Frontline supervisors in small businesses are many times expected to be both "managers" and "leaders" in their roles. In my years as a manager, Director and Executive, it was  my experience that frontline managers tended to move more towards those "manager", task related expectations, where the tasks were objective, tangible and could be completed in a time frame. The often less trained "leader" skill sets and requirements, still an expectation of frontline supervisors, tends to be a development oversight by administration and avoided by the supervisors. Why? Probably because leading involves people and moving them towards visions and the completions of tasks. Less tangible and objective.I have seen many very good frontline supervisors complete the tasks (thinking they were being an effective manager) of their direct reports than engage them to complete the tasks themselves. But these two very important skill sets do not need to be seen as seperate, but effectively complementary.

 

Check out this link for further discussion on what I am proposing.