What Kind of Leader Are You?
May 6, 2010
Many people start a business because they want to become their own boss. They may have worked for others in the past and formed strong feelings about how things should be done. And, they may have made a solemn vow to themselves to “do things right” if they ever got the chance.
However, after launching and growing a successful business, the newly minted “boss” eventually realizes that it isn’t quite as easy as they had imagined. As the business grows and additional employees are needed, the owner is inevitably confronted with the thorny issues associated with leading, managing, and motivating people.
A significant challenge for many small business owners is confusion about the difference between “managing people” and “leading people.” And, unless they have had the benefit of excellent training, experience, and role models, new “bosses” tend to make a lot of mistakes with their employees. Unfortunately, when employees are not handled properly it results in negative consequences for the business including low productivity, errors, theft, high turnover and lawsuits.
According to Ken Blanchard, best selling author of “The One Minute Manager”, management involves structure, control, rules, deadlines and efficiency. Leadership is more unstructured, flexible, experimental, visionary, and passionate. From these definitions it is clear that bosses who are managers will handle employees quite differently than those who are leaders.
Blanchard’s work involves the study of one’s values, beliefs and personalities on the success or failure of an enterprise. Although there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” leadership model, small business owners can increase their odds of success by adopting more of a leadership role than a management role in their businesses.
By its nature, business ownership puts the owner in a position of leadership. When the owner is a strong leader, they effectively engage employees, partners, vendors, investors, independent contractors and other stakeholders in a common purpose; the success of the venture. It is important to note, however, that being in a position of leadership does not make someone a leader.
Many entrepreneurs rely on management techniques to coerce people into doing what they want them to do. While coercion can yield good results, leadership has the potential to produce greatness. Business owners must find ways to capture people’s minds and hearts like leaders do if they want extraordinary results.
Your employees are the best judge of your leadership competence. “The first step to becoming a better leader is to study yourself and get honest, unfiltered feedback about how you are doing from the people you lead,” says Blanchard.
It is very important for small business owners to learn leadership skills so they can provide the kind of direction, support, encouragement, and praise employees need to perform their best. A great leader does not expect great performance simply by telling people what they want them to do. They get far better results by sharing their hopes, dreams and goals with their employees. They ask lots of questions, listen, and learn about their employees’ hopes, dreams and goals. Then, a great leader helps their employees see how they can fulfill their hopes, dreams, and goals through their work. This is how a great leader ignites the passion within their employees so they work from a sense of purpose.
If business owners focus solely on activities yet fail to ignite the passion within employees so they are working from a sense of purpose, the business most likely will fall short of expectations. These business owners may be good bosses, but, they are not good leaders. How can you tell if you are a boss or a leader? Rest assured, your employees know.
To learn more about how to start, operate and grow a successful business contact SCORE by clicking the link on the right to the office nearest you or click here to request free face to face counseling.
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Susan Fronk, St. Paul SCORE
View more posts by Susan Fronk
Filed under: Entrepreneurship,Leadership,Management,Start-Up
7 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Ed Estlow | May 9, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Leadership is an emergent quality. It surfaces when needed and submerges when no longer needed. There’s a simple test to see if you are leading: if you’re doing something, going somewhere – literally or metaphorically – turn around. If people are following you, you’re leading. If no one’s following you, you’re not leading.
This is not good or bad. It simply is. You might be doing good and necessary things, but at the moment, you’re not leading. Leadership and followership are yin and yang. One cannot exist without the other.
This points out the fact that followership is just as important as leadership. Sadly, this fact is missing in virtually all leadership dialogue.
Lastly, the functions of leadership and management do not intersect. The people performing either might be both, e.g. leaders might be managers and/or vice versa, but the functions do not meet.
Indeed, people might be leaders at one moment and followers the next – or leaders in one instance or context, and followers in another.
These thoughts grew from some studying I did in the late ’90s, using complexity theory as metaphor for organizational behavior.
Briefly, complexity theory implies that systems with a few simple rules exhibit rich, complex behavior, while systems with lots of rules tend toward stasis (death).
