Leaders Only Have Plan B

Part of the reason many businesses fail is the lack of encouragement managers give their staff to be part of that business, they employ people to do what they want, in the way they want it to be done. The delusion of business owners and managers is that someone coming up with an idea that could make the business better is a threat to the tenue of that manager, as the manager feels they need to figure everything out themselves.

This is why it’s better to be a leader then a manager in today’s world. Leaders don’t know everything; they accept their own limitations and are willing to learn. Leaders know how to follow, because a leader doesn’t always need to be in charge of a situation, but they know when to step up.

A leader can take over any business or organisation and make it a success, by contrast when a manager takes over the running of a business, the business is only as good as the manager. Being a manager in today’s communities is not the dream place to be, because a manager needs control because everything falls back on that individual. The other side of the coin, a leader doesn’t need control, they just need to know, as the team knows that everything falls back on all of them together.

How do you know that you have staff and volunteers that are dedicated to your business or organisation? Managers give people a job description and train them on how they want the job to be done, then measure performance based on this. Those individuals will never reach their full potential, meaning that a business or organisation can never reach its full potential.

If you take over a restaurant and the head chef has been there a while, doing the same menu for that time. They run the kitchen in the same way the original owner wanted it run when that chef first started. Yet the restaurant doesn’t make a profit, it has been failing year on year and seen 2 more owners before you, what’s the first thing you are going to do?

If you take over a hotel and the head of house cleaning has been employed there for years but the overall standard is not up to scratch. Or there is no overall structure or discipline within the staffing in general, with people on their phones or half-heartedly doing a job. What’s the first thing you are going to do?

This is a good one to find out if you have the mindset of a manager or a leader, if your answer to both of these examples is to fires the individuals then you’re a manager. A manager will make and enforce the changes, but a leader you will except those who head the teams to understand the problems and find the solutions to make the appropriate changes. The leader will only step in if those individuals cannot or will not step up and ensure change happens in a reasonable time frame.

A manager has plan A, B and C, however a leader only has plan B, they will expect their workers and volunteers to have plan A. This completely flips how businesses and organisations measure performance of workers and volunteers because you are no longer measuring against a job description, instead you’re measuring the potential. A job description should be a base line, the minimum standard expected, and it should evolve like your business.

So, what does the result of this empowerment look like for the new owner and leader of the businesses described above. The head chef will be expected to find better ways to run the kitchen as well as come up with new dishes regularly and will expect his team to do the same. The front of house staff and the hotel staff will be coming up with ways to improve service. The housekeeping staff will be looking for ways to improve the experience guests have with the rooms. It is only if those running the departments can’t or won’t make changes that disciplinary and staff changes are considered.

The biggest mistake managers who wish be leaders make is not telling the staff what the dream is. Not telling people what the expectations are, they just want staff to figure it out through disciplinaries and firing, the negative approach. People are not mind readers; they need to know your expectations, what is the end goal? They have come to work for you because they believe in your business or organisation, but if you fail to communicate then it soon becomes about money.

A manager is paid to have responsibility, yet a good leader will have staff who are freely willing to share in the responsibility, because when that happens those individuals go on to make the business or organisation better. Moreover, they go on to fulfil their own potential in life, they feel encouraged to go on to achieve their own dreams, maybe not within your business or organisation, but their experience with you will be valuable, as they look back in the future with their success.