To grow you need to work on your business not in it.
Moving your business ahead may require that you step back … way back.
In those first frantic days of making your great idea into a functioning business, you wear many hats, usually because you can’t afford to hire anyone else to make the tea, keep the books and manage the marketing. However, there is a bridge each of us needs to cross in order to grow the business beyond a certain point, the transition from “doing” to “leading.” It means stepping back from the day-to-day stuff and moving into the role of overseer and leader.
It also means learning to delegate more significant responsibilities to your employees. But for many entrepreneurs who view their business as their baby, this is more easily said than done. The truth is, your job should be running the business, when you realise that and start delegating, your business will grow.
Learning to delegate is an ongoing journey. Half the battle is hiring people who you feel comfortable delegating to. The other half is creating infallible work processes.
Margery Kraus, CEO of Margery Kraus, founder and chief executive officer of APCO Worldwide, a global consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. cites the “roots and wings” adage about parenting: You teach basic values and let them go at some point. It is important, she says, to realise that people will do things differently than you might have but that doesn’t make their way wrong. In fact, a new viewpoint could expand your company’s reach and allow it to grow in ways you never would have considered.
“Just as you can over-parent,” she says, “ you can do the same thing to your company. When you have come to the place where you know that the staff you have are capable, then let them go, because they are ready and can handle it … if you hold on too tightly, it doesn’t grow.”
The success or failure of letting go can simply come down to good communication. In many small businesses, employees wear many hats. As a result, they are not always sure what their top priority should be. It’s your responsibility as the boss to tell them:
- What are their task and responsibilities, and how are these prioritised
- What does a good job look like, don’t expect people to know what you want if you don’t tell them. Checklists can prove very useful for this.
- What are the limits of their authority – budget, deadlines, resources…
- How and when should they update you
- And don’t forget to feedback on their performance. You can’t expect people to improve if you don’t provide feedback
Once you put the right people, programs, and processes into place, your business should practically run itself. It is at that point that you can safely disengage long enough to provide the vision essential to your company’s long-term growth
Building that team is job one for the business owner, true leaders understand they don’t have all the answers and they surround themselves with the right talent. Delegating gives you more time to do what you do best, it can take a while to build trust, but once you do, it is so empowering! You will start to grow when you can focus on what you do best and not on daily tasks.
It’s all about humility and leadership, humility to know that you don’t know everything and leadership to build a team that does know what it needs to know.
That being said, delegation is never abdication. Rather, it’s learning to work on the business instead of in the business. Good leaders know when to get out of their own way.
