Tips for Becoming an Effective Leader

An effective manager is one that combines leadership with soft skills. A good manager knows how to listen and emphasize with their staff. A manager is not just about giving orders and achieving results.

One of the best leadership books I have read has to be "The Customer Comes Second" by Hal Rosenbluth. Hal tells us in his book that if you treat your employee's right, they will be happier and satisfied with their jobs and thus will treat your customers and clients better. It makes perfect sense. How often do you see a disgruntled employee who hates their job, hates their shift hours, hates their boss, etc? They answer the phone and already have a chip on their shoulder so how can they possibly offer excellent customer service?

Do not just establish an employee satisfaction committee or activities committee. An effective manager is one that will listen to what the employees want and take action. While you cannot solve all of their issues, especially pay and benefits, you can emphasize with them about the high premiums or explain the finances (as much as you are permitted to) to your staff. Make them a part of the solution. This way they are more apt to complete the tasks.

Another way to be an effective leader is to be assessable to your staff. Do not sit in an office with the door closed. Do not walk around with a Bluetooth or wireless headset on and always be on a call. Spend time eating lunch in the employee lounge or break room, spend time on the floor, double jack with some agents, set up events for holidays or diversity and then participate. If your employees are selling slices of pizza in order to donate proceeds to a local charity or hospital, then you wear the chef's hat and apron and hand out the pizza. Be a part of their everyday life and know their names. You will be surprised at how that will raise their level of respect for you and the company.

Everyone knows that an employee with bad morale will bring down the people around them. If you identify a person or group of people that are bringing down your office morale then call them in, along with a handful of others, and ask them to tackle the morale problem in the office. This makes them accountable for the situation and makes it so that they have to set the right example for others. Make them a part of the solution and your problem is half solved.