People usually start a business full of passion, commitment and vision. After all, when you start your business it’s because you are enthusiastic about the product or service you are providing, and feel you can make a healthy profit.
During the early days you may find yourself working long hours and putting much of the money you earn back into the business so that it develops and grows. You may be working on your own or with just a couple of people to help you; so communication is easy.
But even though it’s wonderful when the business takes off and starts to grow it can lead to problems. You might not be as good at management and leadership as you are as an entrepreneur. There are mistakes that everyone should try to avoid and it’s not too difficult if you are aware of them.
The first of these is being so busy that you don’t make time to actually listen to what your staff are telling you, you don’t take their concerns seriously or you fail to pick up on issues that worry them.
Another is not checking that staff understand instructions. When the company was small it might have been enough to tell people what they should do. When it starts to grow you need to consider putting written communication channels in place and then checking regularly that staff understand what is expected of them.
Next, you may have started out employing friends or even relatives. But as the business grows this can cause problems with over-familiarity. You need to get the balance right between being a friend and being the boss. You need to distance yourself – as there may come a time when you have to discipline or dismiss someone.
You need to trust your staff and be willing to delegate. If you feel you have to do or oversee everything you’ll never have time for planning and your key staff will never develop their potential. And finally, you need to set an example. If you expect staff to arrive on time, not chat at every opportunity or use social media in work time, then you must lead by example.
There are some further suggestions that you will find useful in the article 10 Common Leadership and Management Mistakes.
Finally, always think about the KISS model: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It’s all about using your common sense!
