Council Post: Five Ways To Release Control And Scale Your Business

Entrepreneur who chased success against all odds. Proud Father. Author of “How To Grow Your Startup And Small Business” Quarterly Global 

Growth is a primary objective for startups from day one. It’s OK to start small, but entrepreneurs and founding teams don’t want to remain small for long.

Small means lower revenue and earning potential. Small also means a lack of marketplace validation, which can weigh heavily on an ego.

No, small isn’t the goal. The objective is to grow into a larger business, not for the sake of growth itself, but for what it means. Entrepreneurs want to scale in order to generate more revenue, increase income, validate the underlying idea, etc.

But scaling isn’t easy. As an entrepreneur myself, I know this firsthand. If you want to scale your business over time and enjoy real organic growth, you need to loosen up the reins in a calculated manner and create space for good things to happen. While this can be a scary proposition, it’s almost always necessary.

The Issue Of Control

Control is one of the most appealing factors of entrepreneurship. People either get burned out or turned off by the idea of “working for the man.” Rather than succumb to a career of 9-to-5 cubicle-sitting where living for the weekend is the only motivating factor, people jump at the opportunity to do something on their own.

You still have a responsibility to parent. Some level of authority remains. However, your child can’t mature into an independent and successful young adult if you don’t relax your grip and let them leave the nest.

Are you getting the picture?

Control is a good, healthy thing. Whether you’re a parent or a business owner, you have to stay on top of what’s happening and make important leadership decisions. But as your business scales, you have to step back and loosen that grip. Otherwise, you’ll stunt the growth and experience diminishing returns.

Signs You’re Gripping Too Tightly

Some business owners know when they’re gripping too tightly. Others are so deeply entrenched in the operations of their companies that they’ve never paused. Here are some of the telltale signs:

• Another good term for a micromanager is a helicopter manager. In other words, you hover above everyone and constantly interject, overstep and make decisions that other people are fully capable of making on their own.

• You don’t let anyone else make decisions. Whether it’s the types of snacks to stock the break room with or how to address a key marketing challenge, everyone else’s ideas take a backseat to your own.

• You work from sunrise to sunset and rarely take weekends off. And even when you are home, you’re only physically present. Your emotional energy is spent worrying about the business.

Five Ways To Responsibly Release Your Control

If you’re going to release control, you have to do so in a responsible manner — otherwise you could end up losing control, which would leave you in an even tougher spot. Here are a few tactics to help you push forward with a purpose:

1. Outsource noncore tasks.

We operate in a business world where connectivity and accessibility are ubiquitous. The gig economy is on the rise, and there are more freelancers and skilled contract workers than ever before. Furthermore, the low overhead of internet business models means more companies are able to offer cost-effective B2B services.

You wouldn’t want to outsource product innovation or sales (both core tasks). However, you may consider outsourcing activities such as bookkeeping, payroll, copywriting, telephone answering, market research, social media management or technical support.

2. Hire people you trust.

Trust plays an essential role in a business owner’s or manager’s ability to relinquish control to other people. Thus if you want to establish a culture in which employees and team members have the ability to make wise decisions, you have to hire people you can trust.

Hiring trustworthy people is a major challenge in small businesses and large organizations alike. But if you can perfect the art of finding, vetting and onboarding the right people, everything else will fall into place.

3. Learn to delegate.

A lot of business owners are fearful of delegating. They know they need to do it, but the thought of giving up control makes them nauseous. But if you hire the right people, suddenly it doesn’t seem so scary.

When people can be trusted to do what they say they’re going to do, delegation transitions from emotional to pragmatic. It now goes from a question of “Should we delegate?” to “How do we delegate?”

Finally, you should set an early precedent of giving people credit for their work. While it might have originally been your responsibility, you should recognize the people who helped you. Doing so makes them more likely to embrace future assignments with zeal.

4. Form strategic partnerships.

You aren’t the only entrepreneur who wants to scale up operations in an efficient manner. Almost every business owner inside and outside of your industry wants the same thing.

So why not leverage this mutual interest? Why not form strategic partnerships with like-minded business leaders?

The beauty of strategic partnerships is that they don’t typically cost you very much. Whether you’re supplying a physical good, service or component of your supply chain, the cost is minimal.

5. Gather feedback.

As humans, we crave safety and protection. In your business, this might convince you to create a bubble and block out noise and criticism.

But here’s the deal: Outside noise, criticism and customer complaints are typically valid. If you ignore them, you’re only doing yourself and your business a disservice.

It’s time to embrace feedback and learn how to apply it in a strategic manner.

Grow, baby, grow.

Your business is your baby. You owe it to your business to lead and manage well. But don’t let a desire to lead and manage cause you to overmanage.

Let the tips and strategies outlined in this article marinate, and spend some time in honest reflection. Is there one specific action you can take this week to move in a positive direction?

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?