4 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs a Hands-on Leader

Running a small business comes with it challenges, but none more challenging than determining the type of leadership your business needs.

When it’s time for you to start concentrating on more of the strategic side of your business, you are left with little time to be visible and hands-on with your team. This is when it is important for you to realize that you cannot do it all and that you must hire a hands-on leader to be involved with your team.

There are four key reasons why this leader should be very involved and visible with your staff:

1. Focus

Without a hands-on leader, your business will lose focus. It is so important to have a visible leader in your business every day. When you lose this, there is no one person able to keep the focus where you need it to be across all departments.

A great hands-on leader is involved with each team, ensuring that everyone is on track and that there are no misunderstandings when it comes to goals and deliverables. Your small business needs this focus in order to avoid unaffordable mistakes and misunderstandings that can cripple your company.

2. Engagement

I have worked at companies in the past with hands-on leaders as well as companies with hands-off leaders. Based on my experience and observations, each team was far more engaged when there was a visible hands-on leader actively engaged in our day to day business.

When you own a small business, in the beginning it is easy for you to be visible and involved with your employees. However, as the business grows, this becomes extremely difficult as more and more things are piled onto your plate. Keep in mind that this does not change the fact that your employees still need that engagement with a visible leader each day.

Make sure that you have a strong hands-on leader in place if you truly want your team to continue to feel part of something big.

3. Accountability

We’ve all heard the saying, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”

It is key in your small business that you have a strong hands-on leader holding your teams accountable. It’s not about trust or micro-management. This is basic, classic business sense.  Just as with anything, if there isn’t someone around to check on goal status and deliverables, your employees will begin to push important tasks over to the side, while they work on the lighter and more enjoyable tasks.

Without a strong leader in place, your teams will lack accountability and cost you and your business precious time and money.

4. Understanding

During my experience working for small businesses, one of the huge benefits of having a true hands-on, visible leader was the fact that this person understood my day to day challenges.

When you have a leader who is closely involved with your day to day ins and outs of the business, you have someone who understands your businesses challenges and can relate to your employees.

Having someone in a leadership role that your employees feel comfortable enough to speak with about their challenges and successes can make or break your team. This type of leadership can build a strong team environment where everyone realizes that the leader understands their challenges and appreciates their efforts.

It is so important, simply for your company’s morale, to have a hands-on visible leader.

What are some other reasons why it is important to have a hands-on leader in your small business?

Image: Nosnibor137/BigStock.com