To build a business demands that the leadership know how to separate the symptoms from the problems to drive the needed organizational change. Unfortunately, many small business owners, entrepreneurs and executives due to poor communication and no strategic plan create expensive silo solutions that actually diminish the energy and ability to achieve organizational goals.

In the book Fail-Safe Leadership by Linda Martin and Dr. David Mutchler, the authors address some of the change management challenges every organization faces on a daily basis regardless of size through a simple leadership audit. This audit or organizational survey allows the decision-makers to begin that separation of symptoms from problems and recognizes that these issues are due to leadership issues within the organization.

The good news is that you can construct your own survey. First, identify the basic general shareholders within any organization. These may be separated as follows:

• Customer Service Employees
• Production Employees
• Sales Employees
• Support and Technology Employees
• Executive Management
• Management & Supervision
• External Customers
• Vendors/Suppliers
• Community

Then begin to list the changes issues facing your organization in the far left column. These may include the following, but are not limited to just these issues: