Your MSP company will have diverse clients, you’re going to go through dozens— if not hundreds— of employees, and technology will shift around you all the while. If you’re going to be effective and sustainable, you need leadership prepared to endure such a mantle. Following are two strategies successful leaders employ in differing quantities to help achieve leadership stability:
Emotional Intelligence
Your MSP company will have leaders and those whom they lead at varying levels of emotional intelligence. Sometimes you’ll have a leader and someone who reports to them with low emotional intelligence. They’ll be conducting other strategies to help them reach secure leadership ability. Here’s the thing: technologically speaking, the emotional intelligence of most involved with an MSP business is going to be low; but that doesn’t mean this is the “end game”.
You can teach emotional intelligence. This starts with understanding yourself. Everyone comes from diverse backgrounds; some will have greater “self-awareness” than others. Those who do will be able to perceive emotional indicators and react accordingly. Those who don’t will miss obvious signs. It makes sense to work on facilitating better emotional intelligence, and a good place to start is internally.
Sustaining That Which Is Uncomfortable
Ever worked out over an extended period of time? Soon, every other day your muscles ache. This can be uncomfortable. But at the same time, you’re growing, and becoming stronger; so that helps psychologically buffer you against these growing pains.
It’s the same in your MSP. Clients, competition, mistakes, upgrades, expansion–all will have a degree of discomfort to them. If you can learn how to become comfortable amidst such situations, you’ll be able to think clearly and lead despite continuously extenuating circumstances.
Emotional intelligence and becoming “comfortable with the uncomfortable” are strategies you might consider as means of facilitating better leadership. An MSP company who has leaders that understand themselves and their teams will be better positioned to handle difficult situations.
