Servant Leadership. This is a broadly used term in my opinion. I hear about it a lot. One of my favorite authors, Ken Blanchard, talks a lot about Servant Leadership. Many leaders do not think of leadership and serving together.

Success in business hinges on the ability to anticipate, respond, and adapt to threats. Today's economy is about economic dynamism and competition, embodied by the fast-growing, entrepreneurial spirit. Are you prepared to respond to the top five threats facing businesses in a new economic environment?

There are two things that I have found to be the most difficult while growing my business. First, transitioning the business as an owner so that we continue to grow and second, assuming others know what I know. If you have ever owned your own business or have managed a group, you know that things evolve as you grow. What you could once do yourself, you have to transition to others. As I have studied and learned from great leaders, I have found they do two things very well: they find ways to create clarity and they transition things well because they communicate their mission, vision and values to others. What I continue to learn as I try to duplicate the success of others is that you can rarely assume that everyone is on the same page. Things change and if you don’t create clarity and communicate the company’s core principles, things get lost in the transition. The aforementioned are ideas that were reinforced as I recently read a section of Dave Ramsey’s new book called EntreLeadership. I wanted to share several of the points from the book that helped me with clarity around what I have experienced. The book also reinforced what I had just learned a few weeks ago when my office, Greenwood Express Employment, hosted a webinar for our clients facilitated by Patrick Lencioni. It was based on his new book The Advantage. 1.) Build a cohesive team and put processes in place that can be duplicated by others. As a franchise owner, I have a lot of processes to follow that have been successful for others. When you have to hire a new person to replace someone who has left your company, you will realize the importance of having great processes. When you hire to the performance metrics required for success, the processes will provide the success guidelines to follow so that others can step in quickly and do the same things with proper training and guidance. 2.) Communicate as often as possible the goals, mission, vision and values of the organization. Repeat them! Share them! Repeat them, again. Lencioni shared in his webinar the importance of not only clarifying these items but also over communicating and reinforcing them. As a leader, you can not assume that everyone knows what you know or believe. If your team can’t repeat some of the things you say, they probably have not heard them enough. If you make them clear, then your new leaders will be able to carry them forward and make clear decisions based on the basic principles already in place. 3.) Get out of the way. This is one of the hardest things to do for a small business owner. It’s hard to let go of what you started. If you don’t develop others who can help you transition during your growth, then you will end up with a line at your door and you will not have a hose big enough to put out all the fires. Ramsey shared, “Grow your people to make the call.” The key in making the transition here is to make sure that your team doesn’t get stuck in following the same old “This is the way we have always done it around here” process when things change. Ramsey says that the principles of the company should dictate what is right and wrong and guide your team to make good decisions without you. At times, I revert back to old ways and want to make all the decisions. I also have often hired a new employee and forget to share all the things I should because I don’t want to bore the rest of the folks who have already heard it. It’s easy to assume that I hired a good person, so they should know everything – right? When you find yourself reverting back to your old ways, don’t listen to the voice in the back of your head that says, “Just do it yourself” or “I am sure they know.” Let me help you with something, never assume, because you know what that means….