Glenn is the founder and CEO of GaggleAMP, an employee advocacy and engagement platform.
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Employee expectations for leadership have changed over time. As a result, CEOs are becoming more collaborative to help teams achieve organizational goals. However, research shows leadership still leaves something to be desired. According to the DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2021, while 48% of leaders describe their organization’s leadership quality as high, only 28% of HR teams feel the same.
It's our job as leaders to keep up with employee expectations and challenge ourselves to continually grow. As a founder and CEO, I've seen the impact that effective leadership has had on my company’s 12-year growth journey. Here are eight of my key takeaways that you may find helpful as you guide your organization.
1. Know Your Style
It's vital to understand your CEO style and default approach to leadership. Have I always known my leadership style? Absolutely not! It's taken time and introspection. Consider doing a self-assessment and jotting down your strengths, shortcomings and drivers. Knowing your style allows you to adjust as needed to communicate more effectively with your staff. After all, one style doesn't fit every situation.
2. Focus On What Lights You Up
As a first-time CEO, I've made mistakes along the way. One major misstep was getting bogged down in process. I needed to admit that details don’t light me up. What inspires me is vision and connecting to the marketplace.
Try to build your organization in a way that allows you to play to your passions. To accomplish this, it's important to hire people who complement your skill set. In my case, that meant finding folks who love building and managing process as much as I love driving vision and strategy.
3. Prepare To Be Seen
Early in my career, employees hardly ever saw the company leaders. But gone are the days of executive mystique; effective leaders are present and transparent. This transformation was underway before the pandemic hit, thanks to digital tools that make frequent communication simpler. With the pandemic, though, it became particularly critical that CEOs actively updated employees as things progressed.
Communication builds trust and confidence within your company and outside of it. Consumers want to know who's behind the curtain and what they stand for. Consider using social media to connect with your audiences.
4. Know When To Step Back
Founders are accustomed to doing, well, everything. But as your company grows, you need to step back so your team can step up. For me, that meant resisting the temptation to jump into the marketing department every day. Even though that's my background and something I love, I have a fantastic team of marketing experts. My role is to set the direction and provide support while letting them take ownership.
5. Set Goals And Guardrails
One of a CEO’s greatest value-adds to the company is establishing goals and guardrails. But don't do it in a vacuum. You will drive better results if the people executing company goals have input on them. After that, provide the guardrails and guidelines to help teams stay focused without compromising their autonomy. One way I do this is by defining focus areas as part of our annual planning process.
However, make sure your goals and guardrails aren't influenced by limiting beliefs. Just because something didn't work in the past doesn't mean it can’t work now, and vice cersa. Challenge yourself to think bigger and believe that anything's possible.
6. Know Your Values
Only one in five Gen Z employees would work for a company that doesn’t share their values. The best employees want to align their roles to something bigger than themselves. Leveraging your company values as part of your hiring process helps you get the right candidates up front. This view drives camaraderie and team spirit.
So, define your company values and communicate them. Be vocal about purpose and vision, and help your team understand how their contribution supports the bigger mission. It is not as daunting as you may think.
7. Show Employees That You Care
To understand leadership excellence, McKinsey analyzed the mindsets and practices of effective CEOs. One shared focus area is culture. The best executives go above and beyond to drive and assess employee engagement. They understand that investing in your team drives business performance.
I promised myself that if I ever had the opportunity to create a company, I'd build a culture where people felt supported. For example, if someone is facing a hardship, they should know they can share this with their manager and that the company will have their back. Work is important, but you also need to support your people and be human.
8. Celebrate The Journey
More often than not, employees aren't focused on the past. They're in the here and now or looking ahead. But one of your roles as a leader is to remind your team how far they have come. Celebrating achievements feels good and reminds employees of what's possible.
Don't just focus on organizational accomplishments. Remember to recognize individuals, and empower managers to do the same. Gallup finds that nearly four in 10 Gen Z employees prefer to be recognized by their manager at least a few times a week, but that's not happening for most workers. So be sure to create a culture where people can—and do—celebrate and acknowledge each other.
As a CEO, your most valuable trait is the desire to evolve. With effort, intention and a dose of humility, you will grow right along with your company and position yourself as a leader people want to follow.
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