Minding the details that matter most
Warning: Do-it-yourselfer ahead
Entrepreneurs can fall into the
trap. Smaller, growing companies are
somewhat susceptible. Even supervisors
and managers can make the same mistake. They all can ignore the warning
signs when they need to hire help,
delegate work or add another layer
of leadership.
Entrepreneurs just starting out
expect to do administrative work such
as billing and answering their own
phone, but as a business grows, some
fly solo for too long, putting the operation in jeopardy. How do you know
when doing it yourself is doing you in?
• You are working until the wee hours,
typing invoices and doing administrative work. Family and friends
express concern.
• You are spending more time filling
orders than marketing and selling.
• You are spending too much time
on bookkeeping, answering the
phone and correspondence during
work hours.
• You are missing appointments
or deadlines, and your office is a
disorganized mess.
• You aren’t keeping good records and
may not be up to date on payables
or receivables.
As the solo speaker grows into a small
business, everyone involved continues to
wear many hats. The trouble, though,
can start once a point of critical mass is
reached in the entrepreneurial environment. Often, the speaker/owner keeps
control of operations up to that point,
with perhaps a point person or two. No
one wants the burden of a bureaucratic
structure but unfortunately, without a
clear delineation of duties, and a few
more leaders to coordinate it all, conflict and chaos can ruin the intimate,
small-business “family” atmosphere.
Here’s what to watch for:
•Client complaints about dropped
balls, miscommunication or billing
errors are a signal that it may be
time to promote some supervisors
and define duties more specifically.
•Employee conflicts break out over
turf, workload or work habits. These
often manifest themselves as “
personality conflicts” when, in fact, the
core cause usually has little to do
with personality.
• The business was growing but has
started to slow down. It’s easy to
lose focus on growing the business
as you get sucked into what is going
on in the office.
•A strong personality steps forward
and starts acting like the self-appointed leader. Because there is a
leadership void, the most assertive
and opinionated usually step into this
role. If this person is a know-it-all or
a bully, this will create turmoil that
will monopolize the owner’s time.
If you don’t recognize these warning
signs, you may end up working harder
and longer hours, but things will keep
getting worse. Most entrepreneurs
agree that they waited too long to out-source and hire their first employees.
Most owners of larger businesses will
agree that getting rid of the “garden
rake” reporting structure by delegating
and clearly defining roles and responsibilities was a great decision. Both are
quick to tell you that once they did,
they were freed up to focus on what
they do best and love most—be that
speaking, writing, consulting or growing the business.
Joan Lloyd is an executive coach, management consultant, facilitator and professional
trainer. Send an e-mail
to Joan at info@ joanl-loyd.com, visit
www.JoanLloyd.com or
call (800) 348-1944.
