8 Steps to Improve Your Leadership Skills

As a business owner, there are many ways you can look to upgrade and improve your skills. In fact, you are likely looking to expand your skill set as often as possible. From continuing education, to making new connections, to helping your business to run more efficiently, there’s a plethora of tasks you can take on each and every day.

By upping your game, you can help your business become more successful with even the smallest of details. Over time, each of these add up in order to create BIG growth.

Aside from the obvious, look to outside or little-used methods to up your leadership skills and help your franchise.

Whether you sign up online or are attending in person (this can be anything from classes through your local chamber location, to college courses), structured classes are a great way to learn. Use them as an opportunity to take in new, hypothetical situations and set up a plan for if and when those same situations take place within your own business.

Classes are also a great way to gain skills for the backend of your brand, such as balancing books, training employees, and more.

You can learn a great deal from other people, especially those who are successful in their own ventures. Watch how and what others do in their own franchises. Meet with them in person and talk strategy, and more. Always be on the lookout for how you can incorporate a new method into your own brand.

Don’t forget that others’ failures are a quick way of learning what not to do, too.

It can be hard to look at yourself and find mistakes or even successes. We can be both our own biggest cheerleaders, as well as our own biggest critics. Try to look at your franchise objectively to see what you’re doing well and what can be improved upon at any given time. This is a skill that gets easier with time. The more you do it, the better you will become at finding an outside perspective. When starting out, ask for the advice of others, too, so you can compare their outlooks with your own to get a better-rounded approach. (And so you can cross-reference your own ideas against theirs.)

You’re likely to evaluate your employees on their performance, so why not ask them to do the same for you? They’ll have a good insight of your strengths, weaknesses, and possibly ideas for improvements. Ask to sit down with them and have a chat, or offer anonymous questionnaires to gain insight. Just remember to take these thoughts with a grain of salt – some will want to suck up while others need to vent. However, by getting information on both sides, you’re likely to get some valuable takeaways.

There are thousands of talks on becoming a better leader. Create better skills for yourself by listening to these talks, whether they be short or lengthy. Tune in while in the car to gain some knowledge while you’re on the go. The more often you can implement tips from each speaker, the more likely you’ll be able to improve as a boss and as a franchisee. 

Create goals and find ways to reach them. It’s important not to change too much at once. But by researching and pinpointing areas to expand, you can add incredible amounts of success to your franchise location. Find places to give a makeover and focus on it until you see growth, then repeat with other parts of the business. Remember not to change too much at once to avoid introducing new problems.

This method will teach you new business skills every single day, therefore, growing your ability as a leader within your company.

One of the biggest perks to franchising is the ability to work with other high-ups. Don’t overlook the fact that you have skilled workers there to help you. Ask their advice, follow through with their suggestions, and gain as much information as possible from them. This is one of the most effective ways to grow your franchise location.

We aren’t rock stars at every single task, this is normal. You will be more skilled and more likely to pull your hair out at the thought of others. Focus on what you’re good at, then outsource the rest. This will allow you to spend your time and energy on what you do best, while drawing in the strengths of others for what needs help. In the meantime, you can lead everyone toward a common goal and play point guard for the entire team.

Grow your leadership skills to help your franchise succeed. With a trained leader, your brand has a better shot at steady growth!

To find more information about franchising, email us today.