How to Be an Effective Leader in the Workplace

Being a boss or someone who is appointed with a higher position in your workplace is not just something to be proud of but it means a greater responsibility. Of course, you earn more or are paid higher than the usual employees not just because of the title but also because you got some more to do than them.

Moreover, as a leader, you should not only do your best so that you can be called a responsible one. What you should bear in mind is that being a “leader” means you are put in front of the line to lead the rest of the working team in order to achieve the company’s goals.

So, if you are a leader in your office, what should you do in order to be effective in your work and bring success to the whole company? Here are some tips which can help you to be an effective leader in your workplace:

 

Be a role model

As a leader, part of your responsibility is to serve as a good example to your subordinates. The traits and actions that you expect them to exhibit should be seen first in you. How could they take your encouragement for excellence if they cannot see it in you. Therefore, you should walk what you talk so they will follow you as their leader. Here are some of the ways where you need to be their role model:

• Punctuality – this is the most common area where workers, including the bosses, fail. There are employers or people in high position who think that they are already exempted from coming to work on time. However, as a leader, you must remember that those under you look up to you and there is always the tendency that they copy your ways. Therefore, if you expect the employees under you to come on time, you yourself should not be late when coming to the office.

• Honesty – who said that corruption is only found in the government? Even in the workplace corruption can exist and the leaders are the usual culprits. Therefore, you should show to your subordinates that you are working clean and you have no under-the-table-businesses. You can do this by being transparent in your business transactions and financial shed-out. Yes, there are some financial records that are highly confidential, but as much as possible you should give them an idea and clear output of what your works are all about.

 

Have a clear vision of the company goals

As the leader, you should have a direction of what your office is aiming to accomplish. The company goals serve as the map of where your team is heading to. With the desired end on your mind, you can come up with the visible strategies that can be used to achieve those goals. Then what should you do with these goals?

• Pass them on – it is important that the rest of the company knows about these goals. Give them the overview of what their work is all about. For instance, you can discuss elaborately the mission and vision of the company with them. You can also update them with the company plans and the chosen approaches of how to accomplish them. This way they can be more motivated to give their best since they would feel part of the company, not just mere workers.

• Make a goal list – together with the rest of the team, it should be better if you create a brief and concise goal list which includes the time table and visible plans to make the goals realized. Also, you should make sure that these goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bounded (SMART).

 

Find the company’s strength and weaknesses

This is one of your responsibilities as a leader, especially if you are in business. Surely, your company has strong assets, which allow it to be established, and some flaws too which usually cause the problems. Without knowing these areas, your work system would not be effective because it is either you would miss using the strengths or keep on stumbling on the same weaknesses. What can you do with them?

• Utilize and improve the strength – if you know what makes your company successful then you should not take it for granted but instead you should develop it more. For example, if you are in a manufacturing company and your brands are known for their quality, then you should emphasize them in your advertising. Moreover, you should keep on developing them to make sure that your competitors would not surpass your output standard.

• Give solution to the weakness – now, no matter how good you are at your strength if your company got this weak point, the business would still be pulled down. Therefore, you should find solution for your company’s weaknesses. If, for instance, you see that the reason why the company sales is low is the wrong location of your establishment, you should then find a better place where there are more people who are likely to buy your products.

Remember that effective leadership in a business manifests profitable business. We cannot say that a leader is effective in the workplace if his or her workforce is unproductive and the business doesn’t profit. Hence, you have to strive in achieving a flourishing business position and performance as an effective leader.

 

Know the team behind you

Getting to know the people who are working under you is important for your leadership’s success. A good relationship between a leader and his/her subordinates makes the communication between the two parties clearer. You would not have a good communication line with your team if you could not understand the condition of their work. Sometimes, leaders tend to expect much from their workers and so they pile them with loads of work not knowing that these people are already having difficulties of how to finish them all. At the end, you could anticipate a poor quality of work output from these workers. To solve this, here are ways of how you can know your team better:

• Know them one by one – unless you got an enormous number of employees under you, you must take time to know each of your team members personally. Meaning, in the least, you should know their name and job description individually. However, the professional line must not be crossed over.

• Spend time with the team often – if you want to understand the condition of your team and you want them to understand yours, you should make time to be in their company. This does not only allow you to know the personality of each person and their ideas about the company, but at the same time you also get their trust and loyalty.

It is not easy to be a leader. However, as long as you just do your best, promote excellence, and connect with your team, you can manage your responsibilities well.