THIS IS AN OPINION
We'd also like to hear yours.
Tweet us @ArkBusiness or email us
Do you ever feel like you’re the chief cook and bottle washer in your business, filling multiple roles and ensuring it all gets done?
Successfully navigating growth and coming out on the other side with a thriving business and a high quality of life requires a different mindset and strategies than when you started your business.
What Growth Is Really Like
One owner confided that growth is “pandemonium. Customer email and phone calls dictate the shape of the day. I run around, putting out one fire after another. Even though I’m exhausted, I’m awake at night worrying about cash flow. Revenue is growing, but so are the expenses. I’m working 70-plus hours a week, filling any gap I can. I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”
Meanwhile, “Team members criticize my leadership. I feel guilty for not being a better leader. I am impatient. I am stressed to the max, blowing up at the smallest thing. I needed to understand how to reach my employees.”
Crucial Transformation
Veronica Schreibeis of Vera Iconica Architecture in Jackson, Wyoming, came to us at Tap the Potential to learn how to run parts of her business without her having to be so personally involved. And she had the typical attitude of a small-business owner.
“I believed I could get things done better, faster … Just doing it yourself and getting it done quickly is easier than teaching an employee, or even better, creating a system for employees to follow,” she said.
“It takes courage. There is risk in doing things differently and giving up control. I wondered, ‘How much am I going to lose in productivity? Are my customers going to be satisfied?’”
Schreibeis realizes now that those were limitations she was creating: “If you assume people will function at a lower level, they will. It’s hurting you as much as it’s hurting them.”
Many small-business owners ask themselves a version of the question, “How do I get all this work done?” As employees come on board, the question evolves to, “How do we get all this work done?” Both questions keep the owner involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.
“I was asking the wrong questions,” Schreibeis said. “Through coaching, I realized I needed to be asking, ‘How do I empower my team to do their best?’
“I needed to assume that employees want to do their best, take pride in their work, love their job, and have fun coming to work,” she said.
That mindset shift is critical in the successful transformation from owner to leader.
“Taking the risk to change is the hardest thing, but it’s much better than being stressed out and running your company like a crazy person. It’s a lot more rewarding, too,” Schreibeis said, following a three-week vacation to Tahiti. “I initially felt guilty going on vacation. To have a team taking care of things and being happy for me to go is so ridiculously awesome. That was empowering. That’s an owner’s dream!”
A growing small business presents the opportunity to grow in your leadership. The crucial transformation starts with the question: “How do I empower my team to get the work done?
Sign up for Daily E-news
