In order for a business to be successful, it needs to be efficient with each employee having a dedicated role and area of responsibility.
As a business owner, it can be very easy to become too involved in the functioning of your company, especially if you single-handedly founded the business and feel like it is your “baby”.
After all, nobody wants the business they created to fail and it is understandable to be fearful of letting employees run things on the ground.
Getting too involved as a business owner can, unfortunately, have negative consequences and can do more harm than good. This can eventually lead to a bottleneck of efficiency and can have a bad impact on your profitability.
So, how do you know if you are the bottleneck in your business and is there anything you can do about it? Let’s take a look at the signs.
1) You micromanage
Micromanaging is the bane of every employee’s existence and a micromanaging leader implies that their employees can’t be trusted to follow simple instructions or do their work. This lack of trust results in the leader checking up on every small detail, much to the frustration and irritation of the employee.
We understand that it can be difficult to entrust the running of your business to others, but there comes a point where you have to let go and trust in the abilities of those you have hired.
2) You want to be involved in the entire decision-making process
Do you, as a business owner, have a manager? If so, the manager should be given certain decision-making abilities in the day-to-day running of the company. Of course, we are not saying that your manager should be allowed to make any decision they want, but a good manager should be able to make smaller, operational decisions.
In doing so, you free up a lot of time that you can spend on productive tasks and the bigger decisions you have to make for the business.
3) You feel that no one can do things better than you
Admit it, there has been at least one time where you felt that you could do a better job than your employees. This approach will get you nowhere and, as long as you don’t trust your employees to do a good job, you will always have too many tasks that you need to attend to, which could otherwise be performed by your staff. Remember that you are paying your employees to perform operation tasks and if you take over, you are effectively wasting money.
Do you recognise yourself in the above? If so, you could well be the bottleneck in your business.
To improve things and avoid being a bottleneck, try and foster an environment of open and regular communication with your team. Being receptive to their comments and feedback can help you to be a better leader.
Bottlenecking results in an unnecessary backlog of work. We therefore recommend regularly reviewing and improving your workflow, and delegating to other team members wherever possible.
Let your team, business systems and process help you!
At the end of the day, you are paying your team to do a job, so let them do it! Employees are more likely to be happier and more productive at their jobs when they know they have a leader who believes in them and allows them to get on with their jobs. Don’t be afraid to give responsibility and accountability to your team!
If you would like to find out more about improving as a leader and becoming more effective, why not book one of our 30-minute process mapping sessions? Contact us today to find out more.
