Glenn is the founder and CEO of GaggleAMPa platform for employee advocacy and engagement.
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Employee expectations of leadership have changed over time. As a result, CEOs are increasingly collaborating to help teams achieve organizational goals. However, research shows that leadership still leaves much to be desired. According to the 2021 DDI Global Leadership Forecastwhile 48% of leaders describe their organization’s leadership quality as high, only 28% of HR teams feel the same way.
Our job as leaders is to keep up with employee expectations and challenge ourselves to continuously grow. As a founder and CEO, I’ve seen the impact effective leadership has had on my company’s 12-year growth journey. Here are eight of my top tips that you may find helpful in guiding your organization.
1. Know your style
It is essential to understand you CEO style and standard approach to leadership. Have I always known my leadership style? Absolutely not! It took time and introspection. Consider doing a self-assessment and writing down your strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. Knowing your style allows you to adapt it as needed to communicate more effectively with your staff. After all, one style does not fit every situation.
2. Focus on what lights you up
As a new CEO, I made mistakes along the way. A major misstep was getting stuck in the process. I had to admit that details don’t cheer me up. What inspires me is vision and connection with the market.
Try to build your organization to cater to your passions. To achieve this, it is important to hire people who complement your skills. In my case, that meant finding people who love building and managing processes as much as I love driving vision and strategy.
3. Prepare to be seen
In the beginning of my career, employees hardly saw the managers. But gone are the days of executive mysticism; effective leaders are present and transparent. This transformation was already underway before the pandemic hit, thanks to digital tools that make frequent communication easier. However, with the pandemic, it became especially important for CEOs to actively update employees as things progressed.
Communication builds trust within your company and beyond. Consumers want to know who is behind the scenes and what they stand for. Consider using social media to connect with your target audiences.
4. Know when to step back
Founders are used to doing, well, everything. But as your business grows, you need to take a step back so your team can step up. For me, that meant resisting the temptation to jump into the marketing department every day. Even though that’s my background and something I love, I have a fantastic team of marketing experts. My role is to provide direction and support while allowing them to take ownership.
5. Set targets and guardrails
One of a CEO’s greatest added value to the company is setting goals and guardrails. But don’t do it in a vacuum. You’ll get better results if the people executing the business goals have input on them. Then provide the guardrails and guidelines to help teams stay focused without compromising their autonomy. One way I do this is by defining focus areas as part of our annual planning process.
However, make sure that your goals and guardrails are not influenced by limiting beliefs. Just because something didn’t work in the past doesn’t mean it can’t work now, and vice cersa. Challenge yourself to think bigger and believe that anything is possible.
6. Know your values
Nothing but one in five Gen Z employees would work for a company that doesn’t share their values. The best employees want to align their role with something bigger than themselves. Using your company values ​​as part of your hiring process will help you get the right candidates up front. This vision encourages camaraderie and team spirit.
So, define your company values and communicate them. State your purpose and vision and help your team understand how their contribution supports the larger mission. It’s not as daunting as you might think.
7. Show employees you care
To understand good leadership, McKinsey analyzed the mindset and practices of effective CEOs. A shared area of ​​focus is culture. The best leaders go to great lengths to encourage and assess employee engagement. They understand that investing in your team drives business performance.
I promised myself that if I ever got the chance to start a company, I would build a culture where people feel supported. For example, if someone faces adversity, they need to know that they can share it with their manager and that the company has their back. Work is important, but you also have to support your people and be human.
8. Celebrate the journey
Employees are more often than not focused on the past. They are in the here and now or look ahead. But one of your jobs as a leader is to remind your team how far they’ve come. Celebrating successes feels good and reminds employees of what is possible.
Don’t just focus on organizational performance. Don’t forget to recognize individuals, and empower managers to do the same. Gallup finds that nearly four in ten Gen Z employees prefer to be acknowledged by their manager at least a few times a week, but that doesn’t happen for most employees. So make sure you create a culture where people can celebrate and recognize each other.
As a CEO, your most valuable asset is the desire to evolve. With commitment, intention and a dose of humility, you grow with your company and position yourself as a leader that people want to follow.
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