Making Managers of Entrepreneurs

I have worked for three different companies that either were in the start-up phase or were still acting like they were, despite having been in business for several years. One thing I noticed is that the founders had not made a transition to becoming managers. These were small companies where your boss was likely to be the president and CEO. When you are an entrepreneur, you work your butt off to make a success of your business. But the skills that make you successful in that business are not the same as those you need to manage your growing workforce. An entrepreneur is a jack or jill of all trades and often a micromanager. Kicking the habit of doing everything yourself to make sure it's done right can be difficult. But it's time for you to step back and trust the people you hired. You may not realize that some are ready to leave because they feel unappreciated, nagged, or that their skills are not being used. If you have hired people with the skills to make your business continue to grow, attract and retain customers, and keep the supply chain going, congratulate yourself on hiring the best employees anyone could ever had. Become aware of when you may be impinging on employee autonomy for no other reason than because it isn't being done the way you would do it. Is the task being completed successfully and on time? Are there any problems occurring from the employee doing it his or her way? Has the process even been improved? Consider every observation you make of an employee's work habits and progress. Just because it's different from yours doesn't make it wrong, slow, or lazy. Suddenly sitting down to show someone how to shave 30 seconds off the boot time for their work computer doesn't improve your business; it just tells the employee you think they are slow or lack skills. Take a course in managing people, and be completely honest with yourself about the way you handle interoffice relationships. You succeeded in building a business. Don't stall out because you don't trust the people you hired.