is what Leadership is all about. 

 Do you want to know your key focus area to help grow your business? Try our 3 min Assessment Quiz at https://stevechiama.nextlevelassessment.com/?source=LI_Event - 6Steps

 If you would like to talk about your situation, hit the “SCHEDULE A CALL” button, and let’s talk about your specific case.