Small business owners are you leading your company or just managing it?

Management is operational; it’s about setting priorities, evaluating priorities, hiring, and firing decisions and who is doing what.

A leader is more of a coach. They work to keep the team inspired, helping them grow, and moving in the right direction.

Leadership is about the future, while management is about dealing with the here and now.

As a manager you can support the team members during their day-to-day work and empower them to get their best work done.

As a leader, you can share the bigger picture so the team can buy into the company’s overall vision.

Top leadership skills:

Motivation – share your enthusiasm and energy in order to get the best from your team.

Mentoring – Help your team members grow. Coach and guide your team members don’t just tell them what to do.

Problem Solving – your job as a leader is to problem solve at the strategic and conceptual level. You should be coaching your team on how to problem solve at the daily level.

Delegation – Top leaders do not always do the work themselves – they delegate it to the best person for the job.

Both jobs are different but necessary. As a small business owner, you are often both. Do you know when it is time to switch from one hat to the other?