Entrepreneurship and leadership style

Entrepreneurs are responsible for setting goals and making plans for their enterprise. To a great extent, the employees play a large part in implementing these plans and achieving goals. Developing and maintaining morale is, therefore an important task of the entrepreneur.

Leadership qualities must be self-developed because these qualities vary from person to person. Knowing that you are personally responsible for your leadership ability will help you to strive to make improvements. There is no single best way to be a leader. Entrepreneurs are individuals who have developed their own personal styles of leadership. The following three style of leadership are commonly used:

The “Iron fisted” or autocratic leader makes decisions and gives order without asking the opinion of employees;

The “let’s vote” or democratic leader gives group members a voice in their decisions;

The “hands-off” or laissez-faire leader gives group members a voice in decisions.

Most leaders use a combination of styles depending on the group and their situation. Leaders in the enterprise have two responsibilities:

a.       Task responsibilities or “getting the job done and

b.      People responsibilities, or maintaining employee morale.

To a great extent leadership is an attitude which is demonstrated in the approach entrepreneurs have toward “getting the job done”. A leader is usually willing to assume challenges which may involve great risks and potentially great opportunities.

A leader understands the total task to be accomplished and is able to determine new and innovative ways to accomplish the task. To maintain morale, a guideline for good leaders to follow is “treat others as you would like to be treated trying to view a situation through the eyes of the other people involved will help in developing a positive “you” attitudes towards employees.

A good leader achieves a balance between the following two types of responsibilities. Sometimes certain situations, such as forming a new group, call paying attention to people more than tasks. Other situations, such as the introduction of a new procedure, will probably require more attention tasks rather than people. Understanding leadership can help entrepreneurs become more effective leaders.