SYSTEMS & PROCESS……”Work On your Business — Not In Your Business”

When you get bogged down in simple details that your employees could be working on, you are not being an effective leader.

 

In The first few years you did every job in the company.                                                                            That is no longer working, is it?                                                                                                                         The problem is, you spend all your time working in the business and not working on it.

If you want to run a successful business. If you want to achieve and sustain your growth goals, You have to know how to play to your strengths.

It’s pretty easy to micromanage everything and everybody. You may think that you can get things done better and more efficiently than anyone else. While that might even be true, but all the time you are spending doing jobs that other people could be doing is time that you are not running your business.

When you allow yourself to get bogged down in simple details that your employees could be working on, you are not being an effective leader.

As the leader of your business, you are responsible for spotting problems and delegating solutions.

You are responsible for setting goals and thinking about the future.

After all, the only person in your company who will be genuinely motivated to grow your company is you.

Every minute that you spend working on tasks that can be delegated is a minute that you are not planning, strategizing and building the best business possible.

This is why it’s important to work ON your business not IN your business.  

You are the leader. You are in charge of the big picture. When you see areas that need improvement, delegate the work out, so you can continue to be the troubleshooter and visionary that you need to be.

Now I said delegate, not abdicate. You have to do this in a thoughtful, organized, and deliberate way. Throwing your people into the deep end of the pool with tasks they are not prepared for is just as bad as doing too much yourself.

In order to get to the point of good delegation that will free up time for you to work on your business…

 

…You have to ask yourself and your team some questions that will help you set the stage for this evolution in your business processes.

 

 

 

Here is a partial list that can provide you with the right questions to ask yourself.

1. You. You really have to want to get out from under the day-to-day. It requires getting out of your comfort zone, learning new things, and unlearning old habits.
2. Hiring.  If you don’t learn how to hire the right people, you will continue to chase your tail.
3. Standards.  A company’s reputation and its customers’ satisfaction will be determined by what a company expects of itself. Having clear standards of operation will help grt you where you want to go. Setting standards should not be done casually. The standards should be well thought out and aggressively communicated, and they should be lived.
4. Training.  People are not going to figure out everything on their own. And if they do, it will be after messing up orders, customers and your reputation. The concept of continuous improvement and a commitment to a training program will assit you in getting your team to the next level.
5. Systems, Processes, Procedures, Planning and Tools.  There are ways to avoid mistakes, to keep track of things and to be more effective and efficient. Every time something goes wrong you should ask yourself, is there something we could have done to avoid this? What should we have done differently.
6.  The Wrong People.  Sometimes it is bad hiring, sometimes it is just a bad fit. I used to put out fires all of the time. I finally figured out that it was better to get rid of the arsonists. That doesn’t mean these employees don’t mean well.  It may mean, that they can’t do well. This step requires will — as in you willdo something about it. Is there anyone working for you that you would be happy to see quit?
7. Delegation.  This one seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? But delegation only works when you have the right people. And the hardest part is accepting that some of the things that you delegate will not be done as well as you could have done them yourself. You can afford to fix occasional mistakes more easily than you can afford to do everything yourself.
8. Employee Retention.  It is difficult to run a smooth operation if you are constantly losing good people. What is your turnover rate? Do you pay enough, respect enough and provide a pleasant work environment?
9. Get Feedback.  Have you surrounded yourself with yes men and women? Of course, you have to be able to handle the truth! Sometimes you are just wrong. That’s Ok. There are times that I have been oblivious, sometimes I have been delusional. The last thing I want is to stay that way. But there is no greater feeling than knowing that your people are with you on a common cause, and you don’t have to read their minds.
10. Oh it’s You, again.  Maybe you really like being the sales rep, the production manager or the one doing the work. Maybe you are trying to be someone you are not. Build your Team, so that you are not the end all and be all.

 

Bonus Round! Do you find yourself getting mad at employees all of the time?

That is a waste of energy and bad for the moral of the company, including the people you never get mad at.

It guarantees that no one will want to make decisions.

 

There are three possibilities:

1. YOU — haven’t trained your people properly,
2. YOU — have some people who should be working in a different job (for you or for someone else), or
3. YOU — still think that everyone should think like you.

           If everyone thought like you, they would own their own business…

                               …And then they could have the opportunity to be mad all of the time.

 

Be Well, Do Good Work, and Keep In Touch.

Fred Haskett

To Learn More Contact Fred at TrueWinds Consulting

 

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