As the head of a business, you need to have a certain level of skill and be able to effectively take control of a variety of situations. Leadership can be hard, especially in a small business where you work in a tight knit environment. Opinions from employees about how to handle certain situations can run awry with you being so close to hand. There are different types of leadership, from the people-pleaser to the micro manager, but to be the most efficient you need to combine parts of each style to become a well-rounded, well respected boss.
1. You can’t please everyone.
Problem: You try to keep everyone in the office happy by agreeing to everyone’s suggestions. This can cause friction, as a solution to one situation may bring about a problem to another.
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Advice: Take each opinion under advisement. As a manager you have to weigh whether the needs of the business come first or the needs of an employee. It’s your duty to decide which is the lesser of two evils.
2. Your employees are not your friends.
Problem: You might get on with certain staff members more than others on a personal level—perhaps you support the same sports team, for example. While it may seem great that you can go for a beer and watch the game with some of your staff members after work, other employees may see this as favoritism. The office may become a difficult place to work for an employee who perhaps favors a different sports team and as a result could feel excluded.
Advice: Find something which the whole team relates to, or plan a team building exercise. Explain to your work ‘friends’ that as the head of the office, unless it involves the whole staff base, your out-of-work activities can no longer go on.
3. Don’t be aggressive.
Problem: In business there’s always pressure with targets to hit and the revenue to generate, but don’t let it affect your temperament. There’s a big difference between being assertive and being aggressive. A domineering management styles is much less effective in the long term. This management style will lead to lack of respect and a feeling of dread among your employees when they step into the office, which can have a detrimental effect on the whole company.
A few big no-no’s in business management:
- Shouting at one employee in front of other staff.
- Swearing.
- Setting unrealistic goals.
Advice: When the pressure of a deadline is looming, it’s a good idea to have a team meeting. Explain what needs to be done and see if, as a team, you can work together to build a solution. This will help the whole team feel the responsibility to achieve targets, especially if they set their own goals.
4. Don’t Micro-Manage.
Problem: Micro managers will often resist delegating work. By constantly monitoring everyone’s progress, it may seem like you’re being thorough, but in fact the opposite is often true. This can lead to employees not having confidence in their work, or you as a boss.
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Advice: Instead of focusing on every minor detail, take a step back to observe and manage the bigger picture, rather than all the individual components. Trust the people you’ve employed to do their job and you could be pleasantly surprised by the result.
5. Have Confidence.
Problem: Finding the right balance of the above points can be tricky, and trying to incorporate each idea may lead to you changing tactics and ideas at a rapid rate. Doing this may lead to a lack of confidence in one idea.
Advice: Have confidence in yourself and your business plans, but above all listen to others. Have weekly or monthly meetings with your team where everyone can express their opinions—but remember, your say is final.
All of the following points have good management styles at the root; the trick is to pick out the positives and incorporate them into a successful, confident management style.
Extract each of these points and put them to fruition to see results:
- You can’t please everyone, but you can hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions in an open setting.
- You can be friendly with your co-workers, but make sure you also have their respect.
- Strive for the best possible outcome, push for the best in an assertive, yet unaggressive, manner.
- Let your employees do the job you hired them to do and have faith in the outcome.
- Be confident in your ideas.
You are the boss. Be the boss.
Author: Emily Farnan is passionate about in all forms and gaining knowledge from where she can. She’s particularly interested in small business trends and writes for Make It Cheaper.
Follow her on twitter to keep up with the musings.
Published: March 26, 2015
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