Making the Switch from Entrepreneur to Boss

Too Much Work And Not Enough Time.

We’ve all been there – having so much to do that you feel like you can’t lead your team to the best of your capability. If you’re feeling like you can relate, you’re just like the rest of us who have gone from entrepreneur to boss. The problem is, as your company grows, so does business demand. While you’re taking on a higher work demand, you also now have to manage a team – how do you make the switch from the ‘do-er’ to the ‘director’?

For many entrepreneurs, the transition from solely  entrepreneur (a.ka. mister or miss ‘do everything’) to boss (a.ka. efficient manager of people and teams) is a challenging one.  Here are a few simple things that I recommend you do to make this transition:

• Read the book One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard.  This book can be read in about 1 hour and the core principles of 1) Goal setting 2) praising great performance and 3) redirecting bad activities or mistakes are very executional and work on all levels of employees
• Make sure you get to know your team and what their goals are.  I would encourage you to sit down with them and uncover at a minimum the following 5 goals 1) How much money do you want to make this year 2) What do you want your role in the company to look like in a year from now 3) What is the top professional skill set you want to further develop 4) What is your top professional goal and 5) What is a goal we can set for me (the manager) to help me help you accomplish the other 4 goals?  Once you have these established you have a clear plan to help them help you.
• Schedule monthly 1 on 1’s – this is the most important management tool.  It will give you structure which as a do it all entrepreneur is very critical and can be tough to come by.  Make sure you are prepared for these meetings and DO NOT reschedule them when other stuff comes up.
• Empower your people whenever possible.  As Entrepreneurs we are inherent problem solvers.  When we solve our employees problems for them it doesn’t empower them and it diminishes their value and confidence.  Avoid the temptation and help them learn to problem solve by asking them questions and helping them solve their problems themselves
• Celebrate the heck out of their wins and make sure they know how much you value them and what a huge part of the company they are

These 5 things can be implemented in under 2 weeks time and will help you in the transition from entrepreneur to boss.  If you find that these things don’t work and you are not able to motivate and keep your people you may want to consider recruiting a team member that can really focus on managing your team.