Growing Your Business: Don't Make This Mistake

Walsh Enterprises Business & Financial Advisors Huntington Beach, California USA http://www.awalsh.us walshal1@aol.com (714) 465-2749 Growing Your Business Don’t Make This Mistake Reprinted from a blog posted February 2009 at www.walshal.wordpress.com

I previously wrote an article about one of the classic entrepreneurial causes of failure - the inability to delegate and let go as your business grows. Today I’m going to approach that topic from a different angle: knowing when to spend the bucks and bring in competent managers. The classic entrepreneurial model is the owner who basically handles all of the management issues while they hire clerical-level people to perform the tasks that they can’t personally handle anymore. This works fine to a point, but if they’re smart enough & lucky enough to grow the business, they’ll eventually reach the point when they can no longer handle the business management alone. At this point, many owners try to “grow” their clerk-personnel into managers. A rare few can make the jump, but most just don’t have the insight, the education, and/or the experience- base to fill the role. Problems start to crop-up that rapidly magnify into a nightmare. Unfortunately, this is the point at which many business owners finally “throw in the towel” and take the plunge. Smart owners act earlier.

Of course, small business owners are horrified at the thought of “shelling out the big bucks” for a manager. It doesn’t have to cost so much, and the alternative could be much costlier; financially and in terms of business disruption. There are lots of competent people out there who are available at a reasonable rate. In this economy, the choices are getting better & better. Some business owners hesitate because they’re uncomfortable about the interview process itself. That’s a signal that the business owner needs to develop their own skill set; or seek outside help in making the selection. Regardless of whether it’s due to weakness in people- assessment skills, or personality, it’s a signal of problems to come. As the business grows, your focus must transfer more and more into people management; so seek help now to prevent problems later. If you’re afraid of making a commitment for fear of making a bad decision, remember that it’s not a lifetime commitment. At the first sign of trouble, cut the chord. Most of us have had a bad hire experience at one time or another, regardless of our assessment & screening efforts. Just dump ‘em and “get back on the horse”.

Getting back to my main theme: Timely action to bring in competent management can smooth your growth-curve - plus fresh talent & perspective can expedite growth. I’ve said on many occasions that a primary goal of strategic managers should be to retain competent people, set logical goals that they can be measured against, and then turn them loose to perform - managing by the results. This is just as true for small & mid-sized companies as big ones. So when you sense that you just can’t wrap your own arms around all the management decisions anymore, take careful stock of the situation and don’t be afraid to reach out for the right talent. You’ll be glad you did.

Growing Your Business: Don't Make This Mistake

by Alan Walsh on Jul 13, 2009

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Growing Your Business: Don’t Make This Mistake — Presentation Transcript