Rhonda Abrams The Passionate Entrepreneur

The key question is, how do you become a leader, not just a manager?

While it's hard enough to get used to the idea of others making decisions in your company, the problem is exacerbated because many entrepreneurs never had positive role models of how to be a good boss. Hey, if you'd had good bosses, you might never have started your own business, right?

The old-fashioned concept of being a boss meant issuing orders and having others follow.

For some, this "my way or the highway" style of management is still appealing. Many entrepreneurs hire their first employees with the idea that they'll do a lot of the dirty work the entrepreneur no longer has time for. They'll be extra sets of hands -- not extra brains.

But if you want your business to grow, you need extra brains -- not just extra brawn -- no matter how smart you are.

Those who are on the front lines of carrying out a task -- whether it's making a product, making a sale, or shipping the boxes -- are usually in the best position to suggest improvements. So we need employees who can think.

So how do you become a leader not just a manager? Here are a few ideas:

1. Hire well.

   Just as it's easier to be a good parent if you have good kids, it's much easier to be a good boss if you have good employees. You can't choose your kids, but you can choose your employees.

   If you want to be confident giving someone authority, you need to hire people you consider capable and trustworthy. One of my favorite business sayings is, "Hire people you trust, and trust them."

   Of course, this means paying a competitive salary with competitive benefits. You can't hire good employees on the cheap.
   

2. If you give someone responsibility, also give them authority.

   If you're going to give someone a job, allow them to do it; don't make them come back to you for every decision. This means you have to learn to be comfortable with people making some decisions that are different from those you'd make. Certain decisions are just different, not wrong.
   

3. Learn to be patient.

   Sometimes, employees will make what turns out to be a wrong decision. How do good bosses handle that? They spend time with the employee learning why a decision was wrong and how to avoid it the next time rather than rehashing the history and looking for blame.
   

4. Share information.

   Many bosses dole out information as infrequently as bonuses. As a result, employees often don't have enough data to do their jobs well.

   You can't just hand off tasks to others, you've got to sit down and spend enough time so they know all the relevant details: the project's purpose, customer pressures, deadlines, and budgets. Let them know their limits: How much can they spend without coming back to you? Be clear on the importance and priority of each task.
   

5. Let people know they're being given responsibility because you know they can handle it, not just because they're a warm body.

   Most people try to live up to the trust they're shown.

Finally, recognize that while you want to be a good boss, you're still the boss. You're the one who sets the overall vision, direction, and standards of your company. Organizations need leaders, and employees respect fair and thoughtful leaders.