Depending on the book you read or the person you ask, you will find different answers to the question. “What is the #1 responsibility of a leader?”.

A good leader is someone who has the unique ability to positively navigate their company through the treacherous waters of the business world. He or she is able to lead the teams with a clear Vision, and help them to execute the Mission plan. If you’re lacking skills in the leadership department, then your overall performance as a company is suffering. Take a look at some of the ways your inability to lead is affecting your company.

Morale is Low
One of the primary gifts a leader possesses is the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of individual employees. The key here is to find people’s native genius or as I like to call it “Super Powers”.

I noticed that most people don’t know their super powers and need help to recognize them and to exploit does super powers. Your responsibility is to help your teams find of these powers and make it possible for them to use them. This builds positive lines of communication between you and your team members, and helps everyone to better understand their significance in the process.

If you are not taking the time to build up your teams, then you are setting yourself up for a disaster. Without a clearly define Vision and your leadership, the teams have no way of understanding their significance or role in the company. Without that understanding, they are left feeling disconnected from the company’s mission. This lack of morale will ultimately reduce overall productivity.

High Employee Turnover
Employees tend to enjoy working for companies with leaders who are both confident and relatable. They enjoy their jobs when their leaders are kind, respectful, and willing to communicate openly. It reassures them and allows them to work without feeling on edge. Employees under this form of leadership are more inclined to stay put.

If you are a poor leader, then employees are less inclined to want to continue working under you. Leaders who run from necessary conflicts – or instigate unnecessary ones – create hostile work environments with employees who are ready to bolt. This high turnover rate will force you to spend unnecessary funds training an endless stream of new employees.

Loss of Productivity
One of the things a great leader does is establish a clear vision for the company. He or she keeps that vision in mind and uses it to direct each team member. Once the teams and the members understand that vision, they are able to properly focus their efforts. This enables them to produce work more efficiently.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true for weak leaders. Failing to provide your staff with a clear, long-term vision will stifle progress. Employees will only focus on individual tasks. Without a specific target to aim towards, teams will wander aimlessly.

Did you figure out the answer to the question I asked at the beginning of the article? My answer to the question is the SHARED VISION. You might ask, what is a Shared Vision? For us, Shared Vision is composed of three parts.

• Purpose (our “Why”)
• Core Values (our How)
• Mission (3-5 year long) (our What)

In future blogs, I will go into more details about what a Shared Vision is and how having one will make all the difference in the success of your company. See Castro Roofing’s Shared Vision here.