Fonte: Inc |
Invariably, people who start companies assign themselves the position of CEO. That’s understandable, of course. It’s their idea.
But, there are many different ways of being a CEO and unfortunately a majority of people gravitate toward the old command and control model where the boss’ fingerprints can be found on everything.
Can that work? Sure. But there are four problems.
- The business can never grow bigger than one person (you, the CEO) can manage effectively.
- The company can’t move very quickly. Since everything has to flow through you, you create a bottleneck. People have to wait for you to sign off before they can move ahead. (Invariably, there is a line outside your office, from morning to night, as a result.)
- You won’t get the best ideas out of your people. Once they understand the company is set up so that everything revolves around you, people are not going to take the time to develop their best ideas. “Why should I,” they ask. “He is just going to do what he wants anyway.”
- It’s exhausting.
A far better approach is to let employees make as many decisions as they can, allowing them to implement them once they do.
Every time I say this, people always asked me if I am worried about employees making mistakes.
My answer? “Not really.”
For one thing, everyone always makes mistakes. Your people were making mistakes before they were empowered, and it would be silly to believe they wouldn’t make any once they were.
And if you are really worried about it, set a dollar limit at first. (For decisions over $1,000, or whatever number you choose, they need to get permission.)
But, an intriguing thing happens, once you start letting people make their own decisions. Invariably, the number of mistakes will go down. When employees feel you are going to make the final decision anyway, they don’t always think through fully what they are doing.
Once the decision is theirs, they tend to be not only more creative but careful.
The bottom line about this: If you let your employees take more control:
1. They will do a better job
2. You will have more time to think
It’s a good deal all the way around.
