Better Business Leadership – Improving Connection and Employee Confidence

Regardless of the size of your business, your success depends on your leadership.

How we’re defining leadership has changed here in my office, and after seeing the significant increase in productivity, profit, and overall employee satisfaction, I hope other businesses follow suit. 

I believe we need to move from the old leadership model. We were formerly in this sort of command and control type of leadership model. There was a boss and subordinates. The boss made the plans, designated tasks, and the employees just kind of fulfilled their duties. Ho hum.

Do you know what your employees really want? With The Great Resignation taking place, we are hearing more and more that your employees want a sense of purpose, belonging, and to be of value to your team. 

This translates into leaders realizing, or remembering, that they are in all reality, a servant to their business and a shepherd for their team members. A modern and effective leader knows it’s time to move away from the antiquated model of leadership. If you haven’t already, it’s time to quit command and control, to become a steward of collaboration, connection and confidence. 

Connection

• Leadership/employee connection – It goes beyond lunch. The job of a leader in today’s environment is to help form connections, both interpersonally and professionally. Leaders need to make sure their team is connected to their own personal mission within the company, at the same time, driving the overall mission of the business. 
• Team connection – We call our co-workers our “wamily”, because we have become a work family environment. To some, it sounds a bit silly, but we really have become each other’s biggest supporters. When you have this kind of relationship and connection within your business, there is heightened dedication to each other and enhanced ownership over relationships.
• How to create connections – There’s no one size fits all model but I can share what we do in our business. Our team members have a quick, 10-15 minute mini huddle each day to list their “big ones”, that one task they must complete, report in if they completed their big one from the day prior, and to give a personal update. Here’s the thing – having time allowance to share what you’re working on does two things. 1. It keeps clear communication with your team regarding what you’re working on. 2. Sharing what we’re working on offers an opportunity for others to support someone in that task and collaborate together if something is tricky. We also keep it fun. Anyone who completed their task gets entered into a drawing to spin our prize wheel. On it, are an assortment of prizes from a compliment circle, to picking music for the day, to  lottery ticket, to a large monetary gift to a favorite charity. 

(I’m told there’s no need to pay my team off, but man are folks in it to win it when it comes time to spin that wheel!)

Confidence

A lack of confidence gets in the way of performance and happiness. Kind of goes without saying. Even people grounded in their self esteem can lose confidence from time to time – we’re only human! So how can a leader improve employee confidence?

• Communication – In those meetings? Stay transparent in your communication and keep your team up to date on future plans you have for the business. The last thing you want is people speculating about their job security, which makes productivity take a major nose dive.
• Role alignment – Place your employee in a position to flourish. People perform best when their skills are aligned with their job descriptions. Don’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole. Leaders need to ensure they are matching employees with their innate skill sets. Even if you’re hiring for one position, if you see someone is highly qualified in another area, and is a great cultural fit, don’t miss out on that opportunity to garner great results from that person in a different role. Be a company where employees have the opportunity to explore what’s important to them, expand and grow. Let go of premeditated expectations and accept the happy surprises along the way that can strengthen your business. 
• Autonomy – Not everyone can flourish simply by completing directive tasks. Where’s the autonomy in that? Once you have the right person in the right role, let them go! It’s good to outline the expectations of a deliverable and to have updates, but don’t micromanage (But! But! I know, it’s hard to let go!) You’re only hiring employees you trust, right? So give them the resources and the reins to create systems and complete tasks. The end result will likely be better than you predicted. 
• Empowerment – Each of my employees will tell you that they feel empowered by working here. We offer training and resources so that everyone feels capable of their roles, and then some. Our leadership is sure to listen to perspectives around the business and often take employee suggestions and put them into action. When team members see their personal and professional growth, their dedication grows – and ta da! So does profit!

In our own office, we even invite our employees to start their own business, write books, or what have you if they so desire. The result of our leadership supporting employees’ goals means they feel they have that agency to build their skills. And those skills almost always end up benefiting the company too.

Remember – Move from command and control to connection and confidence. Encourage innovation and collaboration. And most of all, positive leadership relationships equal positive results.

You’ve got this!

-Mike

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