Continuing the theme of Leadership, this week’s post will discuss the difference between leaders and managers. As a small business owner, having a great team of leaders and managers will boost your business and give you a competitive edge – not to mention, it will allow you to be a better boss.
ReviewInc’s COO, Henri Isenberg, who was one of the original authors of the Norton Utilities and a Chief Architect and VP with Symantec for 24 years had some thoughts on leaders vs. managers. “Leaders show you the way through darkness. Managers show you the way through light.” Said Henri. “Leaders typically have much less data, but they possess some combination of emotional intelligence strength such as courage or persistence. They lead through great ambiguity into uncharted territory. Once it is charted, they hand it over to a manager.”
Having a great team will have both leaders and managers on board. By setting goals and achieving them with your team will guarantee the success of your business.
“Managers lead through mounds of data and direct activities to achieve predetermined results. Managers have much more clarity as to their resources and budgets. It’s rare that a leader has no management skills or that a manager has no leadership skills.” Added Henri. “Individuals typically possess a combination of both. The only question is in which situation do they shine the most.”
Share your vision and why you are passionate. You started your company based on your vision, and from that, you created your small business aka “your baby”. People like to feel like they are part of something great, so include your employees in expressing your vision and how they are an integral part of the picture. From this image, draw out where each employee shines and develop that passion. If your employees love what they do and are being recognized for their greatness, you will have loyal employees for life.
Encourage transparency on all levels, regardless if the outcome is positive or negative. Establishing a high level of transparency will ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and there are no weak links. Honest communication between all levels within your organization is necessary to the development and growth of your company.
Take care of your family. Your work family is just as important as your personal family and often, you will spend more waking hours with your work family than you do your personal. Employee appreciation is important and lends an excellent opportunity to take care of your employees. This doesn’t mean buy them a Rolex every year but give them an incentive for goals so that they know that in addition to a job well done, there is a bonus. This can also raise a friendly level of competition within the company which is a healthy way to engage a challenge.
Keep in mind that most disgruntled employees have said that lack of recognition was a major factor to their poor work behavior. In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll, 16% of employees left their previous job due to lack of recognition and 78% of US workers (especially Millennial’s) said that being recognized motivates them in their job. Employee recognition is essential to have a high retention rate. By keeping your managers, leaders and employees engaged, happy and passionate about their job, you not only create the best team, you form lifelong relationships with like minds.
Contact ReviewInc today to find out how you can better connect with your employees by conducting employee surveys. With the software, you even have the unique ability to allow your employees to submit anonymous responses – this encourages a higher level of feedback.
