IS BEING IN CONTROL PREVENTING YOUR BUSINESS GROWTH?

Any smart business owner knows that a business must have adequate controls.  But is being in control preventing your business growth?  Being controling can prevent your business from growing.  Why are owners so controlling?  The reason is that most businesses are started by people who are very involved in the product or service.  That is natural.  The owner has to spend a lot of time working in the business to make sure that the product or service gets out, the money gets collected, and the bills get paid.  That is very important for business survival. 

Here is a problem that comes up all too often.  A business owner or agency owner spends most of his or her time working IN the business and virtually no time working ON the business.

Why is this problematic?  When you start your business you need to do everything or it does not get done. Sometimes you have time management issues but you must work through them.  Your business grows and you simply can't get it all done.  So you hire someone.

You are at the pinnacle of a growing business.  At this point you are now not only the owner but also a manager.

But, here is what happens many times.  The owner hires an employee and continues to stay totally involved in his or her business.  The new employee asks a question, 'don't worry, I'll take care of that.  It's involved" is the answer.

Before long the owner says the employee is not working out because the owner has to do everything.  What went wrong?

The owner is still working IN the business.  He or she believes that the person hired knows what needs to be done and is expected to do so.  Besides the owner is still too busy working on the minutia of the business details.   The owner must learn to let go, train, and delegate with confidence.

If you are that business owner here is how to fix it.  .  Explain, train, encourage, and ask for input.  Once you are certain that the employee understands encourage him or her to make decisions on his or her area.  Encourage the input.  Then monitor.  But gradually let go.  Learn to look at key measurements that indicate the employee is on track such as number of calls answered, complaints resolved, orders processed, customer feedback and other key areas related to business outcomes.  Then you get out of the details. 

Instead of watching the details and the minutia keep your eye on the direction of your company and your overall results.  Set up overarching monitors and measurements to measure the direction and success of your business.  This measurement is your DASHBOARD.  Think of it as the dashboard on your car.  You look at the dashboard on your car to make sure that everything is working under the hood.  Likewise a business DASHBOARD helps you make sure that your people are performing the activities related to positive business outcomes.  When you see something wrong with your car dashboard you ask a repair garage to handle it.  Likewise when you see a key business measurement change you ask your employees why and ask how it will be corrected.  You maintain control but you are not controlling.  You have more important things to do such as promoting the growth of your business.

Get out of the way.  Get out of the details.  Let go, let them drive and watch your stress level decrease and your business grow.