In the business world, it often happens that people unexpectedly find themselves in management positions. This career step was often not originally intended by those affected. Regardless of whether they are founders of startups who actually only wanted to implement their business idea and now have to lead a whole team of employees, or a specialist who suddenly has managerial responsibility due to a promotion. Suddenly you have to lead a team and make far-reaching decisions. But what happens if you never learned how to lead effectively?
It is not uncommon for people to suddenly find themselves in management positions who have never attended appropriate training and therefore do not have the necessary skills. This leads to problems that can have fatal effects on the company’s success.
What actually makes good leadership?
The English term leadership is often translated with the German word leadership. Strictly speaking, however, leadership encompasses much more than what is understood by classic leadership. It’s about more than just leading people and exercising authority. Rather, the core of good leadership is to create a culture of collaboration and trust in which everyone can achieve their full potential. Emotional intelligence and integrity are used to create a positive work environment, promote motivation and develop inspiring visions. And all this without excessive control of employees and rigid hierarchies, as is often the case with conventional management.
Importance of leadership in times of skills shortage
If not enough value is placed on qualitative leadership, this leads to employee fluctuation. This is extremely problematic for companies, especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers. According to a study by the management consultancy McKinsey, dissatisfaction with the manager is the second most important reason for terminations at 36%. Only remuneration carries even greater weight at 39%. Finding new staff is difficult. It is better to ensure that current employees stay with the company. As a result, you save yourself the time-consuming and costly recruiting process.
Effective leadership is not only important in view of the shortage of skilled workers. Good leadership is also required to increase employee loyalty and satisfaction. In this way, people can develop ideally and employee resources can be optimally utilized. When employees feel connected to the company, their productivity, drive and engagement increases. Managers must give their employees room to develop and develop and create a positive working environment. It is also important to show the team enough respect.
Fostering innovation and creating vision
In addition to its relevance for personnel policy, the topic also has a significant impact on the topics of vision and the future, especially when it comes to scale-ups in the company. In the growth phase, people are needed who think big but realistically and who have clear visions. A precise direction must be given in order to achieve the desired goals. Leadership with a focus on future-oriented innovations is also important with regard to the question in which direction the product or service should develop.
Learn real leadership
“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born — that there is a genetic factor in leadership. This is nonsense; in fact the opposite is the case. Leaders are made, not born.”
Warren Bennis
The quote is from the book On Becoming a Leader by management expert Warren Bennis, who advocated people-centric leadership and the development of leadership skills. Contrary to what many assumptions suggest, people are not born with outstanding leadership skills. As with many other skills and abilities, it takes a great deal of time, practice and perseverance to become proficient.
As part of a leadership course, managers can acquire the skills and knowledge they need to run a company ideally. The world of work is characterized by constant change, which is why the demands on managers are constantly changing. Entrepreneur Wolfgang Grenke knows this from his own experience. He too made some mistakes in his early days as a manager. Today he has gained enough experience to pass it on to other founders and to coach them. He does this as part of the Scale-up Leadership Program together with the CyberForum, which knows from 26 years of experience with startups that good leadership is crucial for a company’s success.
Scale-up Leadership Programm
In the leadership program, executives develop a leadership mindset that focuses on people and creates an environment in which they can develop their potential and thus contribute to the long-term success of the company. In the form of individual coaching, knowledge from experts, practical tools and a strong community as well as an extensive network, managers learn everything they need to build a successful company.
Find out more about the Scale-up Leadership Program!
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