In my capacity as a management consultant I often ask my clients, “You are a superb leader of your business – aren’t you?”

You regularly:

• Communicate the mission and vision with clarity and purpose
• Provide guidance and light during the darkest changes
• When uncertainty arises, you implement a calm, clear, and focused plan for your team to follow
• Know where the business is going -  and how to lead it there
• Are admired by everyone who knows you

So I throw down the gauntlet as a professional coaching expert to ask why everything in the garden is not rosy? – and why are you losing your best and brightest performers?

So what are you doing wrong?

In organisations of fewer than 100 employees, it is easy to make one of the classic leadership mistakes and forget that the real leaders in your business are your managers and team leaders.

It may surprise you to know (as it does my new clients embarking on business training with me) that you are NOT the most important person on the team.

People’s happiness and subsequent performance at work lives and dies at the hands of the people they work for directly. It is the front line managers and team leaders that matter most – and it is your job to know how well your managers are admired and respected.

Walking the 4 corners and listening to those they manage – the front line – is the only way to find out.

In all probability you will discover that you are part of the problem in restricting the manager from managing and leading. At the same time, you can be part of the solution by being an executive coach instead a manager of managers. This involves 4 simple steps:

1. Hold regular, at least weekly, 1-2-1s with your managers and or team leaders
2. Ask don’t tell
3. Listen!
4. Agree what they are going to do.

As you help develop your leaders you should look to them to do the same with their people. You will be surprised and delighted with the powerful outcomes. For more information contact me on Twitter @richardwhatif or look me up on LinkedIn under Richard Bosworth.