Regular meetings will ensure proper communication within the team

Team spirit
Treat others the way you want to be treated, it’s that simple. Whether you’re managing someone, dealing with customers or negotiating a very difficult contract with a supplier, it’s a question of – if I were on the other side of the table how would I want to be treated. It’s hard to do that all the time because that would imply you’re perfect, and no one is perfect, but if you aim for that you will almost certainly do the right thing and you’ll have an outcome you can move on from that you can carry forward. That way even if you make a mistake there will have been a degree of respect that allows you to fix a problem or to move on from a difficult conversation, which a leader must always be able to do. If people around you know that you are going to treat them with respect and you’re going to be honest, most people will accept any information even if it’s bad news.

Setting boundaries
When I moved into the CEO role at Go I had two very small children and I kept being reminded that many of the very basic management principles were also good parenting principles as well. You know, it is about guidelines, it is about boundaries, it is about respect, if you want your children to respect you then you should respect them, there is a power relationship and you have to acknowledge and manage it respectfully. It’s an interesting one, I think sometimes bosses feel they want to be best friends with their employees and they can’t. One of the things I used to do at Go is I used to meet with people in their first supervisory role and explain to them you are now not one of the guys, you are now in a role where you hold power over peoples lives.

COMMENTS

marketing lead

2010 01 08

i am a female boss looking for expanding my team from 5 to 10 , Barbara ur advise is so valuable , thx for sharing. marketing lead

Thomas

2010 02 27

The most important thing you can do for your business is to hire the right people. We all know that, but do we all act on that, all the time? Probably not. In my experience as an entrepreneur, it is too easy to focus on the tasks on essay writing, to worry about the budget, and to not hire when we should. Raising money, building a network and honing your pitch are all essential first steps in starting a business. And all of this work goes down the drain if you hire the wrong people.

ADD YOUR COMMENT

*Name:

Company name:

*Email:

Comment:

Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below: