The Difference Between Managing & Micro-Managing your Business
Are you investing your energy in the right parts of your business? As a business owner and entrepreneur, of course it’s very important to be engaged in your business. However, there is a crucial distinction between managing the big picture to make sure that your business is growing and moving forward, and getting tied up in the nitty gritty day-to-day details. Micromanaging does not necessarily mean that you’re micromanaging a person; it could be that you’re micromanaging the business itself. Really, the way to be successful is to step away from the minutia to shift your perspective and priorities.
Nobody likes to be micromanaged and no one likes to be told that they are a micro-manager. The word conjures up imagery of the boss breathing down an employee’s neck, not trusting them, and preventing them from doing their best work. Imagine if that’s how you’re accidentally treating your business. Your perception might be that you’re simply being detail-oriented – a worthwhile quality – however, we aren’t always able to gauge our own behavior objectively. Your intention to get things “just right” might actually be backfiring and holding back the efficiency, progress, and growth of your business.
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Many incredible business managers micromanage their business; they are hands on go-getters and visionaries who started their businesses with a ferocious passion… but have since gotten stuck. The little day-to-day details begin to bog them down and overtime, they lose sight of their goals and direction. So, the question I ask you:
Are You Micromanaging Your Business?
How can you tell if you’re micromanaging your business? Here are some key questions to ask:
• Do you feel like you have to do everything yourself?
• Do you assume that other people just won’t do things the “right” way?
• Do you feel that since it’s your business, you have to be responsible for everything?
• Are you unwilling to change things or accept direction?
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A micromanager is a person who gets too involved in the work to the point where it slows down the progress of the business. While you might be able to get that one task done efficiently, the time you’re spending on that single task is preventing you from doing other, more important tasks. It’s all about prioritizing and understanding where your time is actually best spent.
The key difference between being a hands-on business manager and a micro-business manager is trust. There are professional people, like seasoned Virtual Assistants, who can help you. It’s all about letting go and trusting. Sure, there will be an on-boarding process, but once your virtual partner has learned the ropes, you can stop micromanaging the social media, content creation, email marketing and administrative parts of your business and move on to manage the big, important, visionary parts of your business. That’s a step forward in the direction of success.
Small businesses, even the most successful ones, often don’t have a big enough budget to hire an entire team of people. Sometimes it’s just two or three employees doing the job of ten. This is both stressful and unsustainable. One of the best solutions is to hire a virtual team to backup your in-office workers. Grab my free download How To Use a Virtual Assistant Team to Grow Your Business & Get Your Life Back and see how I can help.
