How to be a great leader in your business

What people look for is strength in a leader. Working to help people with Management and Leadership issues is The Business Minder Gary Chamberlain's best trait. One of the top reasons that new businesses fail is due to a lack of leadership. Getting people in business to understand this point can be a bit of a battle.

"Remember I'm here to build people up - not tear them down." .. "Why would you want to be battling me when I am here to help you? Excellence is achieved through hard work, consistency and confidence. Not to mention someone pushing you to YOUR Limit!"

Gary's approach can be quite confronting at times. He is passionate about business management and working with people to help them get better results. Some have described it as tough love business management. Gary says "There is a big difference between bullying and being honest with a person. A bully wants to tear people down because they themselves feel inferior. I want to build people up and give them inner strength to do things they never knew they could."

I have seen Gary blow up at people who wont listen. Even though they turn their back initially, they think about what he told them and they do change. Thats awesome !!!

A certain degree of pushing and guidance is required in order to bring about positive change. Completing a reverse performance review where your staff are given a fair opportunity to give leadership feedback is quite revealing. Its one of many ideas Gary suggests so you can get a snapshot of how well you are doing as the leader of your business.

Gary's clients commented

"After working with Gary, I learned both personal and professional lessons. Gary taught me to not be afraid to ask for help. I learned a lot about myself and the inner workings of my business.”

“One of the things I learned from Gary was how much of an enabler I am. If I want my staff to step up, then I need to hand over more responsibilities to them and let them fail, succeed, learn and grow. That is an area that I have to work on every day and I am becoming less of a control freak.”

“I have learned to delegate and let others help me. This is the only way to be a better leader.”

“I have become a better boss. I have brought a supervisor in on the weekends to manage the staff and help so that I can focus on the customers. The employees are taking constructive criticism well and improving."

"I have now become more aggressive with the direction I would like the staff to go. I have less tolerance for the behavior we once overlooked.”

"There are now new rules and procedures that the staff must understand and follow and there is a different training process in place for new staff members"

Here are 10 key business leadership skills you’ll need to succeed as a leader:

1. Lead By Example. One of the best ways to lead is by example – pitching in where needed, lending a helping hand, and making sure that the work you do is clearly understood by your team.

2. Passion. A leader without passion isn’t a leader. He’s a paper pusher. Or a taskmaster. Passion drives a lot, and you can inspire so much in others through your own passion and enthusiasm. That doesn’t mean you have to be constantly cheery, it means you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing and what your company is doing.

3. Be Organised. A disorganised leader isn’t leading, he’s chasing his own tail. Disorganisation breeds nothing but more disorganisation. If you’re frazzled and messy, your team will be too. When you’re organised you’ll be much more productive and so will everyone else.

4. Delegate. You can’t do everything. A great leader needs to be able to delegate effectively. The key to delegating successfully is giving employees ownership of the work you assign them. They can’t just feel like they own the work, they really have to.

5. Take Ownership and Responsibility. Although you’ve just delegated work and truly given your team ownership, you also have to take ownership and responsibility at all times. Your team has to know you’ll be there for them through the good and the bad times. That doesn’t mean you absolve people from making mistakes or ignore crappy work/effort, but it does mean you take responsibility for the big picture.​

6. Communicate Effectively. It’s critical that you communicate to employees how their work matters in the bigger picture. Are they a cog, or does their work truly make a difference? People need affirmation. They want to know they did a good job. You just have to tell them. Be precise, specific and concise.

7. Be Brave and Honest. Cowardly leaders will shy away from any number of situations that crop up regularly when running a team. Tell it like it is. You have to learn how to present things to your team in an honest but balanced manner.

8. Great Listener. A huge part of being a great communicator is being a great listener. If all you want to do is talk, you’re not a leader. Keeping people motivated means listening to them, asking them questions, understanding their issues. When you listen more, you can respond more effectively and get to the heart of things much faster.

9. Know Your People. You have to know your people. You don’t have to be best friends or even socialize outside work, but you do have to know what makes them tick. You need to know something about their personal lives because their lives outside work matter. Their lives outside work drive a great deal of their success (or lack of) at work. Keep track of simple things: birthdays, marriages, children, etc. The more you know your people the more common ground you’re likely to find, the more you’ll be able to connect.

10. Be a Follower. If you’re a leader without following, you’re a dictator. And as fun as that sounds… Being a leader-follower means finding value in your team, getting inspired by your team, encouraging your team to communicate, brainstorm and be open.

Having a business coach coming in to facilitate leadership improvement is a great way to boost the vitality of your business. Mind Ur Bisnis - The Business Minder in Asia can help.