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Growth: The Human Component

Guest post by: Betty Penny

Article Overview: Most entrepreneurs are loners intent on following their own intuitions and desires, guarding their business like secrets. Sharing information will, apparently, spark decline when a unique idea o product is stolen. In reality, if entrepreneurs want an enterprise to grow to its potential, they must learn early to share the work and delegate responsibilities. Enter the human component. The single most important factor in business is people: not only the owner/operator but also everyone who is involved in the planning and running of a business. Certainly the assertive, confident nature of the beast is needed in the early days of establishing an enterprise, but entrepreneurs must move beyond the belief that no on else can perform the job better or as well as they do.

Growth: The Human Component

Most entrepreneurs are loners intent on following their own intuitions and desires, guarding their business like secrets. Sharing information will, apparently, spark decline when a unique idea o product is stolen. In reality, if entrepreneurs want an enterprise to grow to its potential, they must learn early to share the work and delegate responsibilities. Enter the human component.

The single most important factor in business is people: not only the owner/operator but also everyone who is involved in the planning and running of a business. Certainly the assertive, confident nature of the beast is needed in the early days of establishing an enterprise, but entrepreneurs must move beyond the belief that no on else can perform the job better or as well as they do.

Sharing is the basic constituent of survival, development and growth inallhuman activities. Sharing business matter requires the sharing of tasks, decision-making, responsibility and profits. Even ownership: all employees must feel that they have a stake in the success of the venture.

Where to start? With you: learn to trust that others are competent and have complimentary talents and interests to contribute. Recognize too that people differ: learn to appreciate their different temperaments and abilities for what they can add to your business. Invest in their knowledge.

Approach he acquisition of a team as you approached your business plan. A solid human resources strategy should include, “people-centered” politics because your employees are people, not commodities.

Start with:

• A compensation policy designed with everyone’s needs at heart.
• A team of players representing diverse business talents. Such a strategy will create the “climate” for the growth of everyone involved.

Back to the idea of “team” for a moment, like sharing, it means nothing of he fearless leader rules like an autocrat. I believe it was Voltaire, the eighteenth-century philosopher who developed the political concept of the “enlightened despot”. Clearly this is a concept that is applicable here: be in control but keep it in perspective.

Share your enthusiasm and allow the spirit that founded the business to spark in all the employees. Allow them to think for themselves and trust their judgment. You can spread the spirit further by encouraging everyone to participate in the company’s mandate. You might design the mission statement but the “how’s” are now the domain of your employees and an expression of their commitment.

The issue of corporate secrets looms as he next challenge. Discretionary skills will be honed if rapport has been established with your employees. Follow you instincts to know who needs to know what and when. If uncertainty still puts up barriers, adopt these guidelines for secret sharing: Share all information with all partners. Withholding information for any reason will breed suspicions and even contempt.

Key employees should receive vital information about the firm’s operation. General financial information fits this category. A sound decision is an informed decision.

All other employees need to know, generally speaking, what is going on. Keep them aware of failures and give them a share in successes to reinforce loyalty and encourage their continued participation in growth.

At this stage the entrepreneur will be far more at ease with delegating the responsibility t make business decisions. This is easy but only with the right guidance. Thus, after the human resources strategy, an organizational plan is your next critical step.

An organizational plan will guide the flow of information and labour within the business. Tasks and job descriptions must be defined and procedures put in place so that everyone knows what is expected of him or her, Task and function are two easy ways to distinguish delegation when authoring your organizational plan.

Task is, of course, a specific duty and you decide who does what. Function typically refers to the various departments within an organization: marketing, sales, accounting and human relations. Decision making is decentralized to the people in charge of these departments or functions.

Ultimately you must decide who is both capable and responsible for each function and specific task. With the help of others, the business will transcend the owner/operator’s physical and mental limitations to grow closer to its potential. Another plus: enjoy the luxury of a weekend away or a day on the gold course. Just be sure to spread the joy around!

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Article Tags: delegate responsibilities, desires, human component, job



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