Executive leadership is a combination of executives accomplishing the work that they have been assigned efficiently and leaders who have the vision to know what is required so that the timing and execution of the available resources are managed correctly. In Canada, every executive leader can follow the lead of Robin St Martin of Iron Horse Security who has struck this balance just right and knows just what is required to lead effectively in an executive way.
So, this article will look at some tips to help other executive leaders in Canada and elsewhere to achieve similar success when it comes to leading their companies.
Be the Role Model
Every executive leader can learn from the examples set by the likes of Ross Boardman. An abundance of online resources as well as full-fledged Executive Coaching programs are available (offered solely by these professionals) to help people understand the path to leadership. With the right guidance, you will be able to lead your team better. In fact, when you portray the right qualities, your staff will automatically be motivated to learn and follow the example that you set as their executive leader. If this involves getting more hands-on with a particular operation to get the best out of your staff, then this may be required. You should familiarize yourself with the areas of the business that you are managing and show other staff that you are not giving them anything to do that you would not be capable of yourself. This may sometimes involve you asking them questions about what they do to find this out, as not everyone can know everything.
Understand the Processes You Manage
It is one thing coming up with new ways of working but this should only happen when you have practical knowledge of the system that is currently in place. That does not necessarily mean just seeing the results of it but knowing the mechanics of it. Sometimes it can be useful to ask those at ground level as well as their managers to find out what is going on. There may be a reason why the results have not been achieved that has no reflection on the system in place and can be put right without needing to change a complete system. Why try and fix something that is not even broken, just needs some fine-tuning?
Know Your Staff
For any kind of leader, it is important to identify the strengths and weaknesses of those that are working for us. That way, you can either move the employees with the correct skills into the right areas or put into place training packages that will mean they can work in those areas more effectively. It will not just be about the education of your staff but how they can apply what they have learned in a practical situation that fits in with your business.
Be Aware of Your Management Skills
We can often spend so much time thinking about the skills of others that we neglect to develop our skills. Are we deficient in some of the skills that would better help us to manage? Well, we shall consider a few skills that will assist someone leading a company at an executive level.
One of the most important parts of being a manager is knowing how to lead. Leadership skills are an indispensable asset and absolutely essential for anyone wanting to step into a management role. This is why many business-savvy people tend to attend Business Executive Leadership Programs in order to keep up with the latest management skills and strategies.
Financial skills are invaluable for an executive leader as invariably there will be a budget and company resources to manage. You will need a tight grip on these so that you can see if savings need to be made and where money is wasted.
Good communication skills mean that you can effectively communicate at all levels, from board level down to those working on the shop floor. This allows you to better manage staff and to deal efficiently with other companies that your business trades with. It is that skill of knowing the right language to use in a particular situation. Knowing the terminology to use not to blind those with science who do not need to be blinded by it.
Empathy is an important quality. To know how others are feeling by having the ability to read body language, for instance, will prove useful in knowing whether you have a happy workforce or not. Not everyone will say how they feel, so you need to read it in these cases. A happy worker is a productive worker. An unhappy worker will dwell on what is wrong rather than giving the workload their full attention.
In summary, we can become a good executive leader in Canada and other parts of the world by following successful examples from these parts, and the tips mentioned here.
Some of the tips we can follow include being a good role model, understanding in-depth just what it is we manage, and knowing well the staff who make the processes work. Also, we should know our strengths and weakness so that we can improve our skills just as we expect those who work for us to keep up-to-date with theirs.