Think Like a Coach to Develop a Better Team

If you want to be a strong leader you have to ensure that your management style is appropriate to gaining the trust and respect of your employees, according to Perot Systems director Mort Meyerson in Bottom Line column Lessons in Leadership.

Don’t impose strategies for a department until you have the staff’s point of view. Stress the need for them to offer their insight into their clients, what has worked in the past and what can be done to solve problems in the future. Make it your responsibility to motivate them

Eliminate managers, even those performing above their goals, who mistreat their staff and they refuse to change their ways. Classic mistreatment can include: disregarding their staff’s input, bullying them, or holding back entitlements such as training

Make yourself accessible to employees in a timely manner. Respond to emails at your earliest convenience.

When you negotiate, don’t set out to totally vanquish your rival. If you can give them something they want, they will walk away believing they’ve been met with a reasonable compromise instead of the bitter taste of defeat which may fuel resentment later.

Even if your goals are based on numbers and raw monetary values, try to express them to your staff in a way that is meaningful to them and that reinforces the company’s values such as, “We want to do this to ensure a rate of growth that will allow us to gain experience, be rewarded and get promoted.”

By tweaking your management style to reflect the needs and realities of your company’s staff, it will help you build a stronger business.