Empower your Employees, Empower your Business

When you start your business, it is you who is making all of the calls. You who is doing the marketing. You who is doing the work. At some point, you realize that you need help. So you start to hire employees. Next to cash flow management, your human capital is the next biggest component to the success or failure of your business.

Hiring the right employees takes time. Sometimes you will get it right. Sometimes you will get it very wrong. You will find out pretty quickly if you have hired the right person when you look to download responsibilities. Empowering your employees gives you the opportunity on building your business. Simply doing everything yourself will get you stuck in a rut.

I was talking to a client recently. He had been sick, and his employees had to pick up the slack. They succeeded in that they realized they could make decisions. The Owner learned what responsibilities he could hand over. As well, he learned what jobs he wanted to do, and what jobs he wanted his employees to do. Now he can move on getting more new business, building relationships with current clients, and giving increased responsibilities to his good employees.

I hear many Owner's wondering when they should stop doing all of the work, and handing it down to employees. I say start small, and figure out what you are comfortable with handing over. You can still provide oversight. It does not mean you are giving up complete control. But as one of my University professors used to say, always have somebody else be able to do your job, otherwise you will never be able to move up. I think this is true for business owners as well. If you never empower your employees, you will never empower your business to move onwards. Take that first step, and you may be surprised at the freedom empowered employees can provide.

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