What qualities come to your mind when someone talks about a good leader? What should a leader do?
Isabelle Kocher, a French businesswoman, and CEO answer these questions as below:
“As a leader, you must trust and empower your teams. Give them a clear direction, explain the purpose of the company, and give them the means to do their jobs. A leader must also empower people and help them grow and build on their strengths while practicing to improve on their blind spots.”
Isabelle Kocher
Regardless of what you think, being a leader means becoming a good leader is not easy at all. You may understand the definition of a good leader, but you may face some difficulties when it comes to acting like one.
Here are some efficient tips to help you become a better leader.
1- Listen to your team
One of the essential parts of understanding your team members is to listen to them. Spend time with your team members and let them talk to you about different topics on their minds, such as their concerns, issues, or even their work ideas. You should listen to them to understand their needs so you can create a better workspace for all of your employees.
A real leader cares about members’ needs and tries to be a good listener. As a leader, you can use different methods and tools to communicate with each team member. One of the most effective tools for communicating with a team member is a 1:1 meeting.
2- Give continuous feedback and ask for feedback
As we mentioned in previous posts, constructive feedback improves employee performance and plays an important role in employees’ personal development. Giving feedback to your team members helps them find their strengths and weaknesses and better understand your expectations. In companies where giving feedback is common, employees show more flexibility about receiving positive and negative feedback.
On the other hand, asking for feedback helps you to know how your team members perceive you. It will give you an opportunity to improve your leadership skills.
3- Make your employees feel what they do is valuable
As a leader, one of your most important responsibilities is making your team members feel valued. Let your team members know that what they do is important to you and the team and their work, and efforts are appreciated.
4- Encourage personal development
Leaders are not only responsible for the success of the business but also for the employees’ personal development. Good leaders empower their employees to grow by supporting them financially and giving them challenging opportunities. Also, leaders need to think about different ways and tools to empower their team members.
5- Care about recognition and rewarding in your team
Another quality of a good leader is that they know the importance of offering recognition and rewarding in their teams. Appreciation is a fundamental part of the work environment. Employees need to feel that they are appreciated for what they do as a job.
When employees are valued for what they do, their productivity and motivation increase, and it will have a positive effect on the business’s progress
6- Set clear objectives
Setting clear goals and tracking them will lead to employee success. As leaders, you can use some tools for clear goal setting and tracking. OKR tools allow employees to set goals for themselves, define 2-3 key results for each goal, and watch their progress to achieve them.
7- Have a professional and positive manner
Regardless of who you are or what you do, manners always matter. But now we are talking about good leaders; you should remember good leaders have good manners too. Your manners as a leader are very important to employees.