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Entrepreneurs - Is Your Style Holding You Back?

Are you an entrepreneur? Do you run a successful business?

Do you want your business to continue to grow or are you happy with it at the size it is?

Most entrepreneurs will answer that of course they want their businesses to grow. That is what it is all about. But to what size? Do you want to be the leading business in your town? In your country? In your specific business sector? Perhaps you aim eventually to expand to become one of the great companies of the world.

With expansion comes an increase in the number of your employees. This is a fact of life. You can rarely run a major enterprise with just a handful of people. You need other people to help you, and your business will sink or swim according to how well they perform.

So are you happy with your staff? Do they come up to your expectations or are you disappointed with their performance?

Are you frustrated with their lack of enthusiasm? Are they reluctant to share your own point of view? Are they slow to accept your ideas? Do they take too long to understand your orders and to carry them out? Are they unwilling to put in extra effort than strictly necessary? Do they lack the spark that you have? In short, do you think that they are all useless and that you could do the job better yourself?

Stop! If this is how you think you are on a dangerous path for the future of your business. Thinking like this is not the way to grow your company to become a large and thriving enterprise.

You are an entrepreneur, the owner of the business. Your flair and skills and knowledge have grown the company from nothing to where it is today. You have done it by your own effort and enthusiasm. You have become used to making all the decisions and to getting your own way without question. That has worked well up to now.

But beyond a certain size you cannot do it all yourself any more. You must employ staff to lighten your load, and you will need more and more staff in the future. You need managers and management structures.

To have got to where you are now you are probably a strong character with fixed ideas and no hesitation in expressing them. In the early days you will have personally chosen your staff. You are used to giving orders and having them obeyed immediately and without question.

Beware! This kind of situation can very easily degenerate into a sort of feudal management system. An unquestioned boss surrounded by yes men. Don't let this happen.

You are still the founder and owner of your business. You are still the driving force. But your management style must change. No longer is the old autocratic style acceptable. No longer are the old instinctive actions efficient. The unquestioned order is no longer accepted in good grace.

You as entrepreneur may not like it, but if your business is to make that next leap forward to that next level of size and influence, you must learn to use your staff correctly.

You must learn to listen to their ideas, suggestions, and (even) criticism. You must accept that you probably do not have the monopoly of good ideas. You must learn to sometimes praise and give credit to others. You must learn to oversee and guide rather than try to do it all yourself. You must take a more hands-off approach, and let others take care of the details.

In other words, you must leverage the talents of others and trust them to do the job. You must develop your ability to select the right staff and restrain your wish to do everything yourself. You must be a strategist, a leader, and a guide. Select your staff carefully and then give them the authority and support to do their jobs. Let them use their initiative. You may be surprised at what talents and abilities they show.

There is a different approach needed to run a large enterprise to that needed in a small unit driven by a strong unchallenged individual. Different skills are needed. New skills can be learnt. It is never too late. But many never successfully make the transition. Those who don't, although successful in most people's terms, never quite make that final leap. For those who do the future of their businesses is almost unlimited.

By Arthur Cooper (c) Copyright 2004
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Arthur Cooper is a writer and publisher. For business articles ebooks and courses, go to: https://www.barrel-publishing.com/ For more of his original articles go to: https://www.arthurcooper.com/

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