As a boss you will find that you will be thrust into the seat of psycho-analyst. You will need to watch your employees to assess their attitudes and judge how they see you. Entrepreneurs are almost never ready for this because they are just so full of energy and wanting to implement their ideas as quickly as possible. It turns out that in order to be an effective leader, you have to be able to balance out two things the most. One of them and perhaps the most important is, how far you can push your employees. This might mean getting them to take on more responsibilities even though they haven’t asked for them. It could mean making them work late hours when you have a deadline approaching. You can see it on their faces when they’re tired and maybe showing signs of mental fatigue. The second most important thing is to know when and how you have to react to employees that are beyond their limits. Getting ahead in business cannot be done if you have a reputation of pushing your employees beyond the pale.
Getting short answers
When you speak to an employee, there’s an unwritten rule that they should speak back to you with respect. It’s not so much because you are the one who hired them, and can hang their job over their head whenever they show bad manners. It’s usually because you are the one running the ship, trying to get everyone up to a place of more success. You are the captain they trust and thus they shouldn’t speak to you in a short tone. However when answers do get short and staff members are replying to you in small sentences this is a problem. If they look away and don’t make eye contact when they address you this is a sign they either have something on their mind that doesn’t involve you or they are angry with you personally. It’s at this time you should offer them a one-on-one chat to clear up any matters of disharmony.
Signs of lost focus
We never know what kind of people we have really hired. No matter how many out of work meetings you have with your workers, you never really know what they are like at home. If you can see an employee that looks rough, with dark circles around their eyes, marks on their arms, scratches on their neck and possibly teeth that are decaying, you need to have a serious look at them. In highly stressful positions, substance abuse is common unfortunately. Many people suffer from things they wish they didn’t and had more control over to stop, however they need a helping hand. Since stress is a key factor, consider enrolling them into a dual diagnosis treatment center where they can talk about their work and personal life as well as become cleaner physically.
As the employer, you should care for your employees who have shown consistency and hard work so deliver on these things if you can. Getting short sharp answers is a clear sign that something is up, help them to release their stress by talking with them in private.
