A recent post over on ChiefExecutive.net on The Four Elements of Leadership had four great tips for helping you manage your top talent. In brief, they were:

• Understand Your Role
  You’re a leader, not a manager. As a result, you direct, you don’t control.
• Unify the Team
  Don’t divide the team, don’t add members that will divide the team, and if the team begins to divide, align them against you if need be (on a temporary basis).
• Deference is for Managers
  If you get too accustomed to having people defer to you, you stop growing as a leader. The team should be empowered to make their own decisions, should know that you’re not the only expert, and should know that you don’t have all the answers and don’t expect that you do.
• Deal with Differences
  Learn how to identify them, respect them, use them appropriately, and find a common language when not everyone thinks the same.

In other words, leaders lead, they don’t micromanage; they build a team, they don’t just put bodies in seats; they empower the team and acknolwledge their own limitations, they don’t see themselves as superior; and they understand.

It’s a good article with good advice.