You have a vision, a brand, a plan, and are ready to jump into the marketplace with your product.
However, it is highly unlikely that you can do it all by yourself. You need a team to ensure your success, and that team will need a leader. Before you assemble all of your talent that will help make your vision successful, it is crucial to do some self-reflection on how you plan to lead your team to your goal.
Jeff Shuford is an Iraq War Veteran, nationally syndicated columnist, as well as a former TEDx speaker and a thought leader specializing in innovative digital marketing. Shuford is an expert in entrepreneurship and had this to say about leadership in the entrepreneurial space in a TimesReporter.com article: “Just because you want to be an entrepreneur, that doesn’t mean you’re cut out to be a leader.”
The first step in becoming a better leader is to determine what type of leader you are based upon the common leadership styles:
· Authoritarian
· Participative
· Situational
· Transformational
· Transactional
· Bureaucratic
· Servant
· Laissez-Faire
Once you have determined your leadership style, consider these five tactics for how you as an entrepreneur can become a better leader:
1. Be transparent with your communication
No matter the size of your team, it is important to share both wins and losses with everyone involved. The more information that you along with more clarity and context, ultimately provides a sense of belonging to the company and increased confidence about its success. This communication expands beyond internal communication. If you are a team of one, share as much information as you feel is appropriate with those you do business with.
2. Know how to find and retain the best talent
Your business is as successful as the people working in it. Great leaders who created successful companies have one thing in common: They surround themselves with talented, courageous, loyal people. Once you have recruited them, invest in their development through training and coaching.
3. Know how and when to delegate responsibilities
Entrepreneurs by nature have a large ego. The “entrepreneurial ego” comes with a few negative factors which are important to consider when you work on your leadership skills. Some personality characteristics which you need to be mindful of include: an overriding desire for success, an overbearing need for control, continuous distrust, and reckless optimism. You know quite well for your business to be successful, no matter how much confidence you have in yourself, it is impossible to simultaneously carry the duties of the CEO, CFO, COO, director of marketing, and director of sales. Use your leadership skills as an entrepreneur to delegate these responsibilities and empower these team members to become leaders of their own teams. While leadership may start at the top of the organization, all leaders don’t need to come from positions of power. Leaders can be found at all levels throughout an organization. Once you identify the leaders within your organization help them to develop their own leadership skills.
4. Ask for advice:
While you may feel like you are the “master of your own domain”, know the ins and outs of your industry, and you are an expert as to why your product or service offering will succeed—every business is subject to change. It is common for entrepreneurs to miss out on industry changes if they are too focused on their end goal that they develop a myopic viewpoint of their industry as a whole. Furthermore, asking for advice from your own team members will empower them to work harder and build the trusting relationship that is key for a small business to succeed.
5. Become self-aware:
Self-awareness, according to Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux the authors of How To Become a Better Leader, is often cited as the most important skillset leaders need to develop. An article in the Harvard Business Review stated that when people are able to see themselves clearly, they become more confident and more creative. As a leader, you will be able to build stronger relationships and communicate more effectively with your team while making better decisions to benefit your entire company.
As an entrepreneur, becoming a better leader is a journey that is ultimately up to you. There are plenty of guidelines, such as the ones above, to help you on this path. In the end, only you can determine the type of leader you are and work to lead your team how you see fit. While Gummi World can’t help you directly achieve this goal, we can help by taking care of the bulk of your gummi vitamin business needs. Build your custom gummi vitamin, and our Diamond Team will take care of the rest. Once your exclusive recipe has been perfected, we handle the bottling, packaging, and order fulfillment.
Gummi World specializes in a “hands-off” approach, so that you can focus on building your brand, team, and personal growth to become the best leader that you can be.
Contact Us: Call our Partner Satisfaction Expert at 830-358-9770 today or schedule a time online.
Comments