Delegating responsibility and decision making are some of the most difficult actions for many entrepreneurs. Having started the business, from an idea on paper to its current status as a growing company, the owner has a real emotional involvement in the organization.

As a result of this attachment, letting go of all decision making involves more than simply passing some paper to another employee. The emotional aspect of management must be considered as well. All too often, the personal feelings of the entrepreneur prevent taking the proper course of action.

As a company grows, the number of responsibilities grow right along with it. Not only do the number of departments expand, but their size and scope increases as well. Taken together, managing all departments and staff within the organization becomes too much for any one person. No one possesses the time or skills required for each and every job in the business. Delegation of responsibility is essential. It is here that problems can arise that can hurt the company's performance.



The entrepreneur has built the company from the beginning and treats it almost as a family member. Choices made for growth, purchases, expansion, and marketing are not always based on economic conditions or enhancing return on investment. There will very often be snap decisions made on the spot, with or without full understanding of the circumstances or complete data. Some of these crucial decisions must be handed to other managers within the company. The lone wolf business owner is often very reluctant to do so.

Having built the company from the ground up can inflate an ego. The sense of being the only expert becomes the owner's creed. This mistaken idea is often accompanied by the nagging back of the mind fear of loss of control. Emotional reactions to needed delegation are common. This ownership fear must be mastered if the company is to move forward into the future. Instead of acting emotionally, the owner must attempt a rational and practical approach.



A good way to start in the delegation process is to talk with the affected managers as a group and as individuals. Defining the company's goals, and asking for input into achieving them creates new ideas and develops trust and two way communication. Armed with the organizational goals, the manager can assess the departmental situation and apply an appropriate course of action. The owner can delegate the decision making activity confident that the overall company goals are being kept in sight.

As successful decisions appear, one after another, the entrepreneur will develop confidence in the managerial level choices. The managers will enjoy the confidence of the owner, and their own self esteem will rise with their successes. Overall, the company bottom line is enhanced.



Mistakes will happen as well. It is at these crucial moments that the owner must place confidence in the process. The error was not made from the act of delegation, but from the choice made by the manager. Mistakes are part of the learning process. The business owner must recognize that no real growth is possible without some missteps along the way. Use the error as a teaching tool, and even better and more profitable decisions will follow.

Pulling back the authority is often the emotional response, and is also a mistake. Employees will hunker down and avoid any mistakes. They will also be much less productive, and that will damage the company seriously. Removing decision making authority, like the initial failure to delegate, is also a mistake. This is where building mutual trust is so important to success. Trust allows for mistakes and for alternative ideas and creative thinking.

Delegation of authority involves letting go of fears. Once those fears and sense of loss of power are eliminated, the company and its people are ready to move to even greater heights.

Everyone wins when decision making is shared among the staff.

Tags: management, decision making, delegating responsibility, mistakes.

READ MORE - Management techniques: Delegating responsibility

All business people receive incorrect information from time to time. The mistaken ideas may range from simple errors in reading or calculations, to outright deception on the part of employees. The key for business owners and managers is preventing the weak business intelligence from crippling the business.

Bad information can hurt a business in more than one way. While the obvious results may include lower sales, lost or dissatisfied customers, or production and distribution problems. All of these are crucial issues that can damage a company seriously. They are also difficulties that can be corrected over time. Unless there is wilful damage inflicted, most problems are challenges faced by all organizations at one time or another. A more insidious and hidden problem may be a tightening of decision making and control by the owner or top management people.



In a misguided attempt to prevent any future problems, many entrepreneurs have a default position that appears in times of crisis. That standard response is to micromanage the organization and to take more decision making responsibility upon themselves. Instead of recognizing the mistakes happen, and that no one is infallible, the business owner centralizes decision making. Instead of gaining more control over the situation, the result is often the polar opposite.

In centralized decision making companies, no one makes any decisions, and relies on the official management approved response. While the control freak might believe the so-called by the book answer may be the only right one, spectacular disasters are the more likely outcome. Individual circumstances require judgement calls on the spot by staff people. In more cases than many people would like to admit, the prescribed official response may be the wrong one. Instead of solving a problem, a new one is created. Rather than risk their continued employment status, staff members rely on the book to cover their backs.



Delegation of decision making responsibility is a better option. Make certain everyone knows who is responsible for what decisions and choices. Allow a reasonable degree of flexibility for the many individual issues that don't fit the form. Employees who are empowered to make on the spot executive decisions will more often than not choose the right course of action. If they have to get approval for even the tiniest concession, they risk losing a customer. They also become robots, rather than thinking and productive workers. Empowered staffers are productive employees.

The ownership must accept that mistakes will happen. In fact, if no mistakes are being made, then nothing new or innovative is being attempted by the organization. Treading water for too long a time usually ends up in drowning. Let your employees take chances and discover new ideas. The information they provide may be flawed, but if the person understands that errors are part of life, they are much less likely to provide deliberately false data. Bogus information is a symptom of a centralized decision making organization. The employee is responding in a self protective manner, and that is not good for any company.

Instead of worrying about mistakes in information, encourage employees to provide the best and most honest data available. Be prepared to accept bad news, and encourage the staff members responsible to find solutions to the problem. Fear driven companies will only get told what the staff members think they want to hear. That staff fear can lead to tragedy and even bankruptcy.

Be open to potential problems, and you are more likely to hear innovative and profitable solutions.

Tags: creative ideas, incorrect information, decision making, delegation.

READ MORE - Incorrect information: Avoiding tragedy