How to Become a Great Business Leader
If you’re in a leadership position in your business, then you know the importance of always wanting to improve your leadership skills. Fortunately there are always ways to improve. Here are some ways you can become a great business leader.
Work with Your Team
If you want to be a good leader, take the time to work alongside your team. This means taking on tasks that help your team out. You may need to operate the customer service desk from time to time, write a blog post or manage the social media accounts.
Working with your team creates buy-in. When those you’re leading know that you work just as hard as they do and that you won’t ask anything of them that you wouldn’t do yourself, they are going to work much harder for you. This skill also helps build organizational trust.
Be Okay with Being Uncomfortable
When you become a leader, you give up your right to be comfortable. Whether it’s giving big presentations, making hard decisions or dealing with big organizational issues, you’re going to spend a lot of time outside your comfort zone. You need to be okay with this. Afterall, you’ll never grow if you stay inside your comfort zone.
In fact, you need to become mentally strong so that you can thrive outside your comfort zone. Others are relying on you to keep it together and keep the organization moving forward. You’ll need to have mental strength to do this. Mental strength means focusing on what you can control and not what you can’t. It means going about things with intention, and it means getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Understand How Others Perceive You
Along with spending a lot of time outside your comfort zone, part of being a good leader is understanding how your team, community and partners perceive you. Does your team know what a hard worker you are? Do they feel you have their best interest and the best interest of the organization at heart?
You should also ask yourself the same questions of your partners and community. How does your business fit into the community? Are you welcomed and a contributing member of the community? Do partners enjoy working with you? You should constantly be asking yourself these questions and assessing where you are.
Be Inspiring
As you assess how others perceive you, it’s important to understand whether you inspire them. Inspiration is a form of motivation. Being inspiring means those who work for you and with you are going to be more likely to buy-in to whatever it is you’re selling.
How can you become more inspiring? Believe in what you’re doing! Have a clear mission and explain it to your stakeholders. Then, stand for your mission and work towards your goals.
Always Be Learning
A part of being inspiring is being a great teacher. But you can’t be a great teacher unless you yourself are learning. For one, it’s important to your business that you stay on top of current trends and that you’re doing things in such a way that keeps your business relevant and moving forward.
Second, it’s important to continue learning about your team, your industry and the world. You’ll need to keep your perspective up to date and fresh. Learn from others who think differently than you. Whether they bring a fresh, young perspective to your team or an older, tried and true perspective, don’t be afraid to learn and make changes that are positive for your team.
Be Humble
Finally, be humble. It can be easy to get a big head when your business is successful. Never forget why you’re successful though. You’re successful because of your team and those around you. This is important to remember because chasing praise and accolades is likely to lead to you steering your team in the wrong direction.
Whether it’s remembering your intention or getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, work on improving your leadership skills so you can be the best leader you can be.
