Jack is your typical engineer.

He grew up fascinated by tractors the workings of machines.

He studied mechanical engineering and then went to work after college working for a manufacturing company in the town where he grew up.

After working for the firm for 10 years him and few colleges decide to branch off with a new venture.

However after 3 years the venture hasn’t really caught traction in the market. The group insists on keep all the founding members as equal managers even.

What should Jack do?

He has taken a serious pay cut for the last 3 years in the hope that the venture would get off the ground in a high growth market. His wife is growing anxious and they begin to argue most nights. As tensions rise at home and work Jack is left high and dry wondering what to do next.

This can be a common story for founders starting out with a new venture. The sharing of management between founders might be decided upon purely because no one believes it should be any other way.  This sort of leadership can work. But what is common with engineers and scientists starting out in business is that everyone is treated equally… only as managers not leaders.

Is that the best practice for firm in a high growth market?

Often the project becomes well managed but no one is steering the ship. What I mean by this, is that although the daily management is well handled by not having a designated leader, the firm suffers.

Leadership

You see, leadership is needed to make long term planning and strategising. Deciding where to take the firm. Which projects to go ahead with and which projects to dismiss. Deciding and defining what success actually means for the venture and then deciding to make that happen. It’s all good and well to be managed efficiently but management needs to come from some form of leadership that looks at the larger picture.

Corporate clarity helps align activities.

Leadership forms outcomes and gives management the ability to be creative in how to achieve those outcomes. But without direction firms often lack conviction or sometimes they might even achieve managerial outcomes but its not what would have been best for the firm in the long term. This can come from a single leader or from a group of leaders as long as the role is fulfilled.

Leadership structure can vary

Look at Toyota. A company with some of the best innovation practices on the planet. Toyota plans their business strategies for 5 to 10 years into the future. Because they also have some of best management systems they achieve their goals and most importantly they always know where they are going. At the top of their system is placed a process rather than an individual. Kaizen and learning has top priority and leads decision making within the Toyota organisation. Toyota is an example of process based leadership which is less based on an individual and more on the companies values and long term vision.

Apple computers might be the best example of effective leadership. Apple, as we well know, was lead by the technology visionary Steve Jobs. For example Steve envisaged and drew a design that resembled the MacBook Air back in the late 1980′s, long before they knew where the technology was going to come from. In Apple the leadership role was much more concrete and based on an individual, as Steve Jobs took this leadership responsibility. Apple was largely lead by one recognisable figure and this also is a successful organisational structure.

Process or individual? How do you decide?

So what does this mean for firms trying grow and gain traction in their markets. Well, first accept that leadership is a necessary part of business. It is needed to strategise and plan for the future. Second, define what leadership means in your firm. You don’t need to designate one leader but it helps to set aside time to define the leadersship role. For the case of Jack, his group of founders need to regularly discuss long term strategy and work to define what the business is and what isn’t. Having this clarity will make everything in your business more focused.

Don’t forget public relations

Another common problem that tends to come up when their is a group of founders or managers running a firm is that marketing and public relations are neglected. It’s very simple when a firm has one leader, one face to represent the company. When you have a group of 7 engineers it can be more difficult. Public relations should not be ignored. It serves as an excellent way to gather a ton of free advertising which could otherwise be costly.

Just look at what Richard Branson did when he launched a new business, product or service. He made as much noise as possible and got everyone involved. This helped him launch with plenty of interest and can be a great tool that engineers like jack should not dismiss.

So what does all this mean?

By now we all want to know what we can do about it. We know firms require leadership roles as well as management and we also know that public relations can be a great tool and free marketing. Here are some easy steps to help you implement the role of leadership and use public relations in your firm.

Using leadership

Make a monthly (or fortnight) leadership style meeting. Plan and discuss what the firm stands for, where it is going in the next 5-10years and determine what it will look like when we are successful. This clarity of purpose will bring a new level of focus to your company.

Using PR

Use public relations to promote new launches, products and services. Got a new product launch great! Organise a free event, give away prizes, do a company challenge as long it makes noise then it will serve its purpose.

Engineers are great managers, some of the best project managers there are. However, for a business you can’t neglect areas. Leadership and public relations play important roles in a business and it’s success. So use them!

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