BECOMING A GOOD LEADER

In today’s world being a leader is not as common as it used to be. It’s hard enough to find employees that will show up and want to work. So, what can we do as companies to locate and retain good people?

I believe to start with; the interview phase of hiring you must lay out clear expectations and help new team members form goals for themselves and for their time with the company. We at Independent Services set goals and hold ourselves accountable for them. Our first year in business we set goals. Looking back some of them may have been unattainable for a start up business. We did have a great year and met a number of our goals, however some were just out of our reach.

Helping new team members to become better at their job, and overall better people should be a company goal every year. I recently read a quote and it really made me think about how we can not only better ourselves and our companies but better the people that we work with every day. Let’s face it we spend more time with each other than we do at home with our families.

The quote read

“As a leader, you have an incredible opportunity to change someone’s life every single day. Leadership is never about tearing people down, it’s all about helping people become the very best versions of themselves”.

If we want to be successful and make a difference in the world, we have to stop focusing on ourselves so much and pour ourselves into others. I have always said you (I) will never advance in your (my) career if we don’t train someone to step into our shoes. It’s always been said you are only as strong as your weakest link, so we should all start improving all the links and become the team we set out to be when we started our businesses.

Set goals for yourself and company goals as well, encourage team members to do the same. It will only make you and those around you better at your careers and better as a person. Be encouraging to those that work with and for you, take the time to help others learn, and be willing to take advice and constructive criticism. Go the extra mile for those around you, and always remember we never know what others are going through, so be kind in word and deed. A very good friend once told me you have to be a two mile man in a one mile world, that has been stuck in my head for five years now and I pray it will always be there.

God bless you all and have a great week.