Leading a startup
At a loss about being a boss? Part 2 of 4: Be yourself
In part one we suggested getting the boring stuff right by sorting the HR basics, to save you time (and hassle) throughout the life of your business. Once you’ve got this right, think a little closer to home and look at your skills as a leader.
We know the leaders we have most respected and enjoyed working for weren’t the ones that got it right all the time, they were the authentic ones who were themselves. Sometimes they made mistakes. They were human. But, when that happened you knew they thought they were doing the right thing, so everyone got over it pretty quickly and pulled together to help get things back on track
It is tempting to put on a façade when you aren’t feeling confident about your leadership skills, or even try and replicate someone else’s leadership style you admired. But let’s face it we’re not all Barack Obama or Richard Branson. Whenever a leader does that it always comes off a bit fake. You are always better to be yourself – even if you don’t feel like you’re hitting the mark all the time.
It can take time to understand who you are as a leader, or what your leadership style is, and to do this some people like to work with a coach. We have some recommendations for great coaches we have worked with, but if that is a little out of reach for now here are some really great low cost tools that can help you:
Podcasts are great for learning from the experiences of successful leaders
To help you start to think about your leadership style and how you can be yourself while leading your business, we have put together a simple exercise to work though. You can find it here
This article is part two of our “at a loss about being a boss” series four-part guide aimed at startup founders. Check out the other blogs in that series:
Part one: The HR Basics for startups
Part three: How to recruit in a startup
Part four: How to create a culture in your startup
You can also download the full guide, along with all of the worksheets here or, if you have questions book a call with one of the team, we love questions!
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