In This Episode

One of the things that folks in a leadership position wrestle with is the idea of being in control.  We will often hear business owners talk about how they are accused of being micromanagers.  This can result in team members not feeling confident or empowered to make many of the day-to-day decisions in running the business and instead will wait for the owner to step in to decide what to do.  This can be one of the biggest limiting factors for you and your business’s success.

We focus our clients on the concept of Plan Direct Control.  So control is part of what we are helping our clients achieve but it’s not in the way they are often used to where they feel like they have to make all the decisions or be the one driving things forward all the time.  It all starts with getting your people involved in the Plan.

As a business owner you should become fond of asking your team the question, “What’s the plan?”  It could be the plan for today or this week or for a particular project.  The key here is you want to get them thinking about what should be done.  Keep in mind that many of your people are closer to the day-to-day details of what’s going on which puts them in a better position to cobble together a plan.  If the team member doesn’t have a plan then part of your role is to help them figure one out.  Start with questions like, “What do you think we should do” vs. providing all the answers yourself.

The Direction part comes as you help Direct all the activities.  Kind of like the orchestra conductor where you’ll be making sure folks are engaged with helping to execute the Plan.  This is one of the tricks to getting your people to take “ownership” of things because they’ve been involved in helping to create the Plans vs. waiting for you to dictate from on high.

The Control piece comes in the form of regular meetings and reports.  Your goal with Control is to make sure you are as well informed as possible on the key items in your business.  And the best part is that your team will be more engaged and you won’t have to make all the decisions.  Plus you’ll be able to watch your team grow and succeed right along with your business!

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

• DEI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity,_equity,_and_inclusion)
• KPI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_indicator)

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