Leadership is no simple task, and comes with a multi-faceted array of challenges of your own, challenges from staff members, challenges from the public; you become the scapegoat or posture child for both the good and the bad of your company or business.
For many people, that can be exhausting. It can be too much. But, for some, it can be exactly the motivation and opportunity they need to build their dreams, or empires, and help co-create futures with other like minded individuals. I've received this question a lot; How do I become an efficient leader? Below is one of my Top 10 Tips on how to become an efficient leader in any field that you are working in! EMPLOY STRENGTH BASED LEADERSHIP The traditional approach to leadership can be oligarchical, bureaucratic, and can either intentionally/unintentionally allow for the continuation of oppression, authority of tradition or custom, and an inefficient environment for staff members to excel. Many leaders are proficient at making the public eye see how their companies excel while staff members remain stagnant in their positions, eventually reaching their ceiling of output vs input. What this entails is that the staff members input of work begins to decline due to low motivation, no area for improvement, and no new challenges. This has a direct correlation on their output of efficiency in their work, which becomes sub par, meeting the minimum requirements of their job specifications. But, there is a key change that can be made that will allow for efficient leadership and maximum performance in your staff members/colleagues. You can employ strength based leadership. What does this mean? It's simple. First, set aside a few hours with your team, call it "professional development" if you have to, and have everyone take a personality test like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), or a test more simple (and free) like 16 Personalities Test (both links are below). These tests will allow you to see how each of your staff members or colleagues associate stress, motivation, work ethic, team dynamics, etc. All of these will be important in working within a persons strengths and employing their strongest attributes. Secondly, take the time to read and learn each of the personalities associated with your staff. This is an important step/process that is missed by many leaders, because they become busy in the mundane work and busyness of the day to day operations to set aside time. You will become more efficient at working with your staff members if you understand their queues and how they react in certain situations! Thirdly, after you have given the opportunity for your staff members to learn about their personalities and their colleagues personalities, and you have taken the time to understand how your team works in a business environment, it's time to employ their strengths! Here are two examples of staff members with vary different ways of associations/personalities. Staff Member #1: This staff member has a slightly more aggressive approach to their communication(s) and needs their own sphere of control. What you can do to work within their strengths is to ensure that they are always the conveyor of information to their immediate team/team members. This will ensure that they are always in the loop with the operations of the business (i.e. control) and are able to be more communicative. Staff Member #2: This staff member likes to be behind the scenes and work in their own area with little supervision. My advice; give them exactly that. Allow that staff member to be out of the public eye as little as necessary, and do irregular check-ins (i.e. bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) to ensure that they are reaching their goals/responsibilities associated with their job. By giving them the opportunity to lead in their own respect, but ensuring that they are reaching their outcome based goals, they will succeed and become more efficient in their roles. Strength based leadership goes hand in hand with being treated fairly as an employee or staff member. One of the smartest tech CEO's I have ever met, Bohdan Zabawskyj, of Mercatus Technologies, talked about this topic at the 2017 Fireside Conference (link below). He stated that "being treated fairly farly out-ways the benefits of a job, or the salary." The benefits or the salary of the job are known as hygiene factors, and are usually contemplated when the work of the job is only seen as work. If you give each staff member respect and fair treatment, their efficiency and motivation to work will increase substantially. Are you not sold on the idea of strength based leadership yet? Really? Let me give you a more prominent opinion on it that I'm sure you'll have troubles denying its validity. Project Aristotle, a project created by Google can validate Bohdan's claims, and my claims, on the benefits of employing strength based management and treating employees fairly. In this study it was found there are 3 things to look for when hiring for a position within your company: Cognitive Fit, Culture Fit, and Environmental Fit (Duhigg, C. 2016) Cognitive Fit is the employees ability to learn, adapt, and evolve with the company as it grows, expands, scales, and changes over the years of operations. Culture Fit is the correlations of beliefs and values with the companies mission, along with purpose and intent behind the employees work. They need to truly believe in the product/service and vision of the company, and employ these beliefs and values with purpose in their work. The third thing to look for in an employee hire is an Environmental Fit; can the employee fit within the environment of your company? (Duhigg, C. 2016) That's it! This is my opinion on an easy way to learn more about your staff members, employ strength based leadership, and become a more efficient leader. Hope you enjoyed! Regards, Avery Konda #Article #Motivation
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