 March 19, 2010 - Entrepreneurs are leaders, not managers. Leaders
inspire people to do things, while managers tell people what to do.
There is a big difference between leading and managing your business -
which one are you doing?
March 19, 2010 - Entrepreneurs are leaders, not managers. Leaders
inspire people to do things, while managers tell people what to do.
There is a big difference between leading and managing your business -
which one are you doing?
Your team are individuals - what motivates them?
Entrepreneurs know their team as individual team members and understand
that everyone is an individual. We all have different levels on our
basic needs and are motivated by different drivers. Entrepreneurs take
a practical approach to leading their teams. They identify individuals’
needs, ensuring these are satisfied where possible. They then fit
people to the correct job and ensure they are satisfying the
motivational needs of each individual.
Although this may sound theoretical, in practice there is a practical
approach to how an entrepreneur develops their business. They don’t
just recruit people for jobs; they recruit the right people to the
right jobs. They analyze the job first to ensure they match the people.
Motivational led jobs
Jobs can really be divided into friendship task driven, achievement task driven or power task driven.
Friendship Task Driven: Friendship task driven jobs are
generally those that are group based or require a high degree of
customer service. They include jobs that include a lot of selling or
dealing with customers.
Achievement Task Driven: Achievement task driven jobs include
those that have short term goals and deadlines. They often involve the
management of small teams.
Power Task Driven: Power task driven jobs include control of
large budgets and groups of people. The need is for a long term
strategy and often includes developing the long term strategy of the
business.
Every person is different and an entrepreneur is able to select the
right person for the right job, they can read people better than other
people. They can identify the friendship, achievement and power drivers
within people.
Friendship people are those that have many friends, they often belong
to clubs and are team players. One thing they dislike is working on
their own. Friendship people get upset if they are left out of things
and are the team members who stress the need for good relations in the
team.
The achievement people show a competitive spirit, they often take up
individual sports, such as cycle racing, marathon running, fishing and
golf. They take pride in their individual skills. They are happy to
work on their own, but prefer situations that show results within a few
weeks or months. They take personal responsibility and don’t like close
supervision.
The power people are the “go getters.” They enjoy arguments, but aim to
win the argument. They seek to influence other people and take charge
in a crisis. They enjoy recognition and status and are always keen to
take on more responsibility.
The true entrepreneur looks at their business and team in a different
way to others. It is not about them. It is about how they develop a
team to grow their business. To do this successfully, they look at jobs
and analyze the job, they then interview new recruits to find out what
motivates them. They then put the right people in the right job.
Once they have found the right person for the right job, they introduce the most important element of people management.
Empowerment
Successful entrepreneurs introduce empowerment policies into their
businesses. An empowerment policy is simply a policy of trusting team
members to make the right decisions to grow the business.
Empowerment is not assumed. The entrepreneur makes sure that
empowerment is part of the policy; it is written into the person’s job
description. Both parties know what the limits of empowerment within
the job role are. Once this has been introduced the entrepreneur can
then trust the individual to make the right decision. As consumers we
instantly recognize when an empowerment policy has or has not been
implemented in a business.
In businesses where a salesperson has to keep referring to “the boss”
when making decisions with the consumer indicates a business where
empowerment is non-existent. Entrepreneurs empower the team to make
decisions.
It’s not about you, it’s about the team
Who wants to be an entrepreneur? Initially it suggests it is those
people who want to stand out “alone“ from the crowd. I disagree. The
entrepreneur in today’s business world has the ability to be a leader.
That means they understand the jobs under their control and what drives
individuals. They put the right people in the right job and then
empower them to make a difference.
John Stanley M.Sc
(Horticulture) (CSP) has been called the leading horticultural
consultant in the world today by garden centres in the USA. A
background teaching perishable retailing in the UK, he is WA
Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 and WA Small Business Champion 2009
Education, was voted 14th of The Power 50 (the 50 most powerful and
influential people in British horticulture) in 2008. Email John on
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or visit his website www.johnstanley.com.au
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