Uh-Oh…Am I The Problem Again?

As a business management consultant, I see one prevalent problem often among many small-medium-sized business owners. Want to know what it is?

Answer- The owner (s) themselves.

Building an organization that functions without the owner at the center can be a real challenge – and a real joy to own if you can get it to work right.

Many entrepreneurs can sometimes be their own worst enemies; as they seek to empower the organization, they actually undermine the process with their inability to let go or delegate. After all, they’ve had a lot of practice taking charge-in fact, that’s usually one of their strongest management traits. They are often unaware of how forcefully their feedback comes across. They are impatient and results-driven. They’ve had a lot of experience with what works and what doesn’t, they want things done a certain way, and they hate mistakes and waste.

While most small businesses hire people who have to learn how to do things, rarely is there enough money to enable the company to hire experts in every area. Combine demanding entrepreneurs with people who need to build skills and make changes, and that’s when the problems start.

A typical Uh-Oh situation…

A team member is asked to take on something new. Something unintentionally goes awry—the owner steps in to fix things or jumps on someone to get something done. Or, the owner provides feedback too sharply. The individual(s) who got it wrong start to think, “I’m not going to try that again; it made my boss too upset.”

Alternately, the owner figures that are intervening isn’t working, so he backs out too soon and too far. The individuals who need support don’t get what they need. They end up struggling with productivity, accuracy, and confidence issues. Owners have to encourage people to make mistakes and learn. Agree on the goal, so you’re both focused on the same endpoint. Resist the temptation to jump in. And don’t expect things to be error-free.

Provide limited feedback and oversight until skills and habits are up to speed. Listen and guide rather than demand. Know that training requires consistent, tactful communication. Be careful to teach rather than criticize. Set aside time to discuss. Ask people to explain what steps they took, describe what they think went wrong, and walk through what they might do differently next time.

Check on progress; Here are some questions you can ask to help a person make progress:

1- Let’s make sure we’re on the same page; tell me what you’re trying to accomplish.

2- Walk me through the steps you took to get there. What happened, what worked, what didn’t?

3- Knowing what you now know, how would you do things differently?

4- When’s the next time you’re going to try this?

5- What oversight or support would you like from me?

6- How would you know if you’re successful next time?

Owners need to remember while letting go is hard, not letting people grow and prosper even harder. Skinning a knee today is better than a broken leg tomorrow.

Your thoughts and opinions?

Looking for a good book on the subject, suggested reading;

• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It Paperback – by Michael E. Gerber