Knowledge Portal/
10 Tips For Taking
Yourself Seriously, So Your Employees Do, Too
From Caitlin Friedman and
Kimberly Yorio
Looking for quick tips about how to set a positive example for staff members by
taking the impact of your role as "boss" seriously? You've found ten tips here.
(Book excerpt: The Girl's Guide to
Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the
Successful Entrepreneur)
• Be on time every day. It's your business.
Lead by example.
• Don't make a habit of leaving early. Your
employees will resent you if you walk out the door at three and call them from
the gym at five-thirty to check in.
• Don't go drinking with your assistant. Or
swap stories. Again, you're the adult now. You need to set the example. What you
do in your private time away from the office should remain fodder for your
peers, not your subordinates. Even when you're dying to tell someone about last
night's disastrous date, resist the urge.
• Don't ask them to do anything that is not
work-related. It's rude and fosters resentment. This includes walking
your dog, picking up your dry cleaning, and buying your personal holiday
presents, unless, of course, the job is personal assistant.
• Don't let them hear you on personal calls.
Again, you are the adult. Not only will they will imitate you for months if
they hear you refer to your husband as "Dr. Love," they will feel entitled to be
on their own calls all day.
• You are not their friend. Be a pleasant
boss, but never leave the door open to talk about the dating drama. You will
want your employee to feel comfortable talking to you about serious personal
problems (especially if they will impact her job performance) - a sick mother or
child-care problem, for example. But the last thing you can afford is to become
a surrogate therapist for employee dating or marital woes.
• Pitch in when you can. If you have
assigned what you know to be a tedious task, such as mailing five hundred
company brochures, spend at least a few minutes pitching in. This is your team;
make it happen together. A little willingness to get your hands dirty will go a
long way when you need a really big ditch dug.
• Do not share company financial issues or problems.
If your employees suspect things are not going well, they will be looking for
another job before you know it. There is a whole philosophy of open-book
management that works in big public companies (the law requires it, anyway), but
in small companies you don't need your employees second-guessing your decisions.
• If something goes wrong with a client or customer,
you have to take the blame. As the boss, you are responsible for
everything running smoothly. If you have a problem employee, you need to monitor
her closely, provide more training, or let her go. You cannot make bad employees
the scapegoats for mistakes.
• Manage, but don't smother. Granted this is
your business and you've got the most to lose, but you've got to let your
employees take responsibility for their workload. Guide, cajole, pester -- don't
suffocate.
Source:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/set_example.htm
