Releasing Control. If it is to be, it's up to me and THEM.

You've probably heard the saying "if it is to be it's up to me." While the quote holds water on some levels it's quite leaky in others. For a variety of reasons, business owners, managers and leaders find it hard to let go. "No one can do it as well as me" is one of those 'reasons' and an oft-repeated phrase I hear. Businesses often hit this challenge when they reach growth ceilings. The organisation has grown to the extent where the owner or managers can't effectively be involved in everything, yet work excessively long hours and weeks in an attempt to maintain control. The challenge at this point is to reconfigure the above saying to "if it is to be, it's up to me and THEM." Moving from a small enterprise mindset to a larger enterprise mindset; to move from the current operating level to the next; to move through those inhibiting ceilings of growth prevention, we have to release control. We move from:

• me doing it, to training
• others to do it and then,
• releasing them to do it.

As we release others to take over our previous tasks we then establish checks and balances along with key data reports to ensure the just in time reporting of quality, timeliness, customer satisfaction, financial results etc. We move from maintaining control through doing it all ourselves to controlling the organisation through effective planning, the utilisation and management of others and progress reporting. Yes, there will be the pain in the process and yes, others will falter along the way. But if we want to progress upwards, making the shift from me to them is well worth acting upon.