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Being a good leader Te tū hei kaiārahi pai

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Learn how to develop your leadership skills by getting to know your employees and building trust with them.

Strong leadership helps your employees

Being a strong leader helps your employees to work well consistently.

With strong leadership skills, you can:

  • bring employees together
  • help people understand what’s expected of them
  • help them understand the direction of your business
  • stay passionate about your vision
  • get more done.

Focus on getting to know your team and making trust a priority.

To be a good leader:

  • create a shared sense of purpose – clearly communicate your vision and involve your staff
  • treat people fairly
  • accept your moral duty to everyone your business affects
  • create a culture of continual learning
  • strengthen relationships. 

Getting to know your team

Different employees respond to different leadership styles, so take time to understand your team.

Learn about your employees’ personalities and values so you can lead based on the situation.

Your leadership style may change daily, weekly or monthly, depending on who you’re dealing with and what you’re trying to achieve.

Motivating your staff

Making trust a priority

Businesses built on trust are generally more profitable. Making trust a key part of your work culture is an essential business strategy. 

Trust can positively affect:

  • your operating costs
  • employee retention and engagement
  • performance outcomes.

Trusting your employees have many benefits:

  • it gives you a competitive edge – if people know they can experiment and make mistakes, they are more likely to use their creativity and experiment with ideas.
  • it frees up your time for other things.
  • it reduces employee turnover.
  • it builds high performing teams.
  • it encourages innovation.
Shaping your work culture

Working trust into your strategy

  1. Step01

    Respond to your employees’ needs

    Make a note of what’s important for your employees and show them you’re doing something about it. This shows your team you value them as people, and not just what they can do for you.

    For example:

    • if employees are worried about safety, hear their concerns and share any steps you’re taking to improve your safety practices.
    • if an employee tells you something in confidence, don’t tell anyone else.
    • if employees like to bike to work or go for runs at lunchtime, think about installing a shower.
    Flexible working arrangements
  2. Step02

    Communicate your intentions

    Share why you’re doing things:

    • show how your actions benefit employees and the business.
    • make sure you’re honest and have nothing to hide.
    • give genuine reasons for decisions.
    • keep your word, or explain why you didn’t.
    • hold yourself accountable.
    • tell employees what they can expect and why.
    Raising a health and safety issue
  3. Step03

    Show how you're delivering

    Sharing the outcome of your decisions gives employees faith in your ability to lead.

    Point out when things have gone well and be honest about when they haven’t. Explain what you’re doing about things that haven’t worked quite as planned.

    This is useful when you’re doing something new and you can’t be sure of the result – for example, launching a new product or service. Employees may not trust the business will pull it off. Respect this.

    Tell people why you think the product or service will work then share incremental results.

    Keeping track of key metrics
Case study

Building trust in action

Building Trust In Action

Business has been slow for Jed’s lawn mowing firm. He explains to his team that they’ve been losing business and that if they don’t act, he may have to start laying people off. He pitches his idea to expand the business.

See how Jed builds trust with his team

Checking your practices are fair

Employees are typically more engaged when they can count on you to treat people fairly and make consistently fair decisions. 

Ask yourself how fair your employees might perceive you to be in both your:

  • business process
  • management leadership approach.

Business process 

Ask yourself how you:

  • allocate resources – for example deciding who works which shifts, how projects get approved, or how much people get paid (this is called distributive justice)
  • apply policies and processes – for example, getting employees involved, applying policies ethically and fairly, or giving everyone the same opportunities (this is called procedural justice).

Management leadership approach

Ask yourself how you:

  • share information – for example, if you get back to people in good time, or how you handle confidential information (this is called informational justice)
  • treat people – for example, being respectful or avoiding bias (this is called interpersonal justice).
Communicating and giving feedback

Equity, equality and needs

When thinking about what’s fair, consider treating people equitably, equally or based on their individual circumstances. Think about people’s personality and individual needs.

Equity

Being equitable means giving people what they deserve.

For example, giving a high-performing member of the team a bigger bonus than regular or low-performing staff may be fairer than giving everyone the same.

Equality

Equality means giving everyone the same rights. These are terms and conditions of employment and not related to performance.

Needs

Sometimes the fairest decision is based on people’s needs.

For example, it’s fair to give someone time off to grieve a death, or have an operation. But it may be unfair to give someone three months off to go on a world trip, unless you’re prepared to do that for everyone.

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Leadership and culture