Letting Go

8th November 2011

It is funny how things always seen to come in clumps, and over the past week I have come across 3 business owners, all with the same issue, and all trying to deal with the problem of not wanting, or being able, to let go.

The thing is that all business owners have very close attachments to their business; after all they planted the seed, nurtured the early growth, and bit by bit created an enterprise that is hopefully thriving.  However, unless they are prepared to take on staff to run it for them, they will always be restricting the size to which it could grow, as there is a limit to the amount any one person can take on, without all the balls they are juggling, crashing to the ground.  The feeling that customers must “work with me”, or they won’t be happy.  The fear of letting your staff see what is happening on the financial side of things, and the classic “nobody does it better than me”, are all reasons why the owner won’t let go.  But for the business to truly flourish you must coach and train your team to do things as well or better than you, you must put systems in place, so that anyone can cover for sickness or holidays, and above all you must employ a team of people who you trust.

Don’t kid yourself that you are not letting go for any other reasons.  Sometimes a feeling of no longer appearing to be important to the business, (a sort of redundancy) can make it very hard to let go, but ultimately, you should see that as having achieved the utopia of all businesses i.e. one that can work without you.

So don’t keep holding on just to keep you feeling important.  Your staff won’t thank you, and your business will never reach its full potential.

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