Holding back the most important people

I had a great meeting this week (virtually of course) with some other business leaders and there was one common theme, which was the need to find more time to develop and implement all the ideas we had, whether this was to improve or grow our businesses.

 Of course, the reality is not that we need to find more time, but that we need to use our time more effectively.

 I am not going to cover the many varied resources and programmes out there which can help you develop the right time management processes for you. In my experience, there is not one size fits all, and you may well have to adapt these depending on your aspirations, values, lifestyles, and personal circumstances, but you will be able to work that out.

 Anyway, in reviewing the last few days, where I have been frustrated by a lack of progress and feeling things have not been done as I expect, there is one reason for these irritations…. me.

 I have become the bottle neck for too many things that happen in the business, finding myself saying things like:

 ·        I will look over that report before it goes to the customer

·        I need to check that proposal to make sure everything is covered

·        Can I see those images for social media before they are posted?

·        Can you include me on that project meeting?

·        I will organise that review meeting

 Whilst, in my head, I am ensuring standards are maintained, making sure there is consistency in what we are doing, it is aligned to bigger plans and I am involving others to educate them in how I expect things to be done. The reality is I am slowing everything down, increasing my workload and basically saying to the team that they can not make their own decisions.

 The irony is I want to empower the team here and I do not want to micromanage, but my own insecurities on maintaining our standards, and wanting to support has led to me getting too involved.

 I am not oblivious to the fact my actions are hindering not only the business, but the team members who I am keen to support and help develop. It is like my well-meaning enthusiasm and the idea I need to lead from the front has taken over and as I have been spending more time interacting with the team and involved in day-to-day activities because of 2020’s challenges.

 During the development of any business (and isn’t a business always developing?), there will come the time to build your team, to put trust in them or develop partnerships which ultimately puts others in control of aspects of your business.

 Not only is there the bottleneck and stifling the development of the team, but this environment is reducing the opportunity for synergy and by not getting involved, others will step up and do a better job than you!

 I seem to be reminded how effective my team are when I am away and great things happen, or I get a voicemail asking me to ring them back and by the time I do they have solved the issue themselves. They did not need me to help after all.

 What I am better spending my time on is documenting guidelines and processes, using more effective KPI’s around our values and standards and demonstrating trust in my team.

 As my son’s recent school report said, “good understanding of the subject, but must try harder” and when I do, I will have a stronger team, better business, and more time to add greater value.