Entrepreneurs often have to go without management training or development coaching. They have to figure out how to be a leader on the fly. Entrepreneurs need to develop and sharpen their leadership skills to handle a challenging situation. Though every entrepreneur has their own style to lead people, they can adapt some of the proven leadership skills to influence their co-workers. A well lead team can do wonders for your business and without motivated members in your team; you will not be able to reach heights. So, it is crucial to have effective leadership skills. Whether you are an entrepreneur embarking on your first project or a CEO with decades of experience, continued development is an important part of your role, regardless of your job title. Here’s how you can stay updated with leadership qualities from time to time:
- Build work relationships: Such relationships can be formal – a business coach, or structural – chief executives often get great benefit from working with the right nonexecutive chairman. This way you can get mentorship, counsel or simply a sounding board to run ideas past. Build a network of peers at each stage of your business growth to match your size and scale.
- Identify your skills gap: Throughout your business journey, identify your skills and knowledge gaps so that you can continue to plan your learning, and your business growth, effectively. There is a wide range of resources available today online to keep updating yourself with latest knowledge or skills. Aside from this, you can build on the things you’re good at while bringing other people with you that fill your knowledge gaps and compliment your skillset.
- Invest your time in talent engagement: Invest some time in recruiting or training staff. You will need to match the right assignments to the right people and thus develop their unique potential. Building a team around you that shares your vision and values while diversifying your approach is crucial for effective problem-solving and business development.
- Follow the 70-20-10 rule: Pioneered by the Center for Creative Leadership and based on 30 years of study of how executives learn to lead, it rests on the belief that leaders are not born but made. As the 70-20-10 name implies, the learning model calls for 70 percent of development to consist of on-the-job learning, supported by 20 percent coaching and mentoring, and 10 percent classroom training. The model has spread widely in the corporate and non-profit worlds, with various organizations putting their own imprint on it.
- Strategic vision: Sharpen your strategic vision so that your organization keeps up with the growing trends. It’s about understanding and indulging in the broader view of the company and its employees. Moreover, strategic vision lets you connect your short-term goals to the long-term ones for yourself, your employees, investors, and customers to make them believe in your vision.
- Develop Self-Awareness: To lead a team, one of the most crucial capabilities is to master your inner instincts, intuition, and power. In short, you should be self-aware and confident about inner strengths and harness your weaknesses.
- Pay Heed To Other’s Opinion: To be an able entrepreneurial leader, you should never hesitate to seek advice from other people. In your initial period of entrepreneurship, try to work with a mentor, business coach or read articles and books daily. You can learn through other people’s mistake and success stories.
- Know how to read the numbers: Good leaders know exactly what’s going on with the financials of their companies. They may have delegated financial management tasks to colleagues – they may even work with a finance director or external adviser – but they are financially literate enough to interpret the small print of the management accounts and company balance sheet.
- Mentorship: Seeking out and building a relationship with a mentor. One-to-one sessions with a mentor can be invaluable, providing insight, direction, and objectivity you may find hard to get elsewhere. Business journeys are not easy. A mentor offers encouragement and guidance at vital steps along the way, also serving as a reminder that hard work pays off.
