Part Two - Chapter One
As a business owner, there are certain elements of your being that should instill a sense of confidence and respect. People should know they can trust you and you, them. As you develop a business, from the very outset you should be creating people that have confidence in you. Without confidence from those people, it will be hard to maintain a strong front and face the challenges that may come before you. For others to have confidence in you, there are some things you can do that will help to ensure they do. First, you need to be willing to take the same risks in support of ideas and strategies, but do not under any circumstances take risks that put your integrity and honesty at risk. This is a sure-fire way to lose the respect quickly. Be optimistic and positive, not just at work but out and about. Show people you are confident and alive. Staff tend to be attracted to optimism and this in turn brings with it more confidence. “Positive thinking is powerful thinking. If you want happiness, fulfillment, success and inner peace, start thinking you have the power to achieve those things. Focus on the bright side of life and expect positive results.”Germany Kent Be honest, no matter what. Honesty and integrity are key and should always be at the front of the decision-making processes. If people cannot trust you, they will not have confidence in you. Some decisions will be unpopular and have some ramifications but in the greater scheme of business, those inside your business and suppliers and customers outside will know that you are a person who can be trusted. Learn from your mistakes and own up to your own failures. Do not be afraid of them. Embrace failure as an opportunity to learn. It’s one thing to make a mistake but if you never actually learn from it, then it was just a failure and pointless exercise in stupidity. Staff do not take kindly to an incompetent boss so be prepared to accept responsibility publicly for your mistakes on occasion. Some humble pie also helps to keep us level-headed and respectful of the process. When people give you compliments, accept them graciously and do not, and I repeat do not, let them go to your head. This is again a sure-fire way to lose respect and confidence of your staff and outsiders. One thing that I see often in business is where a business owner, especially those just starting out begins to compare themself to others. This more often than not ends up in some form of negative perception about your lack of ability compared to this person or wish that you were able to do something like that person. This type of action is self-destructive not only for you but your staff. They should never see doubt in your eyes and fear or regret in your mannerisms. Many people “fake it ‘til they make it”. I have done so in the past, and I sometimes need to fall back on it at times even today. But I have learnt to manage the situation to my advantage and only do it when I need to fill in a missing piece I have not yet had time to collect. I often say yes, I can do something or yes, I can introduce you to people who can do this, simply because I know I can. I have used my life to build connections in most industries and have networks of people who I can connect with others, so when I say it, I know I can do it. In front of people, your confidence in your own decisions and the strategic path you are taking will help you to embrace new ideas and create new opportunities out of necessity to not be left behind. Faking it is only as good as your ability to solve the problem for which your “faking it” was needed. If you cannot “make it”, don’t fake it. Now, I am not talking about lying when I say this, but rather the situation where you may not have done something or may not have something available so you say, “yes, I can do this” or “yes, I can get this”. If you don’t have it or have never done it but you know in your heart that you can and you will then go for it, but tread lightly. It is a fine line between real capacity to deliver and flat out incompetence and disappointment. Teaching staff to focus and work on their strengths is important. They need to know that they are supported and that a failure is not a problem if they learn something from it. “You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.”Simon Sinek Self-confidence is a great tool to have and as a business owner you need to have this so that your staff will feel motivated. If you’re motivated and confident then they will be too. It will take time to develop self-confidence in your employees, but the benefits are well work the hard work you will put in. There are a few things you can do to build self confidence in staff. Some of these work really well and can be taught quickly while others will take more time: Understand your employees’ talents and help them to aim for their own goals. Give them the empowerment to become a manager if that is what they want to do. Help them develop a plan that will achieve this if it is possible. If not, then guide them in learning the skills they need. The objective is to encourage your staff to want to work for you because they see you have a vested interest in their success also. Let staff share their skills with you. Staff often see what managers do not and they can be the greatest source of development and improvement in a company. As a manager, take time to get to know them and listen to their ideas. There are always great pearls of wisdom out there to be had, you just have to be willing to find them. Give more authority to your staff. This is a big one and one that many owners and managers have a hard time doing. It means relinquishing some authority to someone who works for you. If you do, they feel more committed to doing better and this can lead to stronger engagement with customers, better results, and improved performance. Offer training and Professional Development. A big boost to a staff member is training, especially if that training is free. It shows that you value their efforts and are willing to invest in them and not just the business. Well trained workers also perform better as they can see improvements and make suggestions sooner because they know what they are looking for. Meet with staff and have them participate in organizational changes and improvements. When you are a small close-knit team, getting your staff involved in major decisions, even if it is to listen to their advice and be a massive boost to their emotional state in the company. They feel like part of the team and that their opinion matters. Give praise when it due and encouragement when needed. People inherently like to be praised for their work. Giving praise when it’s due instils positive feedback for the efforts and giving staff a positive outlook can help improve and instil even more confidence in them. Ask for advice on matters that affect them. Sometimes listening to ideas from the people who are at the preverbal coal face can be very enlightening. Listening to these suggestions can often improve product perform-ance or quality, reduce production times, and improve efficiency. Never be too proud to not take advice. Help staff to learn from their mistakes. Understand that mistakes and accidents will happen. Be prepared for them but don’t lose it because they happen. If you are stable enough to accept some failures and accidents, then you should be stable enough to offer guidance and support. The staff member will be upset enough as it is. They don’t need more negative comments from you so avoid negative talk. As Yoda states, “This leads to the Dark Side.” Let staff members be part of the process sin setting their own goals and KPI’s. Getting staff involved in this is a great way to show commitment and fairness in the workplace. If they help to set their own targets, then they cannot complain about them. Help them by setting short, medium, and long terms goals. Together you both can find common ground, and this leads to a better relation-ship.
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