Leadership Structure

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

Best described by techtarget.com, leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization. Leadership involves making sound (and sometimes difficult) decisions, creating and articulating a clear vision, establishing achievable goals and providing followers with the knowledge and tools necessary to achieve these goals. Good leaders often possess the following characteristics: self-confidence, strong communication and management skills, creative and innovative thinking, perseverance in the face of failure, willingness to take risks, openness to change and levelheadedness and reactiveness in times of crisis. An effective leader knows that without their team they do not exist. A successful leader is able to see and harness the strengths of all team members in the hopes to achieve the greater good for the business.

How owners organize the management of a small business has a huge effect on internal and external growth. A business leadership team responds to the goals and strategies of the company. Each member of the leadership team has a function within company activities and overseas how they are carried out. There is no right or wrong way structure your leadership team. Its structure depends on the actual needs of your company. An organization's leadership structure determines how workflow, accountability and authority work together. The leadership structure adopted by an organisation is dependent on the nature of business and the extent to which respective stakeholder groups contribute, therefore when having to successfully establish ones leadership structure leaders have to take into consideration the members of the team and their perspective working fields, all of which when put together collectively make up a system.

According to Victoria Duff (2017) In a Corporation, the standard hierarchical leadership structure starts at the top with the chairman and board of directors, who set the goals and direction for the company. The chief executive officer reports directly to the board of directors and has responsibility for running the company according to the goals and direction set by board. The chief operating officer reports to the CEO and manages the operations of the company, overseeing production, marketing, legal and administrative departments. The chief financial officer also reports to the CEO and handles the finances of the company, overseeing accounting and treasury functions. Below the C-level are the various department managers who report to their appropriate C-level executives. A board of directors is not a normal element of non-corporate organizational structure.

With reference to Blu Betty, the different staff member and their perspective roles within the business. Because they all have their individual roles each one of them is held liable for the role they assume and the responsibilities thereof. As the founder and owner of Blu Betty, Colleen will be at the top of the leadership hierarchy structure. Although she believes in a democratic leadership style everything that occurs within the organisation, as leader, goes past her first. Also on the same point in the organogram is Zappiro. Zappiro invested in Blu Betty and is a part owner of Blu Betty. Therefore being that he is “second in charge” many things will need to run through him. Although Colleen is the founder she does have a manager that assists with the daily running of the organisation, Stephanie. Stephanie’s role within the organisation also includes marketing and sales, and her point in the organogram is one level below Colleen and Zappiro therefore she reports to them both.

We then move onto the last level of the hierarchical structure. Because the organisation is one that supports a democratic leadership style there is no strict rule on how to communicate. You don’t have to communicate to a representative that above you and have them deliver the message to the person in the highest point of the structure, but you can easily go to the top of the hierarchy structure and communicate your ideas, problems etc. This democratic style works well with Blu Betty because they are still very much a small business therefore communication can occur organically. Nick Perro is Blu Betty’s In house Designer then there is Keith who is in charge of production both work hand in hand with the Blu Betty factory team (which has its own organisational leadership structure. Blu Betty’s other team members include: Stephan and Charlene who are the sales representatives, an in house graphic designer and finally an in house photographer. In Blu Betty No two people have the same job therefore they are considered leaders in their own respective teams.

References:

• Duff, V. (2017). Business Leadership Structure. [online] Smallbusiness.chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/business-leadership-structure-62836.html [Accessed 2 May 2017].

• Bolden, R. 2004. What is Leadership? [online]. Available at: http://business-school.exeter.ac.uk/documents/discussion_papers/cls/what_is_leadership.pdf[Accessed 10 May 2016].