You’ve established your company, and that’s a notable achievement.
Now, it’s time to put effort into making it skyrocket and outrun the competitors.
However, leadership roles bring the amount of stress other positions don’t. It’s critical to unwind from CEO stresses because you can’t sprint forever. Solving the “now” problems, managing remote employees, handling the recruitment and hiring issues, and taking care of a bunch of other tasks requires significant responsibility.
Such increased attention to detail often leads to burnout because it’s hard for one person to withstand such a high load.
That’s why many leaders wondering how to be a CEO of a company usually receive a typical answer — to delegate tasks. There’s nothing wrong with hiring people who can help you manage the load and be more effective. One of such specialists is an outsourced HR manager. Also, you can hire an in-house HR department, read here how to choose between in-house vs outsourcing HR.
A remote HR professional will handle all the employee-related issues, know about their questions to ask the CEO, and help to keep both your and your employees’ levels of motivation high.
One of the most significant tasks — self-reflection is often overlooked. So, HR Bit is here to give you examples of questions that every CEO of a startup should ask themselves to understand if they need help from an HR specialist.
Examples of Questions on How to Be a Good CEO of a Company:
1. How does the team perceive me?
Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses as a leader is a stride towards your company’s development. There might be certain policies or attitudes you believe are correct but which do nothing but harm employee performance.
Also, leaders are always trying to find a balance between being scrupulous and collaborative. Bridging the gap between how you see yourself and how the team thinks of you as a leader is a real challenge. To build a flourishing company, you and your employees have to stay on the same page, both about business goals and the perception of you as a leader.
Managing perceptions is a way to establish trusting relationships with the team members and encourage them to reach out to you more often.
But you should understand that sometimes it is impossible to be a good leader and a friend to your employees. So, it is better to have a person, such as remote HR, who will communicate with your team as a friend and solve everyday issues.
2. Do we have good communication within the team?
High-quality communication within the team is critical because its absence holds back businesses and teams from growth. So, it’s crucial for each leader to commit oneself to mastering communication.
If you do not have enough time to deal with communication issues within the team – you should delegate this task to another competent specialist – for example, HR.
3. Do I have everything under control?
One of the most common questions to ask a CEO concerns their goals and plans and about further development. But to make the decisions that affect the company’s future, the leader has to be aware of all the processes, employees’ motivation, and details regarding the projects’ development.
So, make sure you can easily assess your company’s growth rates based on the mentioned criteria. If you find it hard to pay attention to all the details, consider hiring an outsourced HR specialist.
Do not be afraid not to keep everything under control, just be ready to ask for help if necessary.
4. Are my employees sincere, or is there something they’re not ready to discuss with me?
Honest communication and an open-door policy are the keys to building trusting relationships with employees.
You should understand that in every company, there is a hierarchy, and employees are simply not comfortable sharing their feelings or problems not related to working with the CEO. However, these things may have a significant impact on their performance. So, that is why you need outsourced HR, a person your employees are willing to share such moments with.
5. Are my relationships with employees too formal?
There are plenty of good questions to ask a leader. However, many of them remain unasked because employees don’t feel like there’s a culture of open and honest communication at work.
The strict hierarchy isn’t trendy anymore. Feedback and mutual trust are the new fashion.
If you find it hard to maintain the line separating the boss from a friend, make sure to hire a remote HR manager.
6. Is the environment I have established collaborative enough?
As they say, teamwork is dream work. But establishing such a collaborative environment is a tricky task. People need to be seen, heard, and valued. But bringing people from different backgrounds together is no easy fit.
That’s why you need to implement various practices to facilitate collaboration between employees and improve performance. Besides, the questions to ask a CEO of a company often address teamwork concerns, so keep this in mind.
7. Am I prepared to help my employees deal with critical situations?
This is one of the critical questions for leadership.
Conflicts between employees, performance-related issues, and other problems negatively affect the working environment. So, a boss should be a mediator or appoint a person who always knows what to say to mitigate the consequences of miscommunication.
8. How has an unexpected shift to remote work affected my employees?
One of the most valuable pieces of advice on how to be a CEO of a company is to have the right combination of hard and soft skills. Accessibility and creative problem solving are some of them because a leader needs to understand that both internal and external changes affect the team.
So, if you haven’t reached out to your employees after shifting to remote work, it’s time to do this and draw conclusions after you have the answers.
Also, after switching to a remote work model, outsourcing HR becomes the best solution because you may face some issues that you have never encountered before.
9. Am I paying enough attention to employee engagement?
How to be a CEO of your own company and achieve the desired results?
The key is motivating your employees, communicating with them, and offering them enough professional development opportunities. Employees are the backbone of your company, so you need to approach them correctly.
If you lack time to pay enough attention to their engagement, it will negatively affect your company’s results in the long run. It’s critical to think ahead to grow your business. But if you don’t have time for that, make sure to delegate this task to an outsourced HR manager.
10. Do I manage to devote enough time to both establish a healthy working environment and handle core business goals?
A lot of newly-minted leaders wonder how to be a good CEO of a company and not mess things up?
They’re often told that being a Jack of all trades is praisable but ineffective. Besides, core business tasks take much time and require concentration, so taking on too many responsibilities will make you scattered.
You need to properly assess your capabilities to avoid doing everything and bringing nothing to a conclusion.
11. Are my time management practices effective enough?
Many questions for leadership are related to time-management skills.
How much time do you spend communicating with contractors? And what about reaching out to the team members? And how many hours do you need to address issues or complete core business tasks?
Prioritizing your responsibilities is critical because spending too much time on one task will impede you from achieving progress.
12. Do I have enough time and opportunities to establish thriving company culture?
One of the most frequent answers to the question “how to be a CEO of a company” is about having a well-defined company culture.
If you pay enough attention to it at the outset, you won’t have to handle a bunch of issues related to values, attitudes, and practices adopted by employees.
13. Am I on the verge of burnout due to the rapid growth of my company?
If you already understand how to be a CEO of your own company, you should also know that leaders rarely pay attention to their mental states, and that’s a huge mistake.
Handling too many problems, dealing with the issues, communicating with people, and trying to gain a competitive edge are tiresome tasks, which often turn into a routine. And repetitive tasks are among the most common reasons for burnout.
That’s why it’s critical for each and every CEO to understand that shouldering thousands of responsibilities will do more harm than good.
How to Be a Good CEO of a Company and Avoid Burnout?
One of the most popular search queries on this topic is “good questions to ask a leader” because CEOs often wonder how to perfect their skills and keep up with everything.
CEOs often underestimate the power of the human factor, especially among themselves. They prioritize business over their mental health, working for too many hours and staying up late. In times of stress, it’s critical to pay attention to yourself because if you face burnout, it will be much harder to lead your company to success.
Delegating tasks is one of the forward-looking decisions. You won’t have to handle every single assignment if you have a reliable professional by your side.
HR Bit – hr outsourcing company – is a team of experienced specialists who understand the challenges CEOs of startups face. That’s why we’re ready to help you out and take care of your people while you focus on making your company succeed.
Feel free to contact us and get going.
