Does your business need leadership or management? The answer is both. Have you ever heard the expression “too many generals and not enough soldiers”? Well it works both ways. Too many soldiers without a strong general will surely find themselves fighting the wrong battles.

Experience has shown us that businesses with too many leaders inevitably fail from their inability to manage and implement day-to-day business issues. Likewise businesses with excellent managers fail because they didn’t innovate, motivate change or watch for strategic threats.

Develop Managers That Can Lead and Leaders That Can Manage

It’s important to develop managers that can lead and leaders that can manage. So what’s the difference?

Think of it like this: you want to manage things and lead people. For example, a business manages costs, inventory, cash flow, processes, information systems, facilities and operations. When it comes to leadership, a great business leads the team, drives the vision, guides team member and customer perceptions, and ultimately generates a positive and productive corporate mindset and culture.

Understand Your Team’s and Customers’ Wants

As the business owner you’re responsible for leading your business to success and getting your people excited about your vision.

Too often leadership is seen as defining a step-by-step business strategy and expecting people to follow the steps or suffer the consequences.

Coming up with a strategy and relying on your position as business owner is not enough. This model fails you, your team and your business. People will learn to do just what they have to so that they can meet expectations and not lose their job.

True leadership is the art of understanding and rewarding your team’s and your customers’ needs so that they’re motivated to make your business a success.

Stay Focused on Making Your Business Grow

Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg’s workday looked like this: arrive at 8am, walk into Facebook and answer a ringing phone, interview every candidate for every position available, answer all customer calls, write some new code, design an alliance partner program and empty the dishwashers in the team kitchens. By noon, he would be exhausted and in 6 months there would be no Facebook.

Too often small business owners take it upon themselves to do all of this and their business suffers as a result.

Work ON Your Business, Not IN it

Your role as the business owner is to keep your eyes constantly toward the direction you want your business to go. You are the leader. To make your vision a reality you have to win your employees and customers over so they can make it happen.

Too often small businesses suffer from leaders who are too overly tied up in the day-to-day running of the business.

Owners have their eyes too focused on accounts receivables, purchase orders and time cards and become blinded to impending competition, threats to their businesses and the potential for growth.

Build a Strong Team

It’s important to seek out qualified and competent people who can manage the day-to-day tasks and operations so that you can look up, set your sight on what you want and move your organization in that direction.