This article was written by Dr Janet Curran, lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Rob McKay, senior lecturer in enterprise at Manchester Metropolitan University. They both deliver the Help to Grow: Management Course, which is available across the UK.
Many business leaders start by doing something they are good at: making a product, delivering a service, solving a problem. But growing a business requires moving beyond the role of expert operator and learning to wear a range of different hats.
We often use this metaphor when working with business leaders because it captures something many experience but struggle to articulate. There is the operational hat, focused on delivery and day-to-day management. There is the strategic hat, which asks you to step back and work on the business rather than simply in it. There is the people hat, the coaching hat, and even the learner hat.
What hat are you wearing?
Many leaders we meet at the start of the Help to Grow: Management Course spend most of their time wearing the operational hat, because it is where they feel most comfortable. It is usually where they started, and where they excel. But growth demands something different.
Business leaders often fall into their position accidentally. As a result, they can find themselves wearing a leadership hat they did not consciously put on. Suddenly, people are looking to them for direction, decisions and vision. That can feel uncomfortable, and that discomfort is normal.
Over time, confidence grows. That confidence matters because leadership is not only about skills. It is also about self-belief, because competence and confidence go hand in hand.
Developing competence matters too. Every business owner has gaps. But leadership development is rarely about mastering a fixed checklist of skills. It is often about identifying what matters most in your context and building capability where you need it.
That is why growth is so contextual. The skills needed for a manufacturing firm may look very different from those needed in a marketing agency or hospitality business. But some challenges are common: sales and marketing, managing people, letting go of control, and learning to lead through others. Letting go and delegating can be one of the hardest shifts of all, but it is required.
Many founders grow their business through personal effort and expertise. But at a certain point, growth requires trust, delegation and empowering others. If you want to take your business to the next level, you have to let go of the operational responsibilities and embrace the strategic hat. That requires reflection and vulnerability.
Challenging assumptions
One of the most powerful things we see is when leaders begin to question their own assumptions. The breakthrough is not always learning how to use a new model or tool. It is recognising a blind spot in your own leadership style. This is one reason why peer learning can be so powerful.
When business leaders learn alongside one another, they discover their challenges are not unique. Through shared experience, challenge and discussion, they begin making sense of problems in new ways. We describe this as co-creation of meaning: when leaders make sense of ideas together, rather than simply being taught. This process helps people move from “I have gaps” to “I am confident I have filled those gaps.”
Feeling comfortable in your leadership
Leadership growth is not about becoming a completely different person. It is about becoming more intentional about the hat you are already wearing.
Leadership growth comes down to knowing what hat the moment requires, learning to wear it well, and having the courage to pass some hats to other members of the team, to allow you and the business to grow.
If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got. For any business leader looking to grow, that may be the simplest leadership lesson of all.
Find out how the Help to Grow: Management Course can benefit you through peer group sessions, one-to-one business mentoring, and frameworks from business experts at www.smallbusinesscharter.org.
This article comes courtesy of Help to Grow, the government-funded management development programme for small and medium-sized businesses across the UK.
