If you are a business owner, you are a leader.
Many business owners think of themselves more as the person who does the work, instead of the person who leads the people doing the work.
But if you’re not in charge, who is?
The absence of leadership in a business creates a lot of frustration and challenges, from financial to client issues. In my work with small-business owners, I notice that once business owners get into the mindset of “I’m a leader,” a lot starts to fall in place.
But this mindset is just the start. There are many skills that small-business owners need to have to lead their business successfully.
5 Leadership Skills
Here are five of the most important skills that business leaders should have:
1. Smart Decision Making
It’s important for business owners to be able to make quick, confident decisions. Time under your belt helps in this area. But sometimes you just have to make a decision and stick with it, even if it turns out to be the wrong one. Pick yourself and move on.
2. Hiring
When you start your business as a one-man shop, it’s hard to open it up and let others join in. But you can’t do everything by yourself.
Once you are ready to hire, do it right. Don’t hire the first person who applies or a family friend. Make sure you have qualified candidates who can carry out your vision.
3. Listening
Once your team is in place, make sure to listen to what they are saying. Listen to their suggestions and feedback.
Don’t assume you know everything. They may very well have tremendous insight if you just stop to listen.
4. Communicating
Think of the wake behind a power boat. What kind of reaction do you cause when you leave a room? Are people happy, angry, sad? Do they feel threatened and unheard? Work on communicating in a way that brings about motivation and results, not resentment and anger.
5. Delegating
As the business owner, you probably know how to do every job in your business. But that doesn’t mean you should be doing every job in your business. Trust your staff to do their work.
While being a leader takes some work, once you go from the hired-hand to CEO, you’ll realize there is some wisdom to what I’m saying.
I’ll tell you upfront, working on all of these skills can get frustrating. Most of them don’t come naturally, and they require a lot of self-discipline.
But like anything that requires a lot of work, the result, which is more confidence as the leader of your business and a more successful business, is well worth it.
What Leadership Skills Should Business Owners Have?
If you have ideas that you feel like sharing that might be helpful to readers, share them in the comments section below. Thanks!
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