Understand Your Role as a Leader

Last week I wrote about the importance of including your team members in your 2026 annual plans. By soliciting their feedback regarding what they have learned from customer comments, performing their job functions, experiencing challenges and celebrating successes. What do they believe is standing in the way of continued improvement and growth in sales? What would they do differently? Collecting this information is a great first step.

Next is understanding your role clearly as a leader regarding how to accept and respond to this feedback collected. Your success is measured by how much you help others win. Talking problems, removing roadblocks, investing in authentic conversations, and reaching beyond your comfort zone is what creates growth. The following are lessons I wish I had learned and put into practice many years ago.

• Your team doesn’t work for you, you work for them. Leadership is about supporting others, not control. Empower your people to do their best. When your team thrives so does your business.

• Engage in honest and tough conversations. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it disappear, it helps it grow. Leaders will step into the pain and address challenges early with empathy and clarity.

• Micromanaging destroys trust and prevents growth. Creativity thrives when teams are empowered to make decisions. Constant control sends a message: “I don’t trust you.” Trust from leadership creates innovation.

• Leadership is about being respected, not being liked. Respect comes from being fair, honest, demonstrating integrity and making tough decisions. Do what is best for the mission, even when it isn’t popular.

• Burnout is a leadership failure. Foster balance and support mental health to retain top talent. People stay where they feel cared for and valued. Burnout in your team is not an individual problem. It is a cultural one.

• Hypocrisy destroys a team faster than anything else. Your actions are your words. Don’t preach teamwork and play favorites. Consistency and authenticity build trust. Hypocrisy destroys it. Walk the talk or you will lose your team’s respect.

• Underpaying people will cost you more. When people feel undervalued, they become disengaged and will leave. Fair pay demonstrates respect. Pay your team well or lose them to someone who will. In hospitality, being cheap is the most expensive thing.

Great businesses build loyal, happy teams. Listen to the feedback form your teams 10 questions from last week. Understand your role as a leader and respond to the needs of your team. Be the next Great Business in your market.