 Growing
Your Business - Regaining Control of Your Enterprise
By Tricia Radison of Business Transitions Inc.Fighting growth is a problem many business owners unconsciously fall into,
and it can lead to stress, despair and the eventual demise of your business.
In my last article, I discussed how re-examining your vision for your
business, recognizing that you can not do it all, valuing your time, being
true to your personality and prioritizing can help you embrace, accept and
encourage growth. Following are more ways to regain control of your growing
business and ensure that you continue to build a successful, enjoyable
enterprise.
Delegate - We’re all familiar with the proverb, “Give a man a fish and you
feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Do
you apply it in your business? Doing it yourself seems faster, but by taking
the time to show someone else, you’ll never have to spend time on that task
again.
Trust - It’s one thing to delegate jobs to others; it’s quite another to let
them do it without your intervention. Are you looking over everyone’s
shoulders because you’re worried they won’t do as well as you? If you are,
you might as well go back to doing it yourself because you’re wasting
valuable time. Furthermore, it says to your employees that you don’t think
they can do a good job on their own.
A more important reason to trust your employees is that they might do a
better job. Maybe they have skills you don’t have, or maybe they just have a
different insight into the job. By being encouraged and trusted to be
independent, they might surprise you and come up with faster, smarter
solutions. Without trust, you create an environment of dependence and limit
how much your employees are willing and able to contribute.
It’s All About You - Once you’ve gotten comfortable delegating everyday
tasks, you’re ready for what may be the biggest challenge you’ll face:
delegating management. You have grown your business to a certain level on
your own, creating business relationships and bringing in the cash; up to a
point, that’s probably the only way businesses grow economically. But, once
your business has grown to a certain level, this situation is a handicap for
both the business and you.
Being the sole person responsible for major decisions and relationships
means that you’ve chained yourself to your business. You can’t take a sick
day, let alone go for a decent holiday, because no major decision can be
made without you. A business that is totally dependent on the owner ends up
stagnating. Furthermore, there is little value in a business that can’t run
without the owner’s involvement, hindering your chances of selling when the
time comes. The business must be able to operate independently of you and
this can only be accomplished by hiring the right staff to manage it. The
ability to see this situation and make the necessary moves is what
distinguishes the most successful businesses from the rest.
Where does that leave you? Right where you belong - keeping the business on
course to being the one you envisioned. You might discover a lot of
resistance to giving up day-to-day control but the positive effect it will
have on your business and your personal life will well be worth it.
Write It Down - Once you’ve established who does what, you’re ready for a
step ignored by almost all business owners. Put all the tasks: greeting
customers, counting inventory, ordering, selling, doing the books, etc.,
into words. Write down the scripts, procedures and systems for everything
relating to your business. It seems like a monumental task but, now that
your employees are working independently and contributing their skills to
your business, they can be an enormous help. It sounds a bit like big
business but it’s absolutely essential if you’re going to continue growing.
Like it or not, employees will leave. Once they do, how do you teach the new
person how to fish? If you have a procedures manual, it will serve as the
teacher, leaving you time to focus on more important things.
Create Your Own Board of Directors - In big companies, the Board of
Directors’ most important function is to act as a sounding board for
management. The Board ensures that decisions are made with the company’s
mission in mind and that it’s not straying off course. Create your own,
either by asking trusted friends or admired peers, or by hiring transition
consultants. Meeting regularly with your “Board” allows you to get
reinforcement, advice and a fresh perspective, and gives you the energy you
need to take your company successfully to the next level.
A sounding board will give you objective assessments you’re not capable of
making on your own. It’s easier to see what others are doing wrong, where
they’re going off course, than to see it in yourself. If you’re lucky enough
to know people with good business experience or with a very creative side,
you may see solutions and improvements you never thought possible.
Have Fun! - Last, but far from least, don’t treat your business as just a
job. The world is full of people who dread going to work; it doesn’t need
another one. Following some of the above suggestions will make work and life
a lot easier, but be sure to throw some fun into the mix.
Growing a business is a lot like raising kids. In the beginning, you’re the
one who has to do everything and it’s a lot of work. Over time, the kids
learn to do things on their own. They start making their own decisions and,
finally, become independent and run their own lives. If you treat your
business the same way, including letting go of control when it’s time,
you’ll not only have a wildly successful business, but an incredibly
enjoyable life.
Tricia Radison of Business Transitions Inc., offers Business Makeovers &
Selling Services to help owners get where they want to go. Tricia may be
reached at 403.255.4442 or email her at
tricia@businesstransitions.ca
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