My interest sprang from a friend’s Master’s thesis at Augsburg College in 1998, “Managers are Appointed, Leaders Emerge: How New Scientific Paradigms Inform Organizational Leadership.” Obviously, his thesis focused on leadership and followership, while my own personal studies (nowhere nearly as organized or as well documented as his) focused more on overall behavior of organizations.
2.
Eric Mitchellette | May 10, 2010 at 7:16 am
Susan, excellent article and topic. You summarize the leadership vs. management topic very clearly. Seth Godin addresses some of aforementioned issues as well in his book
“Tribes”; however, he never address the fact the a true leader must also manage at times.
Best of Success,
Eric Mitchellette
3.
Susan Fronk | May 10, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Eric,
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
It seems everyone has met a great leader who couldn’t manage and a great manager who couldn’t lead. To compound the matter, we all have “blind spots” that prevent us from seeing ourselves as others do. These blind spots make it very difficult to know how we are doing relative to leadership, management, or any competency, for that matter.
A well accepted model of interpersonal awareness called the “Johari Window” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window) presents the concept of self-awareness with a four pane window. In the first pane are things we know about ourselves, and so do others. In the second pane are things we know about ourselves, but, others don’t. In the third pane are things others know about us, but we don’t (blind spots). In the fourth pane are things that are hidden from us as well as others. This is the domain of hidden talents that show up when the opportunity presents itself.
This model also explains why people may have latent leadership and/or management competence that is not known to them or others because they have not had an opportunity to demonstrate it. This may be why many otherwise gifted leaders or managers are overlooked.
In an effort to avoid this problem, many forward thinking organizations are doing their best to identify and groom high potentials. One of the easiest ways to test whether or not someone has leadership potential is to put them in a leadership role. Of course, their success or failure is dependent on the cumulative and coordinated effort of their followers. A fascinating natural example can be observed in a flock of migrating geese flying in a V formation. On a long journey, when one goose gets tired, it falls back and another goose takes the lead.
Susan
4.
Eric Mitchellette | May 10, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Susan, Thank you for following up with more insights and the link to the Johari Window.
Take care,
Eric M
5.
David M. Tompos | May 14, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Susan-
Good topic for today. How are future leaders being groomed? Will our generation be remembered as good mentors / trainers of the new leaders? Or, is it too late – and the next generation leaders (NGL) be doomed to repeat our mistakes, and copy Madoff, Petters, “Chainsaw” Al, etc.
Sometimes, leaders take a backseat and allow others to have the stage. True leaders must model the behavior they expect of their teams. Honesty, integrity, and commitment…
6.
Susan Fronk | May 15, 2010 at 9:53 am
David,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Your concern about how well we are grooming leaders is well placed. And, you are absolutely correct about leaders needing to model honesty, integrity and commitment.
However, I believe that honesty and integrity fall under the heading of character which is not easy to instill in budding leaders, especially when the culture rewards behaviors that produce more measurable, short term results.
In 1513 Machiavelli wrote his best-known work, Il Principe (The Prince), which was dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici offering practical advice on how to rule a city like sixteenth-century Florence.
Machiavelli asserted that no matter what idealistic notions are adopted as principles of private morality, there is no guarantee that other people will follow them, and that puts the honorable or virtuous individual at a distinct disadvantage in the real world.
In order to achieve success in public life, Machiavelli believed that a ruler must know precisely when and how to do what no good person would ever do. This would suggest that commitment is necessary for leaders who may or may not act with honesty or integrity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellianism
Susan
7.
Mike Clough | May 15, 2010 at 11:54 am
Susan, this is an outstanding article. Small biz owners do need to lead rather than “boss”. However, a successful entrepreneur needs to be both a leader and a manager. I encourage managers in micro, small and medium businesses to read everything they can on leadership as I believe great leadership is a journey rather than a destination.
I would also encourage entrepreneurs and small business owners to join the LinkedIn group, “Minnesota Small Business – Powered by SCORE.”
Susan, thank you for this article.
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