This article is provided by Jason Dirkham.
When people start a business for the first time, they often think that it will be the financial side of the business, or the marketing that will be the hardest thing. But in most cases, the thing that people find the hardest is managing a team of people. Being a good manager isn’t just about delegating work, there’s a lot more to it than that. Motivating people is tough and if you take a hard line with people and simply tell them that they need to listen to you because you’re the boss, it’s not likely to work. They might do what you say, but they won’t be very productive at all, and they won’t be invested in the success of the business. Being a good manager isn’t something that you learn overnight, it takes a long while to develop those skills. But if your new business is going to be a success, it’s important that you pick up the basics pretty quickly. These are some of the best ways for new business owners to improve their management style.
Be Honest About Your Mistakes
As a new business owner, you are covering a lot of new ground and that means that you are going to make some mistakes along the way. That’s perfectly normal, and the way that you react to those mistakes has a big impact on your ability to lead a team. If you are upfront about your mistakes and you use them as an opportunity for personal development, you can learn from your mistakes and your employees will respect you. But if you refuse to admit to any of your mistakes and insist that you ever get it wrong, your employees will lose all respect for you. You will end up making the same mistakes over and over again and your management style will never improve.
Invest In Formal Training
People often say that you can’t learn to be a good leader, you either have it or you don’t. But that isn’t true and while some people are naturally good at motivating a team, there are a lot of things that you need to learn, so you should invest in formal training. Look for universities with online mba programs and consider taking a course in your spare time. You will learn a lot about project management, as well as some more general information about the day to day running of a business. By investing in education, you will make yourself a more effective boss and your employees will respect the effort.
Ask Your Employees
Everybody employee is different and they all have their own working style. Some people work best when left to their own devices while some people would prefer more hands-on guidance from their superiors. If you want to know how best to manage your employees, you should simply ask them how they like to be managed. As long as you take their feedback on board and adapt your management style accordingly, they will be a lot more receptive.
These are all basic things that you can do to improve your management style and be a better leader, but always remember that it takes time to develop these skills.
This article is provided by Jason Dirkham.
