How can your business run effectively without you?

There are many issues to address for a business to work without requiring the owner to be there.  A few of the key issues include:

1.  Having the right staff in place assigned to the right tasks

Often when a business is not running efficiently and effectively on its own it is because the wrong people are in the jobs assigned to them.  If you have a good workforce in terms of attitude, reliability, ethics and other important factors but the work is not getting done as it should I suggest the following solution.  Interview or survey each employee to find out the following:

• What do they enjoy most about the work they are doing?
• What do they enjoy least about the work they are doing?
• What tasks would they most like to learn?
• Describe what their ideal job within your company would “look like” for them.

Once you have this information on each employee you can better assess if you have the right people doing the right jobs. Employees can be more productive, efficient and happier if you have the right people in the right jobs. Taking the time now to assess if this is the case in your business and realigning your workforce can save a lot of time and money.

2.  Have a Model Week In Place For Everyone

Having a model week can enable each person to make more efficient use of their time.  It can also provide structure for your week and enable you to have a greater sense of control over your work and your life.  Having a model week means segmenting your days in advance which can then help you to focus on key tasks with less interruption.

3.  It is important that the business can run without you (at least for a while).

If you were out sick for a length of time, needed a vacation or your family needed you, causing you to be away from your business for an extended period of time, could it run without you?

IMPORTANT

I have always felt my job as a parent was to teach my children how to be independent, self-supporting, happy, good citizens and not need me.  After all, someday I won’t be here and I want them prepared to be successful on their own.

I feel the same way about running a business.  Not only may you need time off as noted above, but someday you may want to retire or sell the business.  In order for that to happen successfully, it has to be set up to run without you.