So many hats. I am sure you will agree as an entrepreneur, sole proprietor, or CEO, you end up being responsible for multiple departments and a slew of different obligations. As a result, it is not simple to define the singular role of a what it means to be a leader. The role, or roles of a leader, from sole proprietors to fortune 500 companies, you are responsible for more than the bottom line. Nonetheless, depending on the size of your company, being the leader means you are expected to fulfil many roles. After researching a few hours, I was able to collect the following terms many other authors have used to outline the roles of a leader:
| Coach | Facilitator |
| Strategist | Visionary |
| Change Agent | Decision Maker |
| Influencer | Team Player |
| Delegator | Listener |
| Inspire Trust | Supervisor |
| Communicator | Organizer |
| Goal Setter | Analyst |
| Innovator | Adaptor |
| Networker | Connector |
| Manager | Developer |
| Bulldozer | Motivator |
Pick One
Seriously though, could you really? I mean, could you pick just one of the roles above to concisely define what you do as leader? Or, what if I asked you to pick five? Would that make it easier? Great! But first, here are my five: Coach, Strategist, Inspire Trust, Communicator, and Goal Setter. Whew! At this point, some business coaches might have you now weigh these roles. Basically putting them in order of importance. I personally do not prescribe to that approach. The reason is, on any given day one role may become a greater priority and therefore your whole business strategy for the day or week blows up. Knowing the top five allows you to be more fluid in your leadership style.
Identifying Your Roles
Now that you have identified the top 5 roles that define your leadership let us move on to doing exactly that. Defining each of these roles.
As a “Coach” it is my responsibility to work with my clients and contractors in a way that encourages them to be at their best as often as possible. We all have bad or off days so as coach I need to support my team members to know and acknowledge those days so they can be even more productive than they thought they could.
Moreover, as a “Strategist” it is up to me to outline for my team and clients a strong plan to achieve success. The role of “Inspiring Trust” allows the strategist and coach to get clients who are working with me to build trust, ultimately supports our mutual success.
Being a “Communicator” is well, likely the toughest as knowing how to communicate effectively is a life long process and as a result happens to be one of the foundation stones in my practice. On the other hand, as a “Goal Setter” I am working with my team and clients to ensure they are setting appropriate milestones that ensure success and increase confidence and productivity.
the coach will support the strategist in being able to identify when a st
Inter-Dependent Roles
Besides each role as a stand along is simple to grasp and understand. The challenge occurs when you begin to look at how each of the roles are inter-related. For example, embracing the “Coach” role is easily defined – meeting clients where they are and providing the support they need to get to where they want to be. This is also applicable to employees, contractors and vendors. Everyone has goals, as a coach leader you are working with each of them to be successful.
Here’s the challenge how does being a “coach” inter-relate or become inter-dependent upon being a “Strategist”? Great question. And really, we do not have enough time for me to delve into the whole inter-dependent/relationship for all of these so for today we’ll just work through the coach ad strategist. The role of a coach will support the role of a strategist by interjecting when flexibility or alternate solutions need to be looked at for a strategy currently implemented needs adjusting. As a coach for example, we do not ‘do’ the work, we simply brainstorm and provide suggestions for the ‘strategist’ to decide and move forward with.
The reverse is also true. The strategist will support the coach. A strategist will provide the ideal scenarios and not so ideal. The coach would then present these to the client. The client then would in turn make a decision or ask more questions for clarification.
For you, the next step in the process is to map out each role, how they are inter-related to each other and ultimately become inter-dependent upon each other. Because the greater clarity you have around the roles you play, the better a leader you become.
Summary
What do you think now? Which hat do you say is the most important to wear? For instance, I believe it is suffice to say that all of the roles you are responsible for are of equal importance. Remembering each day you are going to be jumping from one to another and back again is important. Flexibility and understanding is critical to be successful when you are embracing each and every role.