As a business owner, it’s not only important to be a good boss – you must also be a good leader to the people whom you work with. As the person in charge of your company, it’s down to you to ensure its success, which often means building good relationships with your staff and promoting high levels of satisfaction and engagement at work. But, it’s impossible to do these things successfully if you are a bad leader, as no matter how hard you try, your employees are still likely to resent you if you do not manage well or set a great example in the workplace. We’ve listed just some of the main things that employees want from a good leader at work.
In order to lead successfully, you will need to be an authority figure in your field. Although many business owners don’t have formal qualifications, studying for a degree such as the AACSB online MBA degree from Northeastern University can certainly help you to expand your business knowledge and ensure that you are able to provide your employees with any answers to their questions. A good leader also has to be a trusted advisor; therefore studying for a program such as an online MBA degree can be very useful for not only improving your business skills, but your leadership skills, too.
One of the biggest mistakes made by many business owners and managers is leaving their ‘human side’ at home. If you turn into an emotionless robot in the workplace and don’t care about the personal plights of your employees, you’ll end with a bad reputation fairly quickly. As a good leader, it’s important to let your human side show in order to connect with your employees in a positive way. Sharing some information about yourself and chatting to employees on a personal level about their families, hobbies, interests and more is just one of the things that all great leaders know is important.
Another key quality that employees expect from great leaders in the workplace is transparency. Employees who are kept in the loop about what’s going on at work tend to be much happier and far more satisfied with their roles than those who are kept in the dark and have changes sprung upon them suddenly. Constant communication with your employees, either electronically or in-person, will ensure that they are kept up to date with business developments and relieve any anxieties that they may have about changes at work. Along with informing your employees, great leaders also ask their opinions on changes and developments, as they know that what the workers think is hugely important to a company.
Lastly, great leaders will always jump at the chance to provide their employees with great opportunities. Whether it’s networking with influential people, regular on-the-job training, having first pick of new positions that arise in the company, or even providing funding for college tuition, great leaders invest in their people and are there to help them to reach their goals.
What do you expect from a great leader? We’d love to hear from you in the comments
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