Why being a better leader should be your New Year’s Resolution

With the start of a new year, now is the perfect time to reflect on personal and professional achievements and set new goals for 2020. The New Year is a great time to improve upon yourself and introduce new positive habits in all spheres of your life, including work.

What is leadership?

Leadership is the ability to influence and lead other people within a company or organisation. There are a number of qualities one must have in order to lead successfully, such as having a clear vision of where you want to take the organisation and communicating this to team members.

Leaders are also responsible for organising and delegating tasks in an effective manner, with the ultimate aim of achieving (and even exceeding!) the overall goals of the company or organisation.

The best New Year’s resolutions:

·         Improve communication

Communication is key when it comes to leading a team within a company or organisation. Without good communication, ambitious goals will always be out of reach. Listening to points made by their team and bringing them forward is a key quality of a great leader.

·         Recognise all contributions

Giving praise and recognition to your team is one of the most important steps to becoming a better leader. When your team know that you value their work, they will progress to complete the tasks to the best of their ability. Being recognised for hard work is on a par with salary – salaries can be replicated by competitors but how you make your employees feel can’t be. 

·         Build trust

Trusting your team members to complete tasks and do their best work every day will restore their trust in you as their leader. Improving trust will help improve relationships within the team, and make your team realise that the decisions you are making are in their best interests. It is important to identify issues which may be hindering trust and analyse if these are really necessary.

·         Be a facilitator

The best leaders don’t tell their team members what to do, but instead encourage them with the tools to complete their best work. Employees need to feel supported but trusted that they have the skills and talent to get tasks completed.