Control Issues Can Hurt Your Business
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Control Issues Can Hurt Your Business

Sometimes people tend to micro-manage things. They want to be in charge and responsible for every single detail of a situation in order to have control and ensure that things are done properly. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this way of managing things.

The advantage, of course, is that the person in charge has a very clear picture of everything that is going on in the business. Nothing is a real surprise because they always know the details of every aspect of the business. If they have staff, everyone reports to them and provides a great deal of information about their activities on a regular basis. Because the person in control has all the details s/he is able to make decisions quickly.

There are also disadvantages though to wanting control and micro-managing.

First of all, any employees or contracted partners might feel that they are not trusted in their work. Over time, they might either feel resentful or perhaps lose interest in their job because they do not have a great deal of responsibility.

Secondly, the person who wants control may actually feel overwhelmed and, if they are required to work long hours with all the responsibility for every single detail, might actually face health problems that can result from stress.

Thirdly, having one person with all the control and responsibility leaves the business vulnerable if that person not be able to carry on. During illness or vacation or even other times that s/he needs to be away from the business, there might not be anyone with the expertise to replace them adequately. This can add even more pressure to the person who needs to be away from the demands of the business.

Control issues can hurt your business but, if you want things to be different there are several things you can do:

1. Give yourself permission to let go of some of the details in time;

2. Choose competent people to work with you either as employees or through contracts;

3. Ensure that your expectations for their work are in writing;

4. Review the expectations with them and identify areas of strength and weakness that they might have in each area;

5. Provide appropriate training so that the each individual is aware of how things are to be done properly;

6. Set up a system where you can review activity and monitor progress on a regular basis;

7. Help the individual to improve in any areas where they are not meeting expectations;

8. Delegate more tasks to individuals who have proven that they are able to do things competently.

Once you have people in place who can do the work up to your standards and make intelligent decisions, you can rest assured that your business will be able to operate efficiently even if you are not present. This will likely take time but will be well worth the effort as it provides you with freedom that you might not otherwise have known.

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