Learning to let go: an important factor of decision making

In a typical start-up, it is not unusual to see a hands-on leader who carries out the decision making. Everything from finance, purchasing, sales, data management to administration.

However, as the business grows every owner has to take a different approach. On the surface there doesn’t seem to be much in common between running a business and great love stories. But the old saying ‘if you love something, let it go’ applies to every entrepreneur that has witnessed growth within his or her business.

Recent CB Insights study indicates that 23% of the start-ups fail because they don’t have the right team. It is therefore critical for small-business owners to hire and build the right teams. Most small businesses operate with a minimum of staff and that means that having the wrong team in place can have a significant negative impact on productivity, accuracy and most importantly customer retention.

From my own experience, most small business owners resist giving up decision making control to their employees. It is natural because these owners have invested their hard earned money and life in the business but as a result of this “passion” they start working “in” the business rather than working “on” the business.

Some of the benefits of involving your staff in decision making are:

• Empowering workers and allowing staff to make educated decisions leads to increased performance and ultimate profitability.
• Where staff is empowered to make front line decisions it has a significant positive impact on the customer experience.
• Employees feel sense of ownership and become more committed.
• When engaged in decision making staff understand the direction of your vision and relate more to the culture you want to have.
• Employees focus on future problem solving and solutions instead of assigning blame to you.
• Positive culture due to higher level of satisfaction, motivation and morale within staff.

Just imagine having more time available to focus on other important aspects of your business such as developing future business by looking at the bigger picture, creating more business value and aligning processes with the vision. Your business will be more successful if you can work on the things you should be working on while your staff is engaged and empowered.

Remember letting go isn’t easy but it is essential if you want your business to grow and you want it to become long term success.