The concept of leadership in every form is a mighty task that we all need to evaluate in ourselves. If you don’t have what it takes to lead your business, the chances are that many things that will fall by the wayside. You will miss opportunities, you won’t get the best workers, and your productivity, your products, and your purpose will suffer.
It could be a long journey to understand what you are truly made of in terms of leadership, but for some many people it is starting out on this long journey where you learn so much about, not just yourself, but how to run a business. But one of these shortcuts in getting to this almost perfect leadership personality is that you need to embody the traits of your business. Why is this? And what traits are beneficial?
It’s Easier To Remove The Emotion From The Business
Lots of people you encounter will say that you shouldn’t get emotionally involved in business dealings, but it’s very difficult when it’s your company, your money, and everything relies on your judgement. Lots of us can let our heart overrule our head, but when we are learning to find our feet with regards to what leadership style suits us, when trying to embody the traits of your business, it’s important that you differentiate between matters of the heart and matters of the head.
Your business needs to be an efficient machine, and this is something that we can all learn from. Whether we would benefit from learning how to manage our own time more effectively, or we need to implement better processes so that we can handle our workload, to matters that are primarily business related, emotion can cloud your judgement. Now, this isn’t to say that you need to be a robot at all times, but when faced with problems, you would benefit from a more logical standpoint rather than overreacting. Panic is not an inspiring trait in business leaders!
Innovation & Expansion
Your business needs to develop in every possible facet. A business that is complacent, or is just stuck on one gear will very quickly fall behind the times. The hallmark of every successful business is that it knows when to expand and innovate. This is a trait you can embody by constantly learning and developing yourself. That insatiable hunger for new information and new ways of improving yourself can be done in very simple ways.
The first thing to put in place would be a regular reading schedule. You might find articles online that you can bookmark to read later, and there are plenty that is worth your time, from 5 Strategies to Improve Organizational Effectiveness, all the way through to key influences with regards to entrepreneurial ambition, such as Tony Robbins or Tim Ferriss. There’s a lot of great information out there, and you should take advantage of this. And if you feel that you simply don’t have the time for reading, here’s the solution: make time! We can’t all go on reading vacations like Bill Gates does, but we can certainly make some time to read a chapter of a book, either before everybody else gets up, or after everybody has gone to bed in your house.
Transparency
There are two schools of thought on the notion of transparency. Transparency in business is viewed as a very vital component in keeping your workforce satisfied because they can see every part of the business process. It helps to keep your entire company as one entity, rather than a series of fragmented parts. So you can either view this as openness and honesty, but you can also view this as an open goal, where your policies and processes are unguarded are rife for theft. But as far as leadership is concerned, having a sense of transparency will inspire confidence in your abilities.
You can implement this by having an open door policy, where your colleagues and employees are free to come to you with any problems or queries, or ways to improve your company. And you should be active in encouraging this sense of innovation and new ideas, so you can learn from your mistakes and develop as a company. As a business, transparency works in improving the development between company and customer.
Many companies now take the approach of having behind the scenes style videos as a way to introduce a customer to what’s actually going on in the offices. This bridging the gap between the business and the customer is meant to inspire trust from the perspective of the consumer. Trust is the most vital human component, and when you, as a leader, are looking to have people understand your approach, you need them to trust you. If they don’t trust you, nothing will be accomplished. Transparency is the key to this.
Taking Risks
Now that you need to be a leader that is willing to try new approaches, there is a lot of risk associated with anything new. This is hardly a surprise, but if you and your business are seen to take risks, then this is an admirable trait of both business and leader. But taking risks doesn’t need to be a massive gesture each and every time, this would be foolhardy. Instead, if you undertake one aspect that could benefit from expanding, such as using new SEO techniques to improve your website rankings, then this is a far more sensible approach.
But remember, taking risks is only beneficial if it pays off, and this isn’t always the case. So you need to be willing to make mistakes also. The idea of perfection is something you need to lose right away. This is in regards to your business and who you are. Nobody is perfect, but admitting your faults means a willingness to rectify these faults, so you can progress and learn from these mistakes. With companies that do make mistakes, it can be shaming to admit you’ve made mistakes, but everybody does. Those companies that refuse to admit their faults are doing something wrong. We all make mistakes, and that’s why pencils have erasers!
A Determination To Succeed
This is where everybody can learn from you. This is the one trait you need to improve your company with. Determination and not giving up at the first hurdle is something we all can benefit from. We see many companies hit setbacks from time to time, whether it’s in relation to a profit loss, or they had to navigate some tough waters, this is where you and your closest allies need to formulate a plan to save your business. But if you don’t have the will to succeed, then this attitude will filter down to the rest of your colleagues. This is why your business, your ethos, and you need to be all on the same page. This goes back to the idea of transparency. And if you can inject your entire business with this determination to succeed, then everyone will feel motivated as much as you do.
The analogy of a business being like a person is true in so many different ways. But the link between you and your business is such an important one, that while you need to make sure that the business does certain things and involve these certain traits, you can learn from your business in how to be a better leader. And even if your business is currently struggling to stay afloat, or you’ve got doubts in your abilities as a leader, look at what you can learn from the business, but also what the business can learn from you.
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