Top Leadership Tips for SMEs

There is no one absolute model for being a good leader. You certainly need to be articulate, with an ability to relate to people and communicate with them in a way they understand, as well as being able to deal with the problems that come from having a team of staff.

Here are some ideas that may help you to get it right:

Set Out Your Stall

Make sure every member of staff has a clear vision and is completely cognisant with the company’s mission statement, trading values and the direction in which the business is heading.

Form a ‘Super Squad’

Carefully choose your supervisory team, if the people at the top aren’t capable it becomes very difficult to solve problems. Hire the best you can afford, based on competency in their area of expertise, with the compulsory ability to make a constructive contribution in strategy debates.

Go Walkabout

Find time for talking to your staff, now and again wander around their work area finding opportunities of catching them doing something right, praising and maybe rewarding them. Do not underestimate the power of a pat on the back.

Use a little Empowerment

But remember, being too heavy results in little opportunity for staff to contribute to the way ahead, not enough and they are left with no clear picture of what is and isn’t acceptable. It’s also important to be consistently fair and open, this way people will be able to spend more time focusing on their tasks and less time trying to analyse your motives.

Be Decisive

Making decisions, keeping on making them and sticking with them, no matter how tough or unpleasant the results, are perhaps the most important things a leader has to do. If you continually procrastinate, or often change your mind the team will soon lose confidence in you and your aptitude. As soon as you have checked all the information and weighed up the variables, make a sensible informed resolution, act, and then move on.

Show your Commitment

Be sure to demonstrate your sincerity about the fate of the organisation, confirm this by being positive and optimistic. Present a passion for your products or services and affirm absolute immersion in the industry that you compete. Also, encourage staff to do the same, as well as thinking for themselves and finding their own way of doing things.

Don’t be Pally with the Personnel.

Tempting as it is to make everyone love you, there will be times you have to make tough decisions that not everyone will like. Always be kind and courteous, but also keep a little distance, and discourage staff sharing their personal problems with you, except where this directly affects their work.

Own up to Your Mistakes

If you have made an error, admit to it and explain to your team. Initially, because it’s fine to show you are a human being once in a while, and then because this way you will establish a culture where they can understand it is ok to give it a go and fail, rather than always being too cautious and never achieving anything.