As we enter a New Year, every business owner should include the goal of becoming a better leader on the list of goals and resolutions.. Leadership is about making the right decisions for your business. Every owner should work to encourage greater teamwork to draw on the best resources and talents that each individual can bring to the table. A great leader draws on the experience, input, knowledge and ideas of all team members to make the best decision possible. Leadership starts with sharing knowledge.

A good leader must be able to listen and ask good questions. That means that the leader must understand himself in order to handle input in a non-judgmental way.. The leader’s judgment will be important later at the time the decision must be made. When a leader makes judgments too early in the process of making a decision, he or she stifles input from others and shuts down valuable sources of ideas, motivation and innovation. A good leader must also know his staff and organization and understand how they can contribute to decisions and actions.

Above all, a good leader defines the vision, values and culture of the business and then has the integrity to lead within those parameters. Vision and values tell the organization what you stand for and make you easier to trust and work for. The effective leader can use that template to guide the decision making process and the staff will understand what is expected and how to contribute .

A leadership team will require a steering team made up of key managers and those with influence in the organization. This team must be trained, coached, and guided in order to be successful in their mission. There are some decisions that remain in the domain of the leader and the steering team. Those involve

  • Strategy
  • People
  • Crisis
  • Budgets

In addition to these, the steering team must focus the organization on what is important.

If the owner happens to be a good leader, the right decisions will be made. When owners use a management process that brings a strong element of leadership to the organization, more good decisions will be made. Without a solid proven management and leadership process, the decision the owner wants often takes precedence over the decision that is best for the business. When that happens, the staff will often be less than enthusiastic and committed to implementation and success.

Once the right decision is made, the organization must spring into action to implement that decision. That is effective management. In 2008 success will require providing the organization a management process to communicate effectively and follow up on actions and results. Accountability is important but motivation and commitment are as important. The fact is, a good manager will use accountability positively to celebrate success and reward positive results.

Managing means allowing your organization to make decisions and influence decisions. The real work occurs where your organization interacts with customers, vendors, creditors and the community. That is what we call the Employee Action Interface. (EAI) The process of delegating successfully at the EAI begins with empowering effectively! A manager that delegates without effectively empowering makes success unlikely. The process of empowerment is not trivial and that is the subject of another blog. Suffice it to say that there are hundreds of operational decisions that are required each day and the more of these that are made at the Employee Action Interface, the more effective and efficient your organization will be. Real success is impossible unless it is reflected at the EAI!

Every owner and business should be establishing goals and resolutions for the New Year. Look back and see how well you did last year. If you need to do better this year, find a process to help you do that. This year promises to be a challenging one if you believe all the economic skeptics. The business is out there but you must be more effective and efficient at landing a greater share of a shrinking market. That means making the right decisions, focusing on the right actions and motivating the whole team to achieve results.

A solid management and leadership process is successful only when there is input from those closest to the issue. In 2008, why not commit to establishing the culture and the forum to gather the right input and arrive at the best decisions for your business. That is leadership. Have a very happy, prosperous and successful New Year!