Are Your #Managers Good #Leaders?

Are you getting the best leadership from your company’s managers? Not all managers are leaders – and your business needs leaders to succeed.

Leaders can help guide your team through the everyday challenges of work, and use their vision to steer your business towards a bright and prosperous future.

What can you do to get the best leadership from your company’s managers?

Hire and Promote the Best

Good leadership starts with the right people.

Whether you’re looking to hire someone new, or looking to promote someone within your business, you should always aim to choose people with the strong leadership skills your business needs.

Skills to look for include:

• Calmness under pressure;
• Courage;
• A proactive personality;
• Strong listening skills;
• An analytical streak;
• Good business knowledge and instincts;
• Excellent people skills;
• Honesty and authenticity.

Know what makes a good leader, and look for those traits whenever you have a position to fill.

Look for Strengths

Sometimes good leadership skills are in front of you and you just haven’t seen them yet. Take the time to really get to know your team and your managers.

Ask yourself who has the right skills to be a strong leader? Who has great raw material but just needs some polishing?

As well as every day observations, you might find it useful to run some team bonding activities to really see how your managers interact with people.

This also provides your team the chance to get to know each other, which can helps with team cohesion and in turn help your leaders to steer your team.

Encourage Good Leadership

Don’t leave good leadership to chance. Actively encourage it within your management team and your business as a whole.

Talk about leadership.

Make it a keystone of your business and a definite part of your business plan going forward.

Sit down with your managers and talk about leadership and why it matters. Let them know what you expect from them and what they can expect from you in terms of support.

Offer Training

Good leaders aren’t born, they’re made.

Maybe not all managers are leaders – but many of them can become great leaders with the right support.

As the article, “Thinking Patterns to Embrace for Better Leadership” points out the greatest leaders are those who actively work on improving leadership skills until they become ingrained.

Leadership is a skill like any other, and it can be learned and honed.

Offer your managers leadership training and you’ll be equipping them with the skills they need to take your business forward.

Offer Chances to Shine

If you want to get the best leadership from your management team, you need to offer them chances to show you what they can do. If something needs doing, take a look at your team and think about who has the right skills to get the job done.

Give your team the opportunity to show that they can lead new projects or new teams, and to practice the skills learned during leadership training.

Build the Right Culture

Good leadership doesn’t exist on its own, but rather is part of the overall culture of your business.

Respect, communication and openness are all key parts of good leadership, so build those into the foundation of your business.

Encourage a culture where your team is honest with each other, respectful to their colleagues, and where everyone knows management cares about and has time for them.

Good leadership skills will serve your business well for years to come.

Put in the time and effort to bring out the best in your leaders and watch your business go from strength to strength.

About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a variety of topics including social media, how to build customer relationships, content marketing and how to bring out the best in your leadership team.