If you are an entrepreneur in the early stages of your career or a small business owner, there will come a time in the not-too-distant-future that you have a big decision to make. Simply put, there are only so many hours in a day, and you only have one pair of hands. At some point, you will have to relinquish some control to achieve your growth goals.
However, as everyone knows, letting go of control of the one thing you have built yourself from the ground up is incredibly worrying. In fact, you may even be so worried about someone making a mess of things, that you haven’t even hired someone yet. If this sounds familiar, you need to have another think about things – so here are some suggestions.
Build self-managing work teams
If you give your employees the power to manage themselves, not only will they enjoy the autonomy, but they will also be more excited to get to work. That usually involves higher levels of productivity, a better atmosphere in the workplace, and a more manageable work schedule for you.
Outsource to find expertise
Outsourcing is an excellent way of bringing in expertise to your business on a per-project basis. It’s also fantastic for ensuring that your business is running smoothly and keeping you focused on what you need to do. For example, you might consider hiring services such as IT Consulting for businesses to ensure you have the right technology infrastructure. Similarly, utilizing an external cleaning company will mean you won’t be wasting your time – or the time of other essential team members – keeping your premises clean.
Stop making all the decisions
It’s understandable that you are used to making all the decisions. But if you aren’t allowing your employees to make decisions for themselves, your problems won’t go away. Start with small, readily achievable things and give your staff the chance to control every aspect of the planning. And even when things aren’t going to your liking, try to avoid jumping in – take a top-down view instead. Micromanaging employees is not only a waste of your time but also of theirs – if you don’t trust them to do the job, you shouldn’t be hiring them in the first place.
Learn to delegate
Delegation will be critical as your organization grows. And it’s not just tasks we are talking about, here – it’s also authority. Delegating will allow you much more time to focus on the money-making opportunities available to your company, and also help your employees start to gain confidence, learn, and grow. Don’t forget, if you want to experience growth as a business, many of your employees will have to experience growth, too.
Stop hiding the books
Finally, many entrepreneurs don’t like to talk about the money they are making in their business. However, there isn’t any reason for not sharing these details with your employees. Once they see the figures, they will start to take ownership if them, and fine-tune their performance to improve their numbers.