Quality Leadership, Quality Work
Employer Leadership is Essential for Quality Work Performance
Honing leadership skill, knowledge and responsibility and passing it on to subordinates can improve employee morale and improve performance quality.
Do your techniques of management resemble the laissez-faire methods of Corporal Klinger, or are you more the demanding Adolph Hitler type? Do your employees goof off more than they work, or do they snicker and hale behind your back as you leave the room?
Leadership requires responsibility, skill and knowledge. To properly guide others in their jobs you must be able to communicate the skills needed, the knowledge of how to perform well, and instill a sense of responsibility in your subordinates. As the boss/person in charge, it is your responsibility to keep employees at task and satisfied being at that task. In a world full of different mentalities and different able ness, this can be a difficult job of juggling emotions, morale, skills and abilities to get the job done at the highest level of quality possible.
To be a good leader requires the ability to diffuse employee anger, listen to (and council) employees with outside problems, generate praise appropriately, and discipline when necessary. If you are lax in your managerial style and skills, opportunistic employees may see this as a weakness and take advantage of what appears to be kind heartedness and a lack of caring about your own position, and may purposely perform poorly believing that their position is unimportant or that they can get by doing as little as possible. On the other hand, if you are demanding, discipline publicly and are poor about teaching and rewarding good efforts, you may find employees who resent your position and strive to overthrow your efforts by making you look bad with poor performance and by generating poor morale.
The perfect boss falls somewhere in the middle. This boss takes the time to realize that employees are human too and that as humans, they have issues beyond the realm of the workplace that effect their work as well. Forming individual bonds with those who work for you and understanding something about their personal lives will enable you to guide them back to task when personal issues disrupt their productivity. Developing company minded employees requires you to be able to help the employee succeed and value his/her position in the company, while offering praise and discipline in a timely and professional manor as needed.
The best way to help your employees master the skills that will improve your business is to learn individual abilities and master the skills yourself and demonstrate that you are willing to perform any task that you ask them to do while tailoring your teaching with their abilities in mind. Allow them to see that you are willing and capable, explaining that while your personal duties may prevent you performing theirs, you are able, but you expect them to carry what is their share of the load. The majority of people respond well to a boss who is willing to “get his hands dirty” and pitch in when times are trying.
Knowledge of every job description and a willingness to teach that knowledge to those who work for you, especially if it gives them an edge for promotion later, enhances the confidence of your employees and encourages them to seek outside knowledge and share ideas that support your business. Those who know what you expect are better prepared to help you achieve your goals.
Enhancing skills and knowledge while instilling a sense of responsibility in your employees starts with you. Good leaders lead by example and good employees are a result of good leaders.
