How to be a better ecommerce leader and inspire your team

The phrase, “Pick a boss, not a job,” has become popular in recent years, as company loyalty has been diluted in a digital world that brings constant change. So, strong leadership is important for inspiring staff to develop, thrive and embrace the company vision. You can’t do anything well without great people, and for great people to flourish, you need to be a great leader.

Space 48’s Founder and MD, Jon Woodall, offers his advice for Heads of Ecommerce on how to become better leaders and inspire their ecommerce teams:

Communicate effectively and empower your team

Effective communication is crucial. This applies to one-to-one interactions, as well as communications in meetings, workshops and during project planning. Fully understanding your team is vital. 

We recommend that you assess the different personality types within your ecommerce team, as this will help you to understand individual traits and enable you to adapt and have better conversations.

Check out our DNA profiler, which categorises people into four colour personality types; red, blue, green and yellow. Different personality types complement each other and create a powerful team dynamic, covering a range of strengths across key areas of your business.

Keep developing, improving and be inspired by others

You should always be open to learning, improving your skills and seeking inspiration from other leaders and thinkers. Being a good leader is about listening and learning from others, to make the right decisions more often than not.

Encourage your team to do the same and promote development from within. This will help your team to move out of their comfort zone and expand their skills. No matter what the job role or level of seniority, every team member should have a voice and a platform to create an impact. 

Learning is a key part of Space 48’s culture, and in our new office we created a space that would be the perfect environment to take this learning and development culture forward.

Be passionate about tech trends and changes

Ecommerce is a fast-evolving industry and to be a successful Head of Ecommerce you need to have a passion for technology and data. You should demonstrate this passion to inspire your team to embrace change and be innovative. 

Your team will look to you for inspiration and direction, so providing an energetic and innovative working atmosphere will have a positive impact on your team.

Check out our blog on the latest tech trends shaping the future of ecommerce.

Learn from your mistakes

The key to being a successful leader is to learn from your mistakes and be agile enough to make bold changes where necessary – we fully advocate mistake-driven success.

Don’t fear making big decisions, as you’re not going to get them all right. The more you learn from your mistakes (rather like how boxers often come back stronger from defeats and learn things about themselves through their failures), the easier it will become.

Build the right team around you

We aspire to work with the brightest people and our recruitment and acquisition approach reflects this. It’s important to create a varied dynamic of different personality types, skills and strengths. When it comes to growth, we strive to work with innovative individuals and ambitious organisations.

Surround yourself with amazing people and ensure your team has the right balance. This will make inspiring and leading your team much easier.

Find out more about our recent acquisition of the awesome ecommerce agency, Meanbee.

Summary

We hope you found these leadership tips and insights useful. A successful ecommerce team needs a good leader, who commands respect by demonstrating the right attitude and building the right working culture for people to develop and improve.

We encourage leadership, learning and innovation at Space 48. We recently moved our offices to Manchester and made sure our culture and DNA was reflected in our new environment. Read about our recent office move and the reasoning behind it’s conception: Jon Woodall on Moving Space 48 to Manchester

If you are seeking to create a culture of positive leadership within your ecommerce team, get in touch to see how we can help.

Are you looking to improve your ecommerce website’s performance? Space 48 is a leading UK ecommerce consultancy, specialising in Magento website development.