We reveal the 5 key leadership traits that need to evolve in a true leader.
It’s been an exhausting process advertising, interviewing, employing a new staff member, then you invest more time to train them and get to know them. It seems like months before they start to make you money, then they leave.
“What could I have done differently” you ask yourself. On reflection of the time they spent with you what happened? I mean, what really happened? Can you put your finger on a single reason? Were you too tough? Too lax? Maybe you didn’t give them enough information, or maybe it was too much!
The trick to keeping your ‘good guys’ is to be the best leader you can be because staff don’t leave businesses, they leave leaders. And the leader in your business is….(drum roll please…) YOU.
Let’s take a look at 4 key leadership traits that need to be honed by the boss if we want to ‘keep the good guys’.
1. A company is a community, not a machine.
Ordinary bosses think their business is a machine with employees as cogs. They expect every day to run like clock-work sticking to rigid rules and maintaining control by “pulling levers”.
Extraordinary bosses see their business as a collection of individuals with their own hopes and dreams. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers, themselves and to the community–and company–at large.
2. Management is guidance, not control.
Ordinary bosses want employees to do exactly what they’re told. They run a dictatorship where every decision and action is scrutinised leaving the employees feeling helpless and fearful.
Extraordinary bosses set the goals and then help guide the team in achieving them. They provide encouragement in decision making, allowing teams to get things done and intervening only when necessary.
3. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.
Ordinary bosses see fear–the threat to be fired, bullying, the loss of privilege–as a key way to motivate people and get results. The upshot of this, employees and managers alike experience action paralysis and instead no progress occurs.
Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they’ll be a part of it. As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the company goals, truly enjoy what they’re doing and know they’ll share in the rewards.
4. Change equals growth, not pain.
Ordinary bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be prevented at all cost and endured only when a business is in desperate shape.
Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don’t value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and businesses embrace new ways of doing business to communicate better with their customers.
Got you thinking?
You should be because we all need to reflect inward if we ever want the best out of those around us.
Why? Because regardless of what responsibility you give someone, the buck stops with the boss. So best to act like one, and be the best you can. A strong leader.
How do you fair?
What’s next?
- Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
- Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
