Why SMEs need to have good leadership skills
But how do you breathe life into a
strategy, keep on track, make it happen and achieve your goals? To do this you
will need a driver, and this comes in the form of effective leadership!
Having effective leadership within
your business will ensure that your business strategy is successful and your
business reaches its full potential.
Sounds easy right, but what if this
is your first business venture and you don’t possess any leadership skills?
This article is designed to help you
to understand why leadership is important for business owners and how you can
improve your leadership skills, get the most out of your team and ultimately
achieve your business vision.
Before we continue, we are assuming
that your business has a clearly defined strategy in place because we believe
that combining effective leadership with a defined business strategy is
paramount to your business’s success. Read Business Doctor, Paul Shaw’s
article The importance of a Business Strategy for more information.
Leadership skills and the
SME
Leadership in business is the process of directing workers and
colleagues to work within the business strategy to achieve your company goals.
For the SME business owner, the roles of management and
leadership often become blurry, especially where the owner/founder is involved
in all aspects of managing the day-to-day business operations and ensuring the
business runs smoothly and efficiently.
Leadership on the other hand will focus on inspiring and
motivating people within your business in order to drive your strategy forward,
and this requires a very different skillset.
A good starting point is to involve your people in your vision,
discuss the challenges, get their input and use their feedback constructively.
You will need to develop strong interpersonal skills and be able
to recognize what drives individuals and be aware of their strengths and
weaknesses.
Motivational skills are a must and your ability to inspire
others, are qualities that will help you to get your people to go the extra
mile, as you champion the direction your business is heading.
Bringing the best out of
people
Lolly Daskal, author of the
national bestseller, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your
Greatness says that learning how to bring out the best in others is one of the
most important things you will ever do as a leader.
The effectiveness of your
business strategy will depend upon how motivated and engaged your people are.
Business Doctor Graham Robson believes that the staff of the organization,
whether it is 5 or 500, needs to be engaged and feel part of the development of
the strategic direction of the business. He says they need to feel that their
contribution counts. Here are our top 5 tips on how to bring the best out of
your people and achieve your company goals.
1.
Believe in your team
Before we talk about developing
people, you should evaluate your team – do you believe you have the right
people in the right roles, are there any adjustments that need to be made? If
you are happy and confident that the team is capable of driving your strategy,
be sure to let them know you believe in them.
2.
Have a clear strategic
direction
A team that has been presented
with a clear plan is more likely to succeed and if you involved them in the
initial planning process, they will be more likely to go the extra mile for
you.
3.
Lead by example
Demonstrate a positive attitude,
strong work ethic, and high standards at all times and your team will follow
your example.
4.
Empower your people
Allow your people to make their
own decisions, find solutions and work through challenges. Offer your support
and remember to provide constructive feedback when things go well and/or not
well.
5.
Provide regular feedback
Be honest and positive, show
empathy always constructive, and give plenty of praise when your people
deliver. Public praise works well when appropriate but constructive criticism
should be always given in private!
Motivating and inspiring to
action
Employee motivation is key to
your organization’s success. Without it, you will experience lower productivity
levels and will undoubtedly fall short of achieving your strategy.
Within a business, there are five
key components that will help you to motivate your people and inspire them to
be the best they can be.
Share your vision and
mission statement
It will be easier for you to
inspire your team if you have a compelling vision and mission statement. At
Business Doctors, we believe that the starting point for developing an
effective team is in developing a ‘business vision’ a reason why the organization
exists built from the core values and beliefs of the owner. Your mission
should include your purpose to customers, suppliers, and the media. If you need
help creating your vision, refer to our previous posts for more information. Business
Vision, Mission and Values by Business Doctor, Paul Shaw and – How to
build a values-driven business, by Business Doctor, Jason French.
Encourage open communication
Encourage open communication
within your business – listen and recognize when action needs to be taken, it
will help you to understand what is affecting an individual’s performance and
you may be able to offer some solutions.
Promote health and wellbeing
Promoting healthy habits within
your business can help to reduce stress and maintain staff energy levels. You
should have clear policies to promote well-being, such as health and safety,
working time, sickness absence, and return to work.
Give recognition and rewards
When employees achieve positive
results, perform well, or generally demonstrate good behavior, take the time to
praise them and be specific about why. This can have a huge impact on staff
morale. Think about other tangible ways of rewarding positive behavior to
encourage a good culture within your business.
Provide
opportunities for development
Consider your staff’s needs and
look out for any training opportunities, and show them you care about their
progression within the business.
Take a look at our blog post on Employee
Motivation for some other helpful tips.
Improved business results
Having a robust business strategy
in place that is being driven by an effective leadership team is key to
unlocking your true business potential.
When you have developed a strong
set of leadership skills, you will be able to recognize when your staff is not
putting in their best performance. This will enable you to take positive action
before your overall business performance starts to suffer.
A Gallup study reveals
that “85% of employees are not involved in the work. This staggering statistic
confirms what we already think – most employees give their time for the sake of
making money and therefore are delivering their best efforts, in other words,
they only do what they are asked to do without any enthusiasm or desire to put
any extra effort in.”
Gallup also reports that
“increasing an employee’s level of engagement can improve performance by 20 percent
or more. On a larger scale, this individual performance boost can have a huge
impact on the company’s performance, reinforcing that happy employees tend to
be more productive.”
The fact is that poor employee
performance can result in massive losses for businesses but with strong
leadership in place, staff will be motivated, happy and more effective.
Staff
morale
Developing a motivated and
engaged workforce is key to achieving a healthy company culture. When
company morale is high, your company is more likely to hit key deadlines,
improve customer satisfaction and be more profitable.
A happy workforce will result in
stronger internal relationships, as well as better relationships with suppliers
and customers alike.
The Harvard Business Review reports
that there is a strong statistical link between employee well-being reported on
Glassdoor and customer satisfaction among a large sample of some of the largest
companies today. They claim that a happier workforce is clearly associated with
a company’s ability to deliver better customer satisfaction.
Whereas, The Corporate Leadership
Council reports that a high level of employee morale and engagement reduces an
employee’s probability of quitting by up to 87 percent business consultant.
As well as being more productive
and enjoying improved relationships, happy staff are less likely to leave your
business, so you have continuity and avoid the costly process of hiring and
retraining.
Summary
We hope that this article has
helped you to understand why leadership skills are so important for SME
business owners.
After reading this, you may recognize
that your business could benefit from improved leadership skills, and we can
help! Our advisors regularly run free seminars and workshops and will be happy
to provide you with advice on the subject. Get in touch with your local
Business Doctor for more information.
.png)
Comments
Post a Comment