Leading an organization from the pure leadership standpoint frees you to take big actions. You can motivate, inspire, be a visionary, and develop other leaders. But for most organizational leaders, it’s necessary to lead in the cloud of business - in situations where the business itself needs your attention. Just as you can take pure leadership action, you can also take business leadership action. Not only can you set yourself apart as an organizational leader, but you can also take seven steps to set yourself apart as a business leader.

Know the difference between leadership and management. Leadership is about initiating change, focusing on the big picture, concern with overall processes, and motivation. The act of management is taking control, directing, concern with the day to day, and maintaining the status quo until another change comes around. If you’ve set up a middle leadership team that takes care of management, then you can watch the management occur. But if you’re in the situation many leaders increasingly find themselves in, that is, where you have to be manager and leader, you must be able to temper one with the other. Perhaps your management involves giving simple direction regarding your vision - and then stepping out of the way. Part of managing is the act of letting yourself step back and watch your teams take action. Knowing the differences between the two will help you keep your focus on managing in the cloud of business.

Set the bar as high as possible by redefining your market. As an organizational leader, your responsibility is to set a vision, to paint a picture of the future. Look at where the business is in relation to its competitors. Many of us work in industries where there may be four, five, or more providers of the same products and services. We have to decide that slots number one and two are the only slots for our organizations - and communicate this to the teams. Competitors in lower slots tend to take losses during a downturn, so you must insulate your business against that. As a leader, you have to look for ways to innovate the sector you’re in and redefine its market so you can stay ahead.

Encourage productivity through speed, simplicity, and self-confidence. This formula comes from G.E., where former CEO Jack Welch decided that what worked in the 80’s wouldn’t work in the 90’s - and going forward. The idea was to change the way businesses did business internally. Speed means that you have to give teams the power to make decisions or get answers within minutes. It means you’ve got to reduce red tape and give people the power to move forward based on their own analysis and research. Simplicity is just that - any ideas that come across have to be simple enough to communicate at any level. Not only this, simple messages tend to travel faster - and, according to Welch, simple designs hit the market quicker. Self-confidence comes from speed and simplicity - the old way of doing business doesn’t breed self-confidence. Leaders and team members have to focus on the speed and simplicity they can bring every day. In this structure, each new progression brings further self-confidence.

Use stretch goals. Just like redefining the market, stretching internally can change the organization’s outlook. For example, if you have a profit-sharing scheme, create tiers of profit reward for each tier of production criteria. In other words, don’t just reward the organization for increasing production by five percent. Reward one percent profit for five percent increases, two percent for six percent increases, and so on. Your goal structure, even if it’s not profit related, should tell the organization that meeting goals is great, but exceeding them is the only way to stay in the number one or two slot!

Focus on quality - inside and out. This is a simple commandment but one that’s often overlooked. Internal quality means that you must lead the charge to find efficiency and value in every internal process and procedure. It may mean that you have to open communication with the organization - and ask them to report and solve inefficiencies and redundancies. It goes back to communicating that the organization shouldn’t be doing things simply because that’s the way they’ve been done throughout history. External quality is just as important - each product and service that hits the market must have exceptional quality. One of the best ways to ensure this kind of quality is to set up your criteria for quality products and services - and link compensation and pay increases to the quality ratings. Internally, offer a portion of the savings to the person who solves complex inefficiencies. Whatever your method, a focus on quality is absolutely necessary.

Always look for ways to be more competitive. The cloud of business darkens when the competition steps ahead. You and your organization must be innovators and inventors, always on the lookout for ways to change the industry - and narrow the competition. With a spirit of open communication, along with speed, simplicity, and self-confidence, you should be able to point the organization in this direction. When you speak to the organization, remind the teams every single time that part of their responsibilities is to look for ways to innovate. Imagine an organization that’s always on its toes!

Function as a small company. This is another page out of Jack Welch’s book. Small companies move quickly, shunning red tape and always looking for the next new innovation to keep them going. Just because your organization is large in number doesn’t mean that it can’t be run like a small business. Stay away from bureaucracy and boundaries - keep teams talking, discussing, and communicating with each other. Know your customers - find out who they are, what they like, what they don’t like, and why. When you maintain a small-business mentality, you can keep the organization moving forward easily.

Remember to know the difference between leadership and management, redefine your market, encourage productivity, stretch, focus on quality, always look for ways to be competitive, and act like a small company. When you have to lead in the cloud of business, set your general leadership standards and move to these actions. You’ll find that the cloud of business can be a lucrative place to be - as long as you keep your focus and keep moving forward.