In entrepreneurial circles, we often talk about leaders vs. followers. But it’s also important to distinguish leaders from bosses.

Bosses try to control their employees’ behaviour. They arrange people to suit their needs. This means no one feels empowered to tackle their own challenges. The result? Employees are dependent on their bosses, who end up micromanaging them or restricting their efforts.

Leaders inspire others to do their best work. They develop teams who can build each other up. They cultivate a healthy exchange of ideas. When you lead your business rather than boss it around, you have more freedom to grow and thrive.

So, which type are you?

What Makes a Leader?

Many people assume that leaders are those who call the shots. That expression reflects that particular form of leadership in military organizations.

But in business, treating your employees as the “followers” of your strategy quickly gets exhausting. Eventually, they become dependent on you and deprived of the opportunity to handle their own problems. When no one feels empowered to solve their challenges, they simply wait for instruction — or they check out entirely.

A leader is someone who positions themselves as a guide for their employees. They’re neither trying to do it all nor pass it all down the line. They understand the importance of creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork.

When you allow your business’s employees to uncover their own genius, you put your enterprise in a position to thrive.

Shifting From the Boss Mindset to the Leadership Mindset

If you’re concerned that you’re more of a boss than a leader, or if you want to empower your team, the first question to ask yourself is:

What do my employees think of me, and what do I think of myself?

Bosses regard themselves as the hero of their business. They pride themselves on their ideas and acumen and believe that everything else follows from those. When they need things done, they either (a) tell their employees to do them or (b) pile up their plates because they don’t trust anyone else to do it right.

Leaders think of themselves as a guide. Their customers are the heroes, and their employees are their fellow guides leading people on their journey. Just like your favourite band of adventurers in pop culture, a leader and their team come up with unique solutions. They can all live in their zone of genius instead of waiting for instruction.

So, to become a leader, you must set aside your ego and think of yourself as a coach for your team’s success. They are the ones who’ll be running the plays — you’re their guide, not the superstar!

How to Develop Your Leadership Skills

To most people, being a “boss” or “bossing people around” means telling them what to do. This brings us to delegation: you have a list of tasks, and you assign those tasks to your employees. Pretty standard, right?

However, if you have a boss mindset, you aren’t empowering your team to handle those tasks. You may not be looking for their unique talents. The whole point of delegation is to hand off a task to someone who can do it better. If you’re not coaching your team, how can you make the right decision here?

That’s why many bosses feel so nervous about delegation that they end up not doing it at all. Their plates are piled high and they have no energy to actually grow their business. Or, they delegate tasks only to micromanage the delegees — which defeats the purpose of delegation!

To shift to a leadership mindset, start getting to know your employees’ special skills. Delegate tasks to the people who are best qualified to do them. Rather than instructing them, coach them on what you need. This allows them to work in their zone of genius and frees up yourtime and energy.

Then, let your team feel ownership of their wins. When you perceive yourself as the guide or coach rather than the hero, this is much more natural to do.

The Boss vs. The Coach

Consider this story: there was once a restaurant owner who wanted to make huge sales on Super Bowl Sunday. She demanded that her employees work long shifts, run extensive marketing campaigns, and fully decorate the restaurant before the event. She didn’t offer a lot of guidance, instead of saying “Make it happen.”

Everyone worked hard to meet her requests. Some employees had great ideas for viral social media posts and themed cocktails. Weeks of preparation paid off: Super Bowl Sunday was a smashing success.

But at the next staff meeting, the owner stood up and started going through the weekend’s numbers — and took credit for every single idea. She positioned herself as the hero of the restaurant and praised her skills rather than her team’s.

To her surprise, 70% of her employees quit on the spot, and the rest followed soon after. No one felt appreciated — in fact, any ownership they felt in Super Bowl Sunday’s success was now squashed.

That’s because that soon-to-be ex-restaurant owner was acting like a boss, not a coach. When she delegated those tasks, she didn’t coach her employees to do their best. She treated them like followers. Still, they performed well, but rather than take that opportunity to rise into leadership, she took credit for their creativity. Morale has a ripple effect, so when one person quits, others quickly followed. And the boss was left with no one to boss around.

The moral of the story? Let your team shine and don’t take the spotlight away. Allow your employees to live and work in their zone of genius. That’s the power of being a coach rather than a boss. And that’s the heart of true leadership.

This blog was based on a podcast in which I interviewed NLP Coach Ray Ciafardini. You can listen here or read the full transcript.