How to Make Your Business Leaders Even Better

How to Help Your Leaders Reach Their Full Potential

As a business owner, you trust the leaders in your organization to make decisions and take the actions necessary to keep the organization profitable, thriving, and healthy. Chances are, you already have talented, committed leaders in place.

So what steps can you take to make those leaders even stronger?

The Power of Good Leaders

Good leaders can make your organization thrive in a variety of different ways. They bring discipline-specific expertise to your organization, helping you properly analyze problems as well as the best solutions to solve them. They can help identify decision points and make better decisions, ultimately leading your organization to a path of greater profitability. On top of that, they serve as a source of inspiration, motivation, and aspiration for the rest of your employees, enabling them to do their best work and reach their fullest potential.

That’s why so many business leaders are choosing to work with fractional CMOs. In the absence of a traditional CMO, or in addition to a traditional CMO, a fractional CMO can step in with marketing expertise, leadership experience, and perhaps above all, outside perspective. They serve as a temporary leader to give your organization the marketing leadership it needs to achieve a higher overall ROI – without necessarily costing you a fortune.

Chances are, you already have at least some established leaders in place within your organization. So what are the best strategies to improve those leaders?

How to Make Your Business Leaders Even Better

These are some of the best tactics for improving the abilities and performances of your leaders:

·         Hiring. Everything starts with the hiring process. If you’re hiring leaders from outside your organization, be thoughtful, careful, and discerning. Only choose people with a proven track record of leadership – and make sure they are a good cultural fit for your organization.

·         Promoting. If you’re promoting from within, you also need to choose the best possible candidates. Don’t just pick people based on how they’ve performed in the past; pick them based on demonstrated leadership abilities.

·         Educating. For leaders who are already in place, it’s never a bad idea to pursue ongoing education. New classes, workshops, and seminars can give your old leaders new tools for being more effective in the workplace.

·         Training. To supplement the education, provide some additional training. Just because someone is a leader already doesn’t mean they can’t learn from a leader above them. Consider pairing your leaders with mentors and other experienced leaders to give them new perspectives and direction.

·         Coaching. Similarly, you can provide coaching, especially if you’re a leader in your own right. It takes time to cultivate all the skills necessary to be an effective leader within the workplace.

Try to Develop the Following Skills as Your Top Priorities:

·         Motivation. There are good and bad ways to motivate employees. Good leaders know the difference between them. Generally, good leaders promote intrinsic motivation, helping employees find their own individual motivation for doing a good job. But they also back that up with extrinsic motivation, using rewards and praise to guide employees to their best level of performance.

·         Support. Leaders also serve a supportive role, giving employees the resources and tools they need to do their best, and consoling them and reassuring them when they’re having difficult moments. Sometimes, a friendly listening ear or a good piece of advice is all it takes to set a troubled employee on a better path.

·         Active listening. Active listening is arguably the most important skill for leaders to develop, in part because it can help with so many different situations. Patiently listening to someone explain their issue puts you in a better position to solve that issue. Regular active listening showcases respect and promotes team building.

·         Conflict resolution. Conflicts will inevitably arise in your business, so you need leaders who can handle those conflicts effectively. Most situations can be resolved or deescalated with openness, patience, and a genuine desire to find an agreeable solution.

·         Decisiveness. Good leaders also demonstrate decisiveness, making firm, resolute decisions once they have all the information necessary to do so. In many instances, any decision is better than no decision, and any action is better than inaction. It takes a long time to develop this mindset.

·         Cultural conformity. It’s tough to overstate the impact that your company culture can have. It influences not only collaborative potential and morale, but also productivity and profitability in the long term. Make sure all your leaders know about the importance of company culture and that they prioritize conforming to your vision for that culture.

With better leaders within your organization, it’s only natural that your organizational performance is going to improve. There are many different styles of leadership worth considering, but every style of leadership benefits by nailing the fundamentals.