Acknowledge Reality
Many business owners want to think that active management is not really necessary — that everything will somehow work out great, automatically.
This is fantasy, and allowing it to continue will make your life much more difficult.
As much as you may wish otherwise:
- Much of what needs to be done is not common sense.
- Not everyone is motivated by the same things as you.
- People generally do what’s good for themselves; not necessarily what’s good for you or your business.
- Your employees cannot hear what you think. Your intentions and desires are not as clear as you may think.
- Few, if any, of your workers understand the whole business. Most of your workers attend to a small part of the enterprise and do not appreciate how their efforts relate to the whole.
There is no value in lamenting that things “should” be different. To even consider that business management “should” be easier is counterproductive. Things are what they are, and your management role is to work with what you have.
Vision versus current reality
As manager, you need to:
- know your vision for the future of your business (your imagination is useful here) and,
- at the same time, understand the current reality (this requires blunt honesty).
Only by knowing both the vision and the current reality (particularly when the current reality is disappointing) can you understand the gap between the two, and then undertake a process to close the gap.
Part of the current reality for nearly every enterprise is that a substantial management effort is needed to coordinate and guide the activities of the business, and to determine what goals these activities are meant to achieve. Without the direction and discipline that management provides, your business will continue to fall short of its full potential.
Someone has to do it
If your business is going to achieve your vision, someone will have to manage it. And that someone is probably going to be you.
But could you get someone else to do it?