by Darren Fichtner, Kansas SBDC Advisor
Your role as a leader is vitally important to the success of your business. I strongly recommend reading and understanding Colin Powell’s Thirteen Rules of Leadership. I found these years ago and still stand by these rules for just about any leader to follow. A great leader doesn’t put their focus on profitability. You ultimate job as a leader, is to guide, motivate and inspire your people. Profitability is just the result of that process. Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.
Here are six tip to improve your skills as a leader:
- Start with determining your personality type. That will give you a basis as to how you can use your strong qualities in your leadership role and to determine what areas you need growth.
- Leadership can be a learned skill. Yes, some people are natural born leaders but, you can also develop as a leader through coaching and mentorship.
- Practice humility – check your ego at the door. Remember a good leader has zero employees. Work hard for your team.
- Be a great listener.
- Surround yourself with good people – hiring the right person is the key to having great success. Make them feel like they are part of the process rather than just there for a paycheck.
- Stay away from “panic mode”. Panic causes stress and nobody makes great decisions under stress. If a challenge arises that you don’t have an immediate answer to, take a step back and look at it from different angles. Make the decision after extensive calculation. You want to be a problem solver.
