In the Staffing Industry, People Join Leaders, Not Jobs
Develop the Leadership to Drive Your Business Forward
In the staffing industry, hiring good managers is imperative to retaining good staff. According to a 2017 Gallup survey of one million U.S. workers, 75% said they would quit their jobs because of their immediate supervisors.
If you are having trouble hiring great staffing consultants, it may be that the reputation of poor leadership has spread beyond your four walls. If salary hikes, career opportunities, and other perks don’t attract great candidates, then these are all clues there is something else acting as a deterrent. It’s most likely your management.
Good leaders play a lion’s share in creating a welcoming workplace. One in which collaboration and productivity is high, engagement is constant, and creativity breathes life into every decision. A firm that stands out in the staffing industry in the new normal.
How do you know your managers are not the leaders you need them to be?
How can you develop the leadership that reinvigorates your business?
4 Signs You Have a Poor Leader
There are many ways to recognize a bad leader. Here are four symptoms that are evidence a team’s manager needs developing.
1. Lack of Creativity
Most leaders who religiously follow the rulebook have this as a trait. They are afraid to take risks, and thus they don’t inspire their people to be creative. This hinders your employees’ progress. Staffing consultants working in this type of environment are hindered in their own progress as they:
- Often feel demotivated
- Get accustomed to their monotonous work life
- Lose interest in their jobs
- Do not feel inspired to do more than what’s expected
Most employees are unhappy working under such leaders. They have lackluster work lives and are dissatisfied with their jobs – and so these employees start to exhibit the next symptom of poor leadership.
2. Lack of Engagement
As people’s job satisfaction falters, it becomes more difficult for a manager to motivate them. The manager may begin to micromanage their staff, and all decisions must go through them. In this environment, you are likely to notice that managers:
- Are poor communicators
- Refuse to listen to the views of their people
- Fail to recognize and reward expected behaviors
Signs of engagement falling include people unwilling to go the extra mile. Staff never arrive early, make sure they leave for home on time, and do no more than they are asked or instructed to do. This can lead to a culture of blame, in which no one takes responsibility. This type of toxic work environment often means employees are stressed, and they move to the next stage.
3. High Absenteeism
As engagement falls and staff feel undervalued and stressed at work, absenteeism grows. Mental and physical health suffers. People just don’t feel like coming into work. When they are at work, every minute becomes a burden. They move to the next stage.
4. High Employee Turnover
As a poor manager seeks to force productivity, their micromanagement increases. They pile more work on individuals and spend little time trying to build relationships.
The more pressure that a manager places on an employee, the higher stress levels rise. The less recognition people receive, the less they are inspired to work to their best. This snowballs demotivation, with employees feeling unable to cope. Underperformance rockets, as does employee turnover. When your best consultants start to leave, your business suffers.
How to Improve Your Leadership
The good news is that it is never too late to improve your leadership, and there is no firm at which leadership cannot be improved. Here are five steps that you can take to develop inspiring leadership that raises the performance of your staffing firm.
1. Evaluate Leadership Performance
You should adopt tools that can help you evaluate your performance. Most CEOs are unaware of how their employees feel about their work, their workplace environment, and their manager.
To learn the truth about your firm and your managers, you should make certain that people are given a way to provide feedback anonymously. Then you must review this feedback and assess it, looking for patterns that give clues to how your management is affecting your people.
2. Leadership Coaching and Training
Having assessed your firm and your managers, take time to identify the areas in which your managers and leaders are falling short. This will help you to develop training that can be provided to all managers, and coaching to work on the skills of individual managers.
3. Executive Support/Mentorship
As your managers begin to develop their leadership skills, consider pairing them with a mentor. This will provide the manager with a close confidante to share ideas with, help them to become more self-aware, and encourage new ways of thinking – from someone who has been where they are and managed to advance as a leader.
4. Hire Leaders More Effectively
When hiring for senior managers and leaders, watch for the signs that mark them out as good leaders. These include:
- Compassion and empathy
- Genuine concern for the wellbeing of others
- Never assumptive
- Patience
- Accepting of responsibility and accountable for their actions
- Problem-solving skill
- Coaching skills
Is It Time to Improve Your Leadership in the Staffing Industry?
Can you afford for your firm to be led poorly?
Good leadership is key to your employees’ performance, which is key to your performance. When you benefit from good leadership, your workplace is happier, your staff more motivated, and your productivity higher.
How do you start to develop the best leadership in the staffing industry? Contact Enabled Force today, and discover how our consulting services can help you unleash your team’s unlimited potential and set yourself up for massive revenue growth.