8 Responsiblities of the Leader

One component of building a successful company is awesome leadership. Whether or not you become an outstanding chief executive or senior manager is directly related to how you lead, how you work with people, and the examples you provide of preferred behavior. The good news is, that we know what the leader needs to do to go grow a successful organization.

   1. Set the Direction
      A chief executive must have a vision of where a company is going and communicate that vision through a strategic plan that everyone in the company understands and then executes. The plan should reflect the company’s vision, mission and values. Use the plan to align people around what the organization needs to accomplish in order to achieve the goals you have outlined in the plan. Setting the direction includes establishing short-term and long-term goals.
      Always start with - Here is our mission as a company, here’s where we want to be in three years and this is what we need to do this year to move toward that goal. If employees understand the goals, they will better understand their individual roles in achieving them.

   2. Communication
      The leader is responsible for keeping employees aligned with his/her vision. One way to do this is by communicating this to them and listening to them. Two-way communication is key. Don’t forget that you need to have different ways of communicating with employees so they are reminded of the mission, better understand your vision, are motivated to achieve the goals and remain committed to the organization.
      Consistency and repetition are key. Deliver the message in a variety of ways, including at orientation, team meetings, breakfast sessions, one-on-one and other meetings and through memos, e-mails and newsletters.
      Using different styles - from stories and metaphors to straight facts - helps employees understand the message. Asking questions and scheduling times to meet and talk with employees ensures that they receive and understand your messages - and have a chance to communicate back to you. Good communication also includes sharing news about great performance and how a particular achievement supports the company’s values. It’s equally important to alert staff to news that isn’t always good, from lagging sales to personnel changes.   

   3. Cultivating Culture
      It is the responsibility of the leader to create and cultivate the company’s culture. The culture is what empowers and motivates people, attracts people to the company and makes them want to stay there. A culture that supports innovation offers a creative, fun and challenging work environment where employees can be autonomous, have a lot of flexibility, take calculated risks and receive rewards for meeting high expectations. Also, it is the responsibility of the leader to set the bar for behaviors that do not fit the values hence are not acceptable within that company’s culture. Companies with leaders who look the other way when unethical decisions are made or actions are taken are dangerous places to work.

   4. Leading the Top Team
      The executive team helps the leader grow a company. A leader who is in tune with his or her own strengths and weaknesses will look for top team members who will balance their strengths and weaknesses and share the right values and ethics. However, building a top team isn’t easy. For instance, rapid growth may outstrip some people’s skills - they may not be able to grow and learn fast enough to keep up. The leader must recognize when someone is unable to contribute effectively to the top team, be willing to move them on and then bring in different and higher levels of skills as the company grows.

   5. Managing Resources
      The executive team must manage all resources carefully. Besides securing and managing the financial resources needed to grow the company and keeping its bottom line healthy, he or she has to get the most out of employees, investors, partners and customers. To make the best use of company resources, the leader must develop ways to measure achievement of goals and outcomes, and hold people accountable for meeting goals. The way to manage financial resources is to put in financial controls and have regular reporting of cash flow. Chief executives and senior managers who squander resources on unnecessary expenditures must remember that they’re setting the tone for the company. If you fly first class all the time, other people will too. If you turn out the light when you leave, other people will too. If you don’t manage your top team well, don’t be surprised if they aren’t good managers of their people.

   6. Designing Structure and Processes
      Organizational structure and processes should align with a company’s mission, vision, and goals and should provide systematic ways to accomplish tasks and streamline the company’s work. Standardized processes include systems for measuring and tracking customer satisfaction, encouraging innovation, tracking revenues and expenditures, identifying prospective employees, evaluating employee performance and recognizing achievements.  Rather than writing off failure, a good leader will build in a process that requires staff to step back, analyze the failure, determine what they learned from that experience, and think about how to incorporate that learning the next time.

   7. Continuous Learning
      An effective leader is always willing to learn more about roles and responsibilities and improve performance. Peers, top team members, employees, board members and advisers can all provide valuable feedback on his or her performance and make suggestions about how to lead and grow the company more effectively. Receiving feedback, then acknowledging strengths and weaknesses are essential aspects of learning and improving in the job as a chief executive - or senior manager in a leadership position. A leader must also monitor changes that will impact the company’s business. Read books, attend conferences and keep abreast of developments in the world and in your industry. Schedule time to get outside the company, talk with clients and test what you think the client wants against the outcomes they really want from your products and services. Understand the important drivers in your business model. Remember - what you don’t know can really blindside you.

   8.  Anticipate the Transitions
      A leader needs to anticipate the transitions a company will experience and help it move from one stage of growth to the next. One of the roles of the leader is to get the company ready to capitalize on an opportunity. Take this one leader whose company was prepared for growth. The company cleans and restores property after fires, floods and other disasters. With 25 employees, the company’s business model has always required them to hire sub-contractors as needed. After September 11, 2001, the company received so many requests for restoration that it had to scale 5,000 percent in two weeks.  Because the company had developed excellent relationships with sub-contractors and had systems and procedures in place, they had the capacity to handle that kind of growth. Not  many companies could have done that.