Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
Every entrepreneur dreams of building a thriving business. After investing long hours. Refining strategies, and staying resilient in the face of industry challenges, seeing your vision transform into a profitable business is an incredibly rewarding experience.
However, one critical shift needs to happen to go from solo entrepreneur to a business leader – learning how to manage a team, and the leadership strategies required.
While entrepreneurship and leadership have some overlapping qualities, there are important distinctions. Leading a team requires a different skill set, mindset, and approach. To scale successfully, you must be able to foster team growth.
Common Challenges with Leadership
For first-time business owners, learning to lead a team when you’re used to doing it yourself can be difficult. Entrepreneurs are used to managing multiple roles to bring their vision to life, but once a business grows, it becomes unrealistic – or even impossible – to stay in a DIY role.
Here are some common challenges entrepreneurs face with business growth:
Letting Go of Control
Startup founders often make all the decisions and execute them without having to ask anyone else. In fact, that can be a big part of the appeal of being in business for yourself. However, scaling requires delegation, or else your business growth will hit a ceiling. Holding onto too much control leads to problems for you and your business, including micromanagement, poor team morale, and stifled creativity.
Poor Delegation
Entrepreneurs are used to handling every aspect of their business, but this becomes unsustainable as the company grows. As your business and your team grow, you will need to focus your energy on strategy and big-picture goals instead of day-to-day operations, which requires effective delegation.
Managing Communication
Communication becomes more complex when your team is more than just a few people. Without clear processes in place and open feedback channels, it’s easier for miscommunication and misalignment to occur. Eventually, your work culture will become toxic and your employees will look for opportunities elsewhere.
Embracing Leadership
Entrepreneurs are often task-driven by nature, but as leaders, they need to shift to inspiring, motivating, and guiding teams. This can be difficult and requires skills not everyone has naturally, such as emotional intelligence, strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to inspire.
Leadership – Image by Elcio Coutinho from Pixabay
Proven Business Leadership Strategies
Develop a Clear Vision
A clear vision provides direction for your business and helps align your team with long-term goals. You need to know where your business is and where it’s going, which takes clear vision and values for the future of your business.
Think of your business as a long-term project, such as a kitchen remodel in your home or a full home remodel. Your vision and values act as a blueprint to guide your decisions and keep you aligned with your long-term goals. As your business grows, these will become important to attract the right people and promote a positive work culture.
Revamp Your Hiring
The team members you choose have a big impact on your success. Eventually, your team will form the backbone of your business, especially as you manage growth, so you have to have the right people in place.
When you’re hiring for new positions, look past the experience and skills you want. A lot of hard skills can be taught, but you can’t teach someone to have the right personality for your company culture – or the one you want to build. Consider candidates who demonstrate valuable soft skills like resilience, creativity, empathy, and teamwork.
Prepare to Delegate
For many entrepreneurs, part of the desire to start a business is having control over how it operates. While it may seem great to have people answering to you, it’s unrealistic to think you’ll be able to do it all yourself forever.
Learning to delegate – and having team members you trust to delegate to – is critical to your success. Delegation is important to ensure that everything gets done, and done well, to free your time for strategic initiatives and long-term goals.
Business Leadership – Image by Andrius Peteržikas from Pixabay
Sharpen Communication Skills
Communication isn’t always a strong suit for entrepreneurs. If you’re used to planning and executing tasks on your own, it can be difficult to shift your mindset and communicate what you need to your teams.
One aspect successful businesses all have in common is the ability to establish clear communication channels and practices. Team meetings, feedback loops, and one-on-one check-ins encourage strong communication across all employees and their departments. This is especially important if you have remote or hybrid employees in different time zones or with flexible work schedules.
Promote Healthy Company Culture
A positive and supportive company culture can be a crucial asset to attract more talent. Fortunately, as an entrepreneur, you have the ability to shape your company culture into exactly what you want it to be, but that’s easier said than done.
Generally, healthy company cultures promote respect, accountability, and recognition. Diverse opinions and perspectives are encouraged, ensuring everyone has a voice and contributes to the business’s overall success. Another aspect they have in common is work-life balance with perks like flexible work arrangements, wellness initiatives, and company parties or retreats.
Don’t Forget Professional Development
High employee turnover can happen for many reasons, but one of the common reasons cited is no growth or professional development opportunities. Offering employees a chance to sharpen their skills and grow in their careers offers more than just an individual benefit – it can help your business succeed.
Invest in a variety of professional development programs, such as workshops, mentorship programs, on-demand online courses, and continuing education. You should also give your employees opportunities to attend industry conferences to expand their knowledge and network with other professionals.
Embrace Digital Transformation
Many businesses are seeing the value in technology tools for business, but they’re practically a necessity for business growth. New technologies can significantly improve efficiency for both you and your team members, freeing up time for tasks only humans can do – like creative thinking.
With advancements in AI tools, you can automate many business tasks like email marketing, social media scheduling, customer support, and project management. Finding technology tools that support your business goals can make a world of difference once your tasks pile up.
Keep Up with Performance
Once your business begins to see some success, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and forget about the end game. Don’t take your wins for granted and stop looking at performance, because the market can shift at any time.
Make performance tracking part of your routine tasks. Start by setting clear, measurable goals with key performance indicators (KPIs), such as financial metrics, customer satisfaction, and employee retention, to keep an eye on overall business health. When you track performance, you can spot trends early, stay ahead of market shifts, and make informed decisions about your business.
Learn from Others
You don’t have all the answers when you’re starting out on your own, even if it feels like you do. Fortunately, you can learn from other successful entrepreneurs who have made mistakes, overcome hurdles, and found success – often time and time again.
Look for opportunities to network with experienced business owners and mentors who’ve been in your shoes. Their insights and experiences can offer new perspectives and sage wisdom to help you avoid common pitfalls.
Fuel Future Business Growth as a Leader
Shifting from entrepreneur to a business leader takes more than grit and determination – you have to shift your perspective and stay flexible. The better you can lead your time, the more prepared you’ll be to manage your business’s growth.
