Let Go To Grow!

As a business owner, I need to get a huge return on my time. Every year, our company does $40 to 75 million in commercial construction and development. We also manage over 700,000 square feet of leased buildings. I don’t have time to sweat the small stuff. But, I have great people who do! nnWhen I started my construction company in 1977, I took care of everything: hiring, purchasing, awarding subcontracts, marketing, sales, proposals, bids, estimating, supervising projects, project management, job meetings, paying the bills, invoicing customers, depositing checks, etc. You name it, if it had to be done, I did it! Often until the wee hours of the night. nnCan’t find any good help?nAs my business grew, I had to get some help. So I hired family and friends. Not the best idea in retrospect! It’s hard to build a professional company with inexperienced people who don’t respect you like a boss. Over the next seven years we grew to 150 employees. Wow, what a workout! I had to learn how to manage people or die trying. In one 2 year period, I hired and fired 14 secretaries, 3 vice presidents, 5 project managers and 9 superintendents. I couldn’t find anyone who could do the work exactly the way I wanted it done. No one seemed to care, be accountable or accept any responsibility except me.nnOur company became a revolving door. Hire people, put them on the job and then watch them leave after less than a year. Not a good thing for our bottom-line profit! We had lots of exciting work with great clients, but our company didn’t retain people. My job description changed from contractor to personnel complaint department. Not what I enjoyed doing. nnI continued to try and find answers to our company’s people problem. I looked everywhere for the magic fix. I tried new management ideas, went to time management seminars, read business books, and attended company retreats. Nothing worked. As a last resort I decided to try a new approach. Let go of all daily management decisions. Delegate everything except leadership, vision and values. nnLook in the mirror!nI finally realized that the only factor that was holding our company back was me! I was the problem. I was trying to control everything and everybody. This was holding back our people from accepting responsibility and being accountable. When I made every decision for them, they didn’t take responsibility. When I fixed their problems, they weren’t accountable. When I controlled and lead every meeting, they didn’t grow. When I approved every purchase, contract and strategy, they people didn’t have to think or be their best.nnDon’t control, let go!nI learned that high control equals low performance. And low control equals high performance. 99% accountable and responsible equals 0% accountability and responsibility. You can’t be