Behind every great employee is an all-star coach. The best modern managers understand this and aren’t merely managers. They’re great leaders who care about the development of their employees and are willing to spend the time teaching, enlightening, and guiding them. As a manger, it’s easy to get caught up in focusing on what is urgent, rather than on what’s important. What’s important is improving your leadership skills in order to empower your staff. Here are a few tips to becoming a better leader and role model for your employees.
Be transparent.
While it is your business and financial stake at risk, your team members are also invested in the business. They spend their time and energy to produce quality work, as long as they stay engaged. In order to drive employee engagement you should involve employees in goal planning and decision-making. By doing so, everyone truly understands the goals you’re working towards and knows what success looks like.
Get involved at the ground level.
The quickest way to earn the respect of your employees is to roll up your sleeves and jump in. No matter if you’re the president of company or the VP of marketing, being a great leader means truly understanding how your business works. You should experience what even the lowest level employees are doing on a day-to-day basis. If you’re the operations manager of a medical clinic, shadow a nurse and get a taste of what they’re dealing with in real time. Connect with these employees to really understand how you can help to make their job role better.
The key to being a successful leader is to lead by example. Your team is watching and emulating you. Make sure your attitude, behavior, and habits are the ones you want them to exhibit. Look at the behavioral habits of your employees. Do you like what you see? If not, look in the mirror a little more carefully. The source of frustration in your employee’s behavior likely begins with you.
Express your gratitude.
As a leader, you gain nothing from withholding praise and recognition when it’s deserved. In fact, recent studies have found that recognition is often a more powerful driver of motivation than money. Whether in an email or a staff meeting, publicly acknowledging hard work shows employees that you value the effort they’re putting in. Recognition communicates respect, and respect is a powerful motivator. It’s important to show employees that you care about them as people and not just the job they do, especially in the medical field where fostering empathy is essential. Employees are much more likely to perform to their full potential when they feel valued.
Invest in your employees.
Many companies spend heavily in “leadership training” for executives and focus far less attention on junior level employees. Junior level employees need the same amount, if not more training than executive level employees if you expect them to perform to their highest potential. Investing in your employees increases employee retention and can help eliminate costly rehires down the road.
Provide constructive feedback.
Being able to provide regular, helpful feedback is a foundational leadership skill. Great leaders are able to provide feedback in a manner that encourages employees to want to work harder. Too many managers make the mistake of focusing feedback on events that happened in the past. If you want to be a more effective leader and help your team make improvements in their skills and results, give them feedback about what they can do in the future.
When you put in a little extra effort to become a better leader, you’ll be creating all-star employees to follow in your footsteps. Building the best leaders starts at the hiring process. Let the experienced team at BOS Medical help with your hiring needs. The need for talented, dedicated healthcare professionals is growing, and we have a talented pool of candidates. Contact a recruiter today to talk about customized staffing solutions for your organization.
