Leadership Traits for Start-ups

For your startup to grow, it needs to be open to different methods, styles and procedures. It’s refreshing to read about so many start up these days and in general start up environment is meeting a lot more success than what it has in the past few decades. Adaptability is an absolute necessary ingredient when you get on with a leadership challenge. But in addition to that there are mainly three natural or acquired traits such as empathy, listening and collaboration skills that must be practiced by all new leaders as they start their journey in to leadership.

Empathy

Having a hierarchy is important for a business; it provides a clear structure, maintains managerial integrity and is important for sustained success. Sometimes, in start-up’s it is easy for a disjoint to form between founders and managers or their staff members. Empathy is a trait that can help bridge that gap because it compels leaders to understand their team members. Natural leaders are often better at using empathy to mentor their team members through soft skills and self-awareness. When you put yourself in the shoes of your staff, you can understand their problems and issues quickly and clearly. This improves relationships, and from my experience it can most definitely improve job satisfaction and productivity.

Collaboration skills

It’s good for team members to get involved in company matters and have something to contribute. In a start-up founders or managers should lean towards a facilitating leadership style. This makes it easier for team members to collaborate with each other and creates a more open work environment. I believe that collaboration is a wonderful way to improve innovation and workflow, as well as get team members comfortable enough to share their thoughts. Collaboration helps to drive ease and productivity and can even increase wellbeing and happiness. You need as much collaboration as you can get in an early stage of your start-up.

Listening

Communication is important for every business, and listening is half of communication. You need it to find ways to grow and to share thoughts and ideas. It’s important to remember that you need to listen to understand and not listen to respond. Instead of trying to quickly find a fix, try to better understand the issue before you respond. This helps leaders understand what drives their team members, so that leaders may help the team more effectively. The ability to listen is a very important leadership trait. Aside from helping you connect with staff, it can help you understand what your customers need and how to give them what they want.

Successful business leaders are those who are highly adaptable, will generally carry an appetite for calculated risk and are always ready to learn general management skills. As your company’s culture changes with time, so should its leadership style. Adapt to the changes in the modern workplace by using leadership techniques that you can learn from. Last but not the least – always aspire to have a mentor that you will willingly follow.