If there were ever a year that had strained the confidence of bosses and business owners in recent memory, it has to be 2020. It can be hard to empathize with those who run businesses and manage people if you haven’t been in that situation, as it’s easy to see them as exploitative, or overly authoritative, or whatever you may see on the surface. That said, most business owners are actually acutely conscious of their responsibilities for the wellbeing of their people, and the lives they manage on a daily basis.
If this sounds like you, then we’re not being overly bold in assuming you’ve also had a tough year. All we can do is reflect, take stock, and try to do better given the circumstances in 2021. That’s all we can ever hope for, even if we have a range of quite clear reasons as to why we should feel ungrateful or annoyed about our current circumstances.
With that in mind – let’s get to the advice. To be a better boss in 2021, we would recommend:
Protect Your Business
Of course, protecting your business is your number one priority. This might mean using better and more impactful local insurances brokers to cover your business. It might mean making sure that your health and safety policies are revised. You may need to re-train your staff regarding compliance, or simply how to operate after recalling people from remote work positions back to their desk, safely, after the lockdown.
Protecting your business takes many forms, but ultimately, what’s good for the internal life of your staff is also good for your business progress.
Develop Respect & Set An Example
It’s important to set an example as a boss. After 2020, your staff will be looking for leadership. Sometimes the best thing any boss can do is forget the ‘friendly-friendly’ approach they’ve been taking and instead act in a manner in keeping with what you expect of them.
Speak to them respectfully and fairly. Expect good results. Encourage their development. Always arrive on time, dressed more impressively than anyone. When you set an example in this way you begin to embody the standards of your firm.
That encourages and develops respect.
Know Your Team
It’s important to know your team.
That doesn’t necessarily mean knowing their personal and interpersonal lives, although that can be nice to a degree. Rather, it means keeping an eye on what their strengths and weaknesses are, what their hopes are for their time at your firm, what training they’d like to (and should be trying to) engage in.
This helps you understand not only your staff but the skillset they provide. Those things are sometimes treated as separate, but they’re not. If you can understand that, then knowing your team in the best way will help you become a better boss and a better manager.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily become a better boss in 2021. That’s a noble goal, and an admirable one to achieve.