Entrepreneurial Tightrope: Avoid that urge to micromanage

— -- Good morning, Gladys — How do you get employees to be self managers? I have a family style restaurant and I employ 16 people. I often find myself having to tell them what to do even though it may be something they have done over and over. I do most of the cooking and I have employees who do the prep work, like chopping vegetables and making stock. We perform these duties daily, and yet I always have to tell them what must be done. The waiters are not much different. I have been in business for ten years and I would enjoy taking a vacation. But, I'm concerned about leaving my restaurant for fear that things won't get done in my absence. — Mario D

First, I will assume that you have hired capable, responsible people.

Next, it is difficult to say what is happening at your restaurant. However, from your description, micromanaging could be the culprit. Don't overlook it.

In many cases, those of us who manage people must look to our management styles when things are not working well to make certain we are not micromanaging.

Even the best self managers will retreat into a shell when the micro-manager shows up. In many cases this style of management is an unintentional trap that many overzealous and new entrepreneurs fall into.

I'm reminded of a small specialty food store that contacted my company to help them better understand why their employees were not working efficiently. The store owner's complaint was similar to yours.

During the site visit, I watched in amazement as employees asked permission to do basic things like calling a vendor to restock a certain food item. Or, they would stand around doing nothing while waiting for the owner to shout out the next directive.

The store's owner made a point to oversee every tiny detail. One clerk was answering a customer's question about how to prepare a vegetable and suddenly the store's owner was standing between the clerk and the customer "straightening" out the details and giving the customer more information than had been requested.

I later learned that the clerk was new. None of the other workers would dare to answer a customer question without consulting the owner. After all, the boss had sent all the signs that he and he alone knew how things should work.

One of the best ways to get your employees to become self managers is to allow them the privilege of assuming the responsibility for the job they were hired for.

Chopping, mixing, cutting and dicing are not things that require constant supervision. Nor does it require constant reminding.

I have found that most people are happy to be employed and if given half a chance will work hard to satisfy both their employer and the customer.

When you lead your employees to think that all decisions and work orders, no matter how small, must pass through you, you are sending a message that says, "I don't trust you, your skills or your judgment."

These kinds of messages can harm everything and everyone involved: Your employees will constantly feel defeated, you will lose employees and customers, and the business is destroyed.

Think of your employees as an asset to your company and give them a chance to show their worth. After all, you are paying them to do needed work and you are cheating yourself if you don't give them the opportunity to do the work.

Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh, is a private coach/consultant in business development and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, published by Viking. See an index of Edmunds' columns. Her website is www.gladysedmunds.com. You can e-mail her at gladys@gladysedmunds.com.