To drive a business forward, you must first establish great leadership.
It has been said that great leaders possess qualities such as passion, commitment, and delegation, in order for a leader to truly be effective they must effectively communicate with employees. Failure to communicate with employees could be detrimental to the success of a business, but in order to evoke the right response, leaders must ask their employees the right questions.
If you’re a leader, you need to be regularly asking these questions:
How can I help you?
In some cases, some employees may be either struggling with the workload or unsure of the best, most effective way of completing a task, it is, therefore, the responsibility of any leader or manager to ensure that all employees feel comfortable enough to discuss any worries or concerns they may have.
Regular one-to-one meetings would be relevant for employees to discuss these issues within a safe environment. It is important that all leaders are approachable and friendly and make sure they create an open environment in which all employees can work effectively.
What’s going well?
This question is important as a team and individually. It is important for leaders to understand where team members are best suited in order to increase productivity and get the best results. Each individual team member should express where they feel they are excelling within their roles.
It is equally important that every team member also notices the strengths within a business, they should recognise which tasks are more easily accomplished than others, this highlights that everyone understands the clear route to success.
What improvements can we make?
Successful leaders should always strive to seek improvement and equally as important as highlighting ‘What’s going well’ team members must understand areas that may need improving.
Improvements can be sought in a variety of areas, whether it be a new supplier, better working resources, or employee training programmes. Assessing areas that could be improved will lead the way for a more productive workforce and a better quality of working life.
How could I improve?
Giving feedback doesn’t just apply to employees. To clearly understand how your team members feel about your leadership you must ask them directly.
Although this could potentially be a harder question for your employees to answer, the responses will ultimately be incredibly worthwhile.
By incorporating these questions regularly to your team members, you will not only see developments within your workforce but to the overall success of your business.