The Transition From Entrepreneur To Leader (Part 2): Multiply Influence by Maximizing Engagement

By Arlin Sorensen, O and Founder of the Heartland Companies which includes HTG Peer Groups

In a previous blog post entitled “The Transition from Entrepreneur to Leader,” I wrote that without a doubt the biggest challenges most small businesses face revolve around people in the key areas of leadership (the people at the top) and employees (the people who do the work).  In this installment I want to write about people and what we as leaders need to do to ensure we maximize engagement for the people on our teams.

The biggest wildcard in running a business is people. It’s never the technology, the marketplace, or any particular solutions we offer. It always comes down to our ability to attract, hire, train, compensate, manage, reward and retain talent. When I look at the things that owners and senior leaders must ‘own’ as their roles, three things come to the top:

1. Own The Culture. Have a clearly defined BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal), mission, vision and core values that are driven to every employee with KPIs (key performance indicators) and metrics that allow the team to know where they fit and how they will be measured.
2. Manage The Talent. Recruit, train, and retain those who will take you to the next level.
3. Build Relationships. Own the key relationships with distribution, vendors and partners, and be focused on helping build and manage these relationships across the company.

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