Truly successful supervisors and managers don’t “boss” their employees, they lead them. It’s through effective leadership that employees are motivated to perform at their best. It’s through effective leadership that goals are achieved and departments meet productivity, quality, service, and safety standards. In short, developing effective leaders among your managerial and supervisory staff is essential to the success of your organization.
So what does it mean to be an effective leader?
Read on for the valuable information you need to give your supervisors and managers so they can develop first-class leadership skills. This material is excerpted from BLR‘s PowerPoint™ session “Leadership Skills—What New Supervisors And Managers Need To Know.”
Legal Overview
There are no state or federal laws that require you to train supervisors and managers in leadership skills. However, organizations whose management is composed of effective leaders are not only more successful, they are also more likely to be in compliance with laws and regulations, and less likely to attract expensive and damaging lawsuits
Your leadership skills training program should contain, at a minimum, the following elements:
- Concept of leadership
- Relationship between leadership and power
- Qualities of effective leaders
- Leadership styles
- How to build credibility and trust
- Basic leadership techniques including:
—Empowerment
—Motivation
—Delegation
—Accountability
—Participation
—Feedback - How to lead teams effectively
- Leading employees skillfully in times of change
You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained, and now there’s a convenient and reasonable way to get it done—BLR’s Leadership Library at the online, 24/7, TrainingToday. Get More Information.
Teach your supervisors and managers that to empower employees, successful leaders must:
- Promote “ownership” and encourage initiative.
- Are accessible for consultation.
- Provide excellent training.
- Share responsibility and credit.
- Encourage team action.
- Recognize achievement.
To motivate employees, supervisors and managers can:
- Create a vision that helps employees see how they fit into the “big picture.”
- Provide clear direction so that employees know the parameters of successful performance.
- Have high expectations for all employees.
- Set reasonable, achievable goals.
- Maintain consistent standards.
- Discover and use personal motivators.
Trying to get your employees trained to show leadership? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedulewise or budgetwise—but now there’s BLR’s Leadership for Employees Library. Train all your people, at their convenience, 24/7, for one standard fee. Get More Information.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, six degrees of delegation plus a comprehensive leadership training resource available now.