Leadership is an important trait for business owners, especially during times of expansion and change. If you’re an entrepreneur looking to boost your ability to lead, keep the following five tips in mind.

Show Decisiveness

Business owners need to show decisiveness, lest they lose the confidence of their team. It’s true that occasional mistakes will happen—but nobody is perfect, and mistakes are a part of doing business whether you make a decision in one day or six months. Expedient decision-making shows that you have faith in both your ideas and the people you’ve empowered to execute them.

Take Time to Plan

Planning is a critical activity for any leader, especially because planning allows you to make better-informed decisions and head off problems before they impact your business. On the other side of the coin, employees who realize you don’t have a plan will quickly lose faith. 

Demonstrate Humility

Humility is such a desirable trait in business owners that The Wall Street Journal ran an article with this headline: “The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses.” Studies have backed that idea up; for example, one found that humble CEOs and management teams tend to run stronger firms.

Be Empathetic

In all too many companies, employees feel that their managers and executives don’t listen. This is where empathy—the ability to both listen to a person’s feedback and understand where that person is coming from—sets truly effective business owners apart from their peers. One easy step toward demonstrating empathy is asking your employees what roadblocks they’re facing and then doing your best to remove those obstacles.

Collaborate with Others

The early days of a business may see an entrepreneur doing most tasks on their own, but eventually, collaboration will be key, especially as the business takes on new employees. Good leaders both engage in collaboration themselves and foster it between others.

If you run a business and are curious about how you can access different financing options, get in touch with Topfund Capital to speak to an expert.