The Two Faces Every Shop Owner Needs to Lead

Is your shop a hotbed of employee conflict? Cliques forming, morale suffering, the same frustrations boiling over week after week?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your shop doesn’t need a therapist. It needs better leadership.

The Problem With “Shop Therapy”

When conflict erupts, the instinct is to get everyone in a room and talk it out. Role-playing exercises. Team-building workshops. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.

It rarely works.

The problem isn’t that employees don’t understand each other. The problem is usually that expectations aren’t clear, accountability is inconsistent, and leadership is absent when it matters most.

The Two Critical Faces of Leadership

Great leaders wear two masks — and know exactly when to switch between them.

Face One: The Compassionate Leader

This is the face you wear when your team is doing what they need to do. Your job here is to make it absolutely clear that you’re happy with their performance. Recognize wins. Show appreciation. Let them see you content.

Face Two: The Drill Instructor

This is the face that comes out when things are broken. When employees aren’t following policies or procedures, your job is to make it absolutely clear that you’re unhappy and what needs to change. No gray area. No lukewarm feedback.

There’s no third mask. No middle ground. You’re either pleased or you’re not — and your team needs to know which one it is.

You Don’t Have to Change Who You Are

If you’re naturally more compassionate, you don’t have to become someone else. You just have to be willing to play the drill instructor role when it’s needed. Your team needs to see that you’re serious, or they won’t change.

If you’re naturally more commanding, you need to let your team see when you’re pleased. If they never see the compassionate side, they won’t want to help you succeed.

As General Patton said when an officer commented that the men didn’t know when he was acting: “It’s not important for them to know. It’s only important for me to know.”

The Foundation: Measurement

Here’s the catch — you can’t know which face to wear unless you know what’s actually happening in your shop.

Without reliable daily production numbers, you’re guessing. You don’t know who’s following procedures, who’s hitting targets, who needs training. You can’t hold people accountable if you can’t measure what they’re doing.

Great leadership starts with great measurement.

—

Ready to master the Two Critical Faces of Leadership? Get the training here — learn exactly when to wear each mask and how to build the accountability systems that make it work.