Entrepreneurs must have many skills if they want to succeed. As CEO of Everest Business Funding Scott Crockett explains, managing a team is one of the most critical skills an entrepreneur needs to learn.
No matter how good your ideas are, you’re likely to fall flat in execution if you don’t have a solid team around you and are unable to lead and manage this team.
Here are some ways you can become a better leader and successfully manage your team.
#1. Delegate
Delegation may not seem like an important aspect of leadership and team management, as it involves you taking things off your plate and adding them to others’ plates. However, the act of delegation is actually a very powerful and meaningful management skill.
Too often, entrepreneurs try to do everything themselves, even after they’ve hired others. They feel as though no one can do it better than they can, and/or they’re afraid someone else will mess it up.
What delegation does is instill a sense of value, trust, and responsibility in team members. When employees are trusted with important tasks, they feel like valued members of the company. This results in employees who are more vested in the work and who often produce more.
#2. Set Goals
Employees need direction. While most people don’t want to be micromanaged, they typically want to know what they’re supposed to do, how they’re supposed to do it, and when they’re supposed to do it by.
When you set goals for your employees, you’ll be empowering them to accomplish their tasks the way you want them to. Set tangible and achievable goals for your employees and allow them to participate in the goal-setting process when appropriate.
This will also help when it comes time to provide feedback and review their performance on an objective basis.
#3. Create Processes
Along those lines, entrepreneurs who create standard operating procedures provide their teams with consistent benchmarks and a blueprint they can always refer back to.
While some entrepreneurs may think that creating standard processes for all tasks is a little too rigid, it’s well worth the work it takes to create them. When an employee is sick or is on vacation, for example, others are more easily able to step up and chip in if there are clearly-defined processes in place.
Ultimately, things such as this will make everyone at the company happier, as it reduces the amount of pressure and stress on them.
#4. Provide Opportunities for Growth
When employees are given the opportunity to grow within a company, they are likely to be more productive in their current positions and stay with the company longer. Entrepreneurs who provide these internal growth opportunities to their employees will likely see a greater retention rate for their workforce, which results in lower costs for recruiting, hiring, and training.
As Scott Crockett says, it can be easy to only focus on what’s in front of you as a busy entrepreneur, but you should always be looking ahead, too. In this regard, that means training employees to do their current job properly and allowing them to learn new skills, try new things, and grow into bigger and better positions.
About Scott Crockett
Scott Crockett is the founder and CEO of Everest Business Funding. He is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in the finance industry. Mr. Crockett’s track record includes raising more than $250 million in capital and creating thousands of jobs. Scott has founded, built, and managed several finance companies in the consumer and commercial finance sectors.
