Never be afraid to hire those smarter than you. Sometimes we are inclined to hire only persons with entry level skills with the idea that we’ll train them to do things only our way. But such micromanagement inevitably leads to a dumbing down of an organization.
A good test is, Can your business run in your absence? If so, it is not only the mark of a well-run business, it’s an indicator that the business has value beyond the worth of the customer list, the phone number and the inventory on hand. It’s the mark of a business that can be sold, or a business that you can ease away from when you decide you do not want to work long hours anymore.
If your business is one where you can’t leave for a week or two without calling in management decisions several times a day, then what real value is the business if and when you want to sell? You have become the business. And you’ll have to go with it when you sell or it won’t have the same value. In an interview in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Paul Steck, a successful CEO in the restaurant business, stated part of his philosophy by saying that he worked hard to hire responsible people to whom he could delegate authority and then “I worked really hard to get out of their way.” —The Perils of Micromanagement, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 18, 2015.
How important it is, then, to learn to delegate authority, to train people to train, and to avoid the perils of micromanagement.
For a more in-depth discussion of this subject, see my article in the May 15, 2015, issue of RV Pro magazine.
For a detailed discussion of micromangement, how to recognize it, its detrimental effect on a business, and strategies for overcoming it, see Harry Chambers’ book,
Finally, a brief and concise tutorial from lynda.com for tips on avoiding micromanagement, Be a Leader, not a Micromanager
signbrad 