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Essays on Running a Small Business: Empowering Employees One of the toughest things for a small business owner or manager to do is to let go and allow employees to do tasks that s/he previously did alone. It seems like you either abandon responsibility, hoping they will succeed, sure they will fail. Or it becomes more work than doing it yourself by the time you oversee what they do. Giving your employees more responsibility need not follow either of there paths. It is not easy, but it is essential if you ever want to get out of the mode of feeling like you have to do it all yourself.
Whether a formal job description or an informal discussion, no one can read your mind. An employee needs to know specifically what you expect. Employees' ideas and input at this point are as important as your own.
Train to make sure they know how to do the job as you expect.
Trust that they will do it. That means let go. Do not micro-manage and sabotage their efforts.
We all make them. It is part of the learning process, not proof that you need to do it all yourself. After all, you make mistakes too. Your test comes the first time an employee asks you what to do in a certain situation that involves their new responsibility. If you give them the answer, you’ve blown it. Your answer should be, "How would you do it?" Then work it through with them, but let them keep the responsibility. You will be surprised how much more your employees are capable of and how much more they will enjoy their jobs. |
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Copyright © 2004
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