Are you listening to what your employees are saying about you?
Being aware of what your employees think of you and the force you have on their behaviour is a powerful form of insight. As an authority figure, your conduct and actions will have a significant impact on how your staff feels about their jobs. A motivated, loyal and high achieving workforce is usually the doing of a great leader.
So, what do you think your staff says about you? Chances are, even the smallest of firms will never know the answer to this question. Unless you overhear your employees talking about how your management skills are making their jobs more difficult, you may be surprised to know your teams lack of performance is because your leadership skills are inadequate.
If you’re unaware of how your leadership is affecting your staff productivity, you are running business with your head in the sand. Know what your employees think about you before your business fails:
Be Friendly and Encourage Interaction
Think of the best boss you have ever had. What were their leadership characteristics like? How did they channel their personality in work? How did they make you enjoy your job role? And how did they allow you to develop? Now, think of the worst boss you have ever had and determine what made them so lousy.
Bad bosses are often the primary reason for people leaving their jobs. In every business environment, interaction is the key to a successful working performance. Workers interact with clients, co-workers, and superiors on a regular basis. When these workers have an exceptional boss or manager, their life at work is made easier.
Discuss Disagreement and Welcome Criticism
The two most predominant characteristics of being a bad boss is: not admitting to when you’re wrong and shooting the messenger of the bad news. If you simply choose to ignore feedback, your business problems will escalate and never be solved. As a leader you must view such criticism as growth-minded feedback.
Ask yourself: are you embracing the opinions of others and are you providing an outlet to discuss disagreements? Employees should be able to communicate their opinions in a way that makes them feel as if their input was heard by management and considered. Sure, there may be a conflict of opinions, but their feelings matter just as much as yours.
Workplace Stress and Reoccurring Problems
Employees should be engaged, motivated and clear on their goals. However, working often leads to stress and sometimes employees want to vent this stress. When employees vent, what they are saying may be exaggerated and more often than not, feelings expressed are a heat of the moment. As a leader, you must understand your employees motives and be able to differentiate between stress and reoccurring problems and act accordingly to both situations.
On the other hand, if you want to be an active part in your business growth, you must be open to change. With leadership comes change. Change can provoke feelings of loss and fear. As a result, staff will point the blame in your direction as a reflection on how powerless they feel.
In Conclusion
As an authority figure, you must be regularly making sure that all staff feel supported enough to deliver and outperform their tasks. If grumbles result in a lack of productivity, confront staff members and welcome feedback on such subjects. The longer you leave the situation, the harder it will be to put business back on track. Remember that a manger which shows admiration to his or her employees is a respected manager.
