In today’s society, a considerable part of the population is either running their business or thinking about starting one. In this case, commitment to ideas, discipline, and negotiation skills are considered very important. However, without good leadership skills, it is often impossible to grow a business from scratch. Entrepreneurs that realize the importance of great leadership skills are constantly evolving, learning new skills, and looking for new ways to effectively manage and lead their team. This however comes after a self-awareness process of the kind of leadership style you possess.
What is a Leadership Style
A leadership style is the characteristic behavior of a leader when directing, encouraging, and guiding groups of people. Udi Dorner, Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Set Schedule explained that the most important thing as a leader is to always remember that your team is composed of different people with unique personalities who can learn to work together to achieve a singular goal. In a Forbes article, Michael McMullan, CEO of Prominence Homes and author of Build. Rent. Sell. Repeat! listed three effective leadership styles as the visionary, the artist, and the mathematician. To figure out your leadership style, only you can define the type of leader you are. Although it is okay to research and read articles and books by leadership mentors, to be an effective leader, there is no checklist.
After figuring out this stage, how do you improve on your styles to ensure your team works together to achieve the singular objective of your business?
Below are five tips to help you review your leadership styles and find out where you can improve.
1. Identify Patterns
The first step is identifying patterns. Take a look at past events where you had to take key decisions, past successes, and failures and identify patterns. Reflect on your leadership strengths and weaknesses. Are you great at providing innovative solutions to issues at work? How do you handle pressure and deadlines? An honest self-evaluation is one of the best ways to review and judge your leadership. Identify your pattern of leadership, look for the bad side and you have a solution.
2. Read Leadership Books
The Forbes Council Member recommends this method for leaders to improve their leadership styles. Reading books by high-profile business leaders and leadership coaches is a good way of analyzing your actions and abilities as a leader. This is always useful because you get to learn from the experiences of the author. In their book, they are likely to share their lessons, mistakes, and journies all of which can help you reflect on your leadership behaviours.
3. Listen To Your Team
The best way to improve your leadership skills as an entrepreneur is to ask for feedback from colleagues, team members, and even your employees. Organize a performance appraisal session, and let your team tell you how you are doing. According to Trivinia Barber of PriorityVA, getting feedback from your team or colleagues doesn’t translate to you being a weak leader. Instead, it shows you respect their opinions and are willing to adjust. If you expect your team to demonstrate growth in their jobs, you need to serve as an example.
4. Journal Your Everyday Activities
If you want to effectively review and improve your leadership skills, you must constantly journal your everyday activities. When you take notes of the events you go through every day and how you react to them, it helps become better the next time you are in such a situation. Using a journaling app on your phone or even a physical journal pad can help you keep stock of your previous entries and find areas you need to improve on as a leader.
5. Stay Updated With Current Leadership Trends
The world today is a digital one, and so moves so fast, with new trends and values springing up every day. As a good leader and entrepreneur, you need to stay updated with the marketing, technology, public relations sector, and other important areas of your niche industry. While staying updated, you will always come across new tools, techniques, and business practices. Try to do your research on areas that might be confusing and build your skills.