Management
A Small Business Will Only Grow When You Let Go
The X-Factor behind every great business combines excellent leadership and great people, and neither can exist in isolation.
Most small businesses never get off the ground because their owners don’t know how to let go. The emotional attachment—”It’s my baby”—can make stepping back tricky.
We can read all the books and know the theory of building a fantastic business. Still, the physical act of leadership and letting go are inherently emotional, a formidable barrier for many startups to overcome.
How do you get out of the way so your small business can grow? Let’s find out!
Leadership X Factor
Leadership is, firstly, an act of trust. Imagine being told to close your eyes and throw yourself backward off a table, not worrying, as there are people there to catch you.
Would you participate in the exercise or avoid it? Leaders who are confident in their team would not hesitate to perform it.
Starting a business and hiring a new team to take over core roles can be challenging for owners who struggle to delegate. Some may call them “control freaks” because they fear that if they let go, they will lose something if not everything.
Leadership is fundamental to building a successful business and is learned rather than a character trait.
You can never recruit a great team if you do not learn to lead first. Your hires will be people who you perceive as non-threatening to your authority and position.
When you need workers who can and have the confidence to step into and own a role without needing micro-managing from you.
Great leaders also know that they should employ ambitious people and that those people will eventually leave. Nevertheless, they go for it anyway because they are interested in a win-win situation—they know it’s not worthwhile to employ people who are not ambitious.
Hire People Smarter Than You
There is a saying that businesses are led by people of average or C-level intellect and managed by people with B-level or above-average IQ who hire A-level or top-of-the-class performers. This is how the work gets done, and the business moves forward.
Again, we see the value of letting go of leadership and building a great team.
If you hire the right people and act without fear – if you shed your poverty mindset – then those good people will help you build a more substantial business that can afford to retain good people.
People are more than a resource to be hired and fired – they are the life and blood of a great business, but only fearless leadership will unlock that potential.
Having worked with more than 200 small business owners over the last decade, I know from experience that leadership and good people require investing in developing those people through training.
Don’t hesitate to invest in people because you fear they will soon leave. Development and continuous learning are the first investments in an organization’s culture.
Aristotle said it best:
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit
Personal development and continuous skills training are also acknowledgments that things can be improved upon, and that’s a healthy place for any company.
Monitor Rather Than Micromanage
As the boss, your team realizes you need to be informed, and you’re likely to intervene when necessary. This is acceptable behavior, and it is acknowledged as ‘monitoring.’ Most of what you will do while monitoring is reading reports and updates or attending meetings that present the strategic direction and how the business is tracking.
To monitor without micromanaging, your business will need systems and tech that put information at your fingertips. You can keep up with everything going on without being present. This style of management is preferred.
Staff see micromanaging as invasive, and when it gets too much for them, it will shut down transparency and limit communication. The company culture will also take a hit that deters innovation and transparency, and as word gets out, there will be little chance of hiring top talent. However, it doesn’t need to be this way.
Keen to get more information on how to improve as a leader and let your staff do their best work? See these articles:
