Micro Management
Micro management is a tendency that most small business owners have. After working so hard on your baby, it’s hard to let go and have someone else complete different tasks and projects. This hands-on approach can also be what is crippling that business and halting it’s growth.
Now when you give a task to someone else to do, they will usually do it in their own way. If the result is the same, does it really matter to you how they do it? Probably not, but I know that answer will probably not make you happy. So, how do you get your staff doing things the way you want them to be done?
You train them. Or shall I say, you train them properly. Training someone is not throwing a task in their lap, telling them quickly how to do it, and then coming back later and being disappointed with the results. Training is making sure they follow a clear procedure to get consistent results each time, every time.
How do you do this? First, you train yourself! Sorry, but having a task done wrong is not the fault of your employees, it’s your fault. If millions of teenagers around the world can run one of the world’s most successful companies, McDonald’s, then how do you expect to blame your employees for not doing your tasks correctly?
So how do McDonald’s get the same result, every time, all around the world, using high school students? Simple, the have great processes.
Before you hand off a task to an employee, you have to make sure it has a process. That means you have written it down in the simplest steps possible. It means you have tested it and followed the process yourself. It means you have stepped through the process with them, explained it, watched them follow it, and given them guidance when they’re unsure.
Only then will your small business create the results you want and allow you to stop micro managing everything. And remember, when your employee finds a better way to do things (which they should), they amend the process and update your operations manual. That’s how a successful small business operates and becomes a big business.
