Being An Effective Leader

When you first become a manager, you take on a leadership role.  You might already have ideas of the sort of leadership style you want to use, but it is up to you and you must make a choice.

Some lead with authority and tell others what to do and others manage to get consensus from their team.  Consider whether you want to have an authoritarian style or a more democratic, participative style.

Believe it or not, the arrangement of your office furniture is important.

By keeping your own office desk separate from the team, you are seen to stand out and be separate.  Naturally, you will want to stay close enough to their office desks to keep and eye on them and offer support when needed too.

It is important to hold regular office meetings to keep communication lines open, even if that is just all of the team gathered round a couple of office desks, it doesn’t have to be a formal meeting over the boardroom table.

You need to build trust within the team.  It is impossible to strap the team to their office chairs for eight hours a day and strictly control what they do. You need to build that trust and they need to want to work for you.