I believe that underlying these problems are two others, more subtle, pervasive and damaging. Usually they either cause or magnify the problem of insufficient resources. At the same time they aren't understood or acknowledged. These are:
• poor hiring practices coupled with micro management
• inward focus and lack of creativity.
Poor hiring seems pervasive in our business world. Poor advertising attracts the wrong applicants, we then hire the best of them without regard to their fit with the job, usually train them poorly and finally, micro manage. It's no wonder human resources are the greatest challenge. Look at all the places we can make mistakes!
Micro management means not "letting go" of responsibility and authority. It means telling people how to do their jobs rather than allowing them to make their own plan and do their work without interference. It means looking over workers shoulders, unnecessarily checking progress, criticizing or finding "better" ways rather than praising and allowing them to have their way of doing things. Micro management is the characteristic of an unenlightened manager who then tells me, in private, that good employees aren't available, they have no loyalty, they take no initiative and managers are rare. "If only I could get people to take responsibility and do a good job" is the lament. Of course. No self respecting, competent employee will work for a micro manager for the long term.
Because of micro management, businesses can grow only to the size that one person, the micro manager, can manage. That manager can't "do it all" to sustain growth, can't "let go" to let others enable growth, is frustrated, frequently ill and burns out prematurely. Unfortunately, I see it a lot.
A second problem I encounter with business owners and managers is the that of inward rather than outward focus. With only a few exceptions, opportunities to advance a business reside outside the business in the market place, and not inside the business in its systems for doing business. Of course, the system must support the activity of the business, but many owners and managers seem to want to perfect the system while ignoring the external opportunities.
For example, the owner of a small dental equipment manufacturing business talked with me about setting up his own machine shop rather than buying from outside vendors. Had he done so he would have reduced total cost two percent. On the other hand, he would have continued doing the same amount of business as before, have the added burden of first learning how to and then managing a machine shop, and would have used up financial resources for at least three years. This is inward focus.
I suggested he revise his strategy to look outside the business:
• first, make a strategic alliance with two machining companies (rather then the nine he was buying from,) giving them all his work in exchange for negotiated price that meet his targets, and
• second, use the financial resources not now needed for machinery and expand his marketing and sales effort into a new niche, adding more than 30% (projected) to his sales revenue.
He followed these suggestions, turning his focus from solving a problem inside his business to seizing an opportunity outside his business. The long term benefit of the latter will five times that of the former. And, now it will be much easier to attract resources, both human and financial to his outward looking company.
So if you have problems of hiring, training and retaining employees, or if you feel tired, frustrated, and burned out, or if your business is stagnant -- maybe you are a inwardly focused micro manager. Think about it.
Charles R. Schaul, Partner of SixPillars Research Group, focuses on increasing business profits by resolving the problem of customer attrition. Aligning companies with their customers; generating and implementing strategic initiatives; and promoting employees’ customer focus through commitment, responsibility and accountability combine to achieve the result.
Copyright 2008 by Charles R. Schaul,
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