In order for a business to be successful, it needs people in management who embody the right leadership qualities. When a restaurant or grocery store fails, one of the causes is often ineffective leadership. On the other hand, effective leadership is a major cornerstone for success. With good leadership in place, you can bolster employee retention, improve the quality of their work, and reduce employee turnover.
While it’s easy to identify a bad leader, knowing what a good leader looks like can be more difficult. This guide takes a closer look at some of the core leadership skills you should develop, as well as the benefits that good leadership can provide to your restaurant or grocery store.
How Leadership Qualities Affect Overall Quality of Work
Leadership can enhance the performance of an organization or team in a number of ways. An effective leader is someone who understands what kind of work needs to be completed by members of the team. While there are several different leadership styles that a person can incorporate into their management techniques, it’s important to remember that leaders influence the actions that team members take. When a leader has enthusiasm for their work, for example, employees are more likely to respond by efficiently completing assigned tasks.
As a leader, it can be difficult to lead well if you don’t know what types of qualities you should possess. And which types you shouldn’t. For example, some leaders attempt to improve the quality of work at their restaurant by instilling fear in their employees. This approach occurs under the belief that employees will perform better if they feel like they will be fired for performing poorly. However, this approach can also worsen morale in the restaurant and cause staff to become less motivated.
On the other hand, spending time with your team can help you figure out how to best support them. For instance, a grocery stocker may be struggling to keep up with stocking shelves because they’re taking the wrong approach. A good leader would spend enough time on the floor to identify the inefficiency. This, in turn, would allow them to correct it through proper coaching and instruction.
Beneficial Leadership Qualities to Develop
There are many leadership qualities that you should look into developing or improving. One notable quality of great leaders is integrity, which every leader must have. In fact, integrity should serve as the base for any additional qualities that you work on developing. When you have integrity, your employees will know that you stand for your beliefs and that you won’t compromise, even when doing so would be easier.
If you make a promise at work, it’s important that you follow through on this promise. Honesty is another quality that makes a leader seem more reliable to employees. If your staff can’t take you at your word, they may not feel incentivized to put in their best performance. It’s also essential that you listen to team members and don’t always believe that your idea is the best idea. You should have the emotional intelligence to admit when a team member’s idea may be better than yours.
Another core aspect of great leadership is effective communication. How you communicate can dictate the quality of the work that your employees deliver. If you get your message across in a clear and succinct manner, team members will understand what needs to be done. Without guidance, your employees might not understand their roles, which could worsen productivity significantly.
Additional Leadership Qualities
Some of the additional qualities that you should consider developing in order to be an effective leader include:
- Knowing when to delegate tasks
- Understanding when and how to make clear decisions
- Being able to solve problems
- Self-motivation and self-discipline
- Accountability
- Loyalty
- Gratitude
Many employees respond well to positive reinforcement. If a cashier or server is doing a good job, don’t hesitate to let them know. Along the same line, it’s recommended that you provide constructive feedback to employees who make mistakes, which happens to everyone. An employee is much more likely to improve the quality of their work if their manager supports them and teaches them when necessary. On the other hand, criticism alone can lead to bad attitudes at the workplace, which you don’t want.
How Great Leadership Contributes to Employee Retention and Reduced Employee Turnover
Along with improving the quality of work throughout your restaurant or grocery store, great leadership can also contribute to employee retention while reducing employee turnover. The morale of a team can worsen substantially when members of management don’t display the qualities of a good leader. For instance, think about a restaurant manager who never shows up on time. How can they expect their front of house staff to maintain good discipline if they can’t display that quality themselves?
With the right approach to management, employees will be able to complete their work efficiently and on time. You can reduce employee turnover by focusing on employee satisfaction, making sure they’re engaged, and providing them with regular feedback on how they’re doing.
Great Leadership Doesn’t Happen Overnight
If you manage a restaurant team or run a grocery store, the success that you have may depend on the leadership role that you take. However, people aren’t born as great leaders. To be a great leader, you should first focus on personal development to improve your leadership qualities. Because of the large number of leadership skills and qualities at your disposal, there are many ways to improve your skills. For instance, you could try to encourage your employees to think outside of the box. Creativity and innovations are oftentimes great for solving problems.
A key aspect of becoming a better leader is to practice discipline regularly, which means keeping your appointments, meeting deadlines, and properly organizing your day. When you lead by example, your employees should respond well to this technique. You can also take on additional projects and develop situational awareness, both of which will give you the opportunity to handle complex projects and manage any problems that occur along the way. In many cases, becoming a good leader involves learning by doing. If you immerse yourself in leadership roles, you should begin to gain the experience and leadership skills that are necessary for being a great leader.
How Technology can Help
If you want your employees to respond positively to your leadership, it’s important that you have the time to be a great leader. You can’t be out on the floor and leading by example when you’re stuck in a back office building schedules for hours each week. By using an online scheduling software, you can save yourself time and create schedules with great coverage in just a few minutes. This will allow you to focus on leading and engaging your team instead of managing schedules and completing other repetitive tasks. Built-in applicant tracking, hiring, and onboarding tools can help you identify and hire great team members, too.
