This topic will resonate with entrepreneurs or managers. And this is a topic that most entrepreneurs struggle with: too much operational involvement. How do you free yourself from the shop floor and how do you create less operational involvement?
Do you recognize one or more of the following points?
- Managing my team takes up a lot of my time.
- I am led by the daily grind.
- I want to maintain control.
- I regularly tell my team members how to handle things.
- I have too little time for strategy and innovation.
These are topics I regularly work on with my clients.
The company is growing fast, you are successful, and you work hard. You have attracted a team of employees, and you notice that you spend a lot of time – and energy – on operationally managing your team. You are frequently adjusting and explaining how you want things done. You are closely involved, meddling in many matters, and often with details.
What can you do to distance yourself more from the operation? And what can you do to regain control of what is really important to you: maintaining your natural balance, focusing on what really matters? How do you get more breathing space? And how do your team members get more breathing space? What effect does it have on them when you’re breathing down their necks all day?
Leadership = Top Sport
I work a lot with entrepreneurs of growing companies. Growing is cool, that’s what you’re doing it for, right? But a lot of things change when the company enters the next phase. In terms of personal leadership, team leadership, and organizational development. That is top sport. And a top athlete needs a top sports coach to further develop and take good steps. Going for Gold, that’s what you want too?
That’s what my latest book is about “My Best Team Ever! In 7 steps to Golden Leadership”. It describes the PITPACK method. A method that guides you step by step towards a well-functioning team. And what you see is that not only does your company grow, but it also means that you grow and have to grow.
These are the tips that will help you create more overview and peace and less operational management.
1. Clarity
“I have to toughen up, they’re not doing what I want!” I often hear people say. “No,” I say, “you have to be clearer.” As an entrepreneur, as a leader, you are the one who has to provide clarity. What is clear to you is not necessarily clear to your employees. Provide clarity and check with your employees if it is really clear; by asking them. Clarity about objectives, about structure, about norms, rules, and performance criteria. Read also the article about bringing clarity to your organization.
2. Hire Good and Capable People
When a company grows, we are often happy when we find an employee. My experience is that in this first phase of growth, there is not always a critical look at the hiring process. What will the new employee add to the company? How do their behavior and motives fit within the organization? Be critical when hiring your team members. Otherwise, adjusting, guiding, and saying goodbye will take too much time and energy! It can help to involve someone from outside (for example, your ‘top sports coach’) to look at the recruitment process and ask for a second opinion. With or without a assessment.
3. Onboarding
Have you hired a new employee? Is there an introduction arranged? A so-called ‘onboarding program’? How is the new employee being trained? And coached? This contributes to developing clarity. And if this happens from the beginning of the working period, you will reap the benefits later. However strange it may sound, the better this is arranged, the better and more the effect afterwards. The clearer for the employees. And the more you are relieved.
4. Focus on Input, Less Control
When there is clarity, you can focus more on input. With clarity, you have formulated your goals (output). If you have hired the right employees and guide them well in their development, by bringing them a step further each time, then those goals are achieved. This also calls for the trust you give them. This is different from pressing and steering yourself and sowing panic when things are not going well. Read more about the relationship between control and trust HERE.
5. The Profit of Asking Good Questions
Transmit, transmit, transmit. That’s what many entrepreneurs do. It’s an art to ask more questions. This stimulates the thinking and problem-solving ability of the employees. Actually, it’s a form of conditioning. If you answer every question, employees will come to you more often. Because that’s easy. If you are able to ask good questions, everyone will sooner search for the solution themselves. And you won’t be constantly disturbed by (simple) questions anymore. This seems to take more time, but I guarantee you it will pay off.
6. Personal Leadership
Your organization is changing and so are you. Hiring employees, motivating employees, establishing a desired culture, reflecting on your own role, maintaining work-life balance… You are practicing top sports, and that requires a top sports coach by your side, with whom you can bounce ideas off to reach ‘gold’ faster and better.
Want to know more? I have something for you. A sneak peek of the book “My Best Team Ever! In 7 steps to Golden Leadership” You can now (for free) download the first chapter.
