Often when I am helping small business owners think into their business I have to help them think at the third of these three roles. Why? Because they may get stuck in the other two and fail to create time for the third.
Not long ago I re-read the book The E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. I will not go into the details of this book, but the following ideas are based largely on his thoughts. I have found whether a startup business leader, growing business leader, or an established organization all leaders go through these three phases. Depending on their role and the size of their company each of these hats may be worn at different times.
Technician
Whether you are a start-up business owner, solopreneur, or leader in a large organization you started here. We all are good at something and have expertise in a specific area. It may be engineering based, sales-based, service-oriented or something else, but you know that subject well. As a leader if we remain at the technician level we run into two problems. 
Micromanagement. We think that the way we have done it should be done by everyone. This can lead to unintentionally disempowering those we lead.
Micro-focus. If we still love to provide the service, build the product, etc. then we struggle to see the bigger picture. If being the technician is your sweet spot, then get people around you who can help with the other roles or grow into the next two roles.
Manager
The manager role requires building systems and processes that make the business sustainable. A business cannot survive if one person does everything. Even successful solopreneurs realize they need to automate and create systems to accomplish everything. Whether a single person business or multinational company we all have to make this first shift in thinking.
This is the shift from being a diligent productive worker to thinking into more efficiently producing. We are raising our thinking to the first level of understanding how to work on the business. This is where we think how to accomplish the technical work and keep getting it done in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
Leader
You may be thinking these are the same. Yes and no. Yes in that both have to think beyond just doing the work, but when you put your leader hat on this requires, as leadership expert John Maxwell puts it, “seeing more before.” Leaders in start-ups and small businesses are the most prone to fail at this area unless it comes natural, but multinational organizational leaders get stuck at the second stage if they are not intentional.
When you are thinking like a leader you are working on the business as you see it in the future. Let me illustrate. If you have a team of one now, but want to see your company, department, team grow then think beyond what you see. What roles and responsibilities must exist for you to have a larger team, department, or organization? What systems and processes must you create? What is your vision? What are the values that will guide who you hire? These are just a few of the questions you need to think into when wearing your leader hat.
So where are you investing most of your time now? Where do you need to invest more time? I need others to help me think at the leader level. If you need help like, contact me and let’s set up a no cost to you thirty-minute thinking partner session to help you think into your results. I challenge you not to stay where you are, but raise your level of leadership thinking so you can improve your results. Lead Well.
© 2021 Wheeler Coaching Systems, All Rights Reserved