Trust your employees

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     To grow your business, you must organize and trust your employees. They are the foundation on which you can build.

     Many owners and managers are control freaks. They hire people who will do exactly what they are told to do--and nothing more. This is a mistake if you want to grow. 

     You must train employees. They must know what their responsibilities are, where the limits are, and when to turn to you for additional input. Then you turn them loose, step aside, and monitor from a distance. 

     Employees are naturally inventive and they put that to work in their daily tasks. You and your business are limited by what you alone can do. If you turn your employees loose and help them grow, your business can take off. If you try to tell them every little detail of their daily jobs, then your business will never grow beyond the hours available to you.

     Example: Bob runs a small machine shop. He's the first one to arrive in the morning and the last one to leave in the evening. He spends his day walking the floor, watching everything, showing his employees how to do their jobs, inspecting their work. In short, Bob is a classic micro-manager. Nothing escapes his attention and his input. His business has not grown beyond the limitations of this type of management.

     Example: Bill also runs a small machine shop. He trains his employees and lets them handle their jobs. He inspects final products before shipping, but he is training one employee to do this. He noticed the advent of 3-D printing technology. He installed one of the new machines together with the computer to run it. He has hired a new computer technician/programmer and is on the way to expanding his business. And he is training his older employees in the new technology. 

     Managing a business means training your employees. Your ultimate success--and theirs--depends on your turning loose. Your employees are closer to the actual day-to-day grind than you are. This means that they can learn, improve, and grow a better organization than you can acting alone to monitor every detail.

     Trust your employees. You don't give up control. Your organize your controls and back away.

     Whether you run your own business or manage a unit in a large corporation, see to the training of your employees. Then turn them loose, watching everything from a distance.