Successful leadership owners shine at most aspects of operating their business. Usually they are great at planning, or marketing, or creative thinking, or crunching numbers, or knowing just how to satisfy customers. But when it comes to leading, managing and motivating others involved in the business – whether employees, outside sales reps or key partners – they sometimes fall short.

L-A SCORE Chairman Richard Kendall, himself a success in several business ventures, points out that “one reason is widespread confusion about the difference between managing and leading.”

Leadership experts say they are two very different roles, even though most small business owners consider them to be the same. “Managing implies structure, control, rules, deadlines and efficiency,” says Ken Blanchard, best-selling author of “The One Minute Manager.” But according to Blanchard, “Leadership is nearly the opposite of management. Leading requires actions that are more experimental, unstructured, visionary, flexible and passionate. Managers and leaders think and behave differently.”

Blanchard and his partner Drea Zigarmi spent seven years studying how business leaders exert influence and how their values, beliefs and personalities contribute to their success or failure. One finding was clear: A one-size-fits-all style of leadership does not exist.

Owning a business automatically puts you in a position of leadership. Your goal is to engage employees, partners, vendors, investors, independent contractors or other participants in your venture in a course of action that helps achieve a mutually shared vision. But being in a leadership position does not necessarily make you a leader.

Many entrepreneurs turn to management techniques to enlist the minds and muscles of the people they lead, but fail to capture an equally important component – their hearts. If you merely work to focus activities of followers and fail to engage them in a purpose, you won’t likely be seen as a good leader.

“The first step to becoming a better leader,” says Kendall, “is to study yourself and get honest, unfiltered feedback about how you are doing from the people you lead. You cannot effectively lead if you do not know your own values.”

Try combining direction with support. Direction includes setting goals, scheduling, specifying priorities, evaluating results, defining roles and showing how results are to be accomplished. Support includes listening, praising and encouraging, seeking input, sharing information, offering reasons for decisions and helping others to solve problems.

To learn more about starting or improving your business, contact SCORE, which calls itself “Counselors to America’s Small Business.” SCORE is a nonprofit organization of more than 10,500 volunteer business counselors who provide free, confidential counseling and training workshops. Call L-A SCORE at 782-3708 for additional information and an appointment for counseling.