My staff consult me on everything and I never get any work done. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I have built my business up from scratch in a very competitive industry. When I started I had to hire very young, inexperienced people because I couldn’t afford to hire otherwise. That meant I played a very hands-on role.

We are now a larger company and I find that the staff consult me on everything! I have no time to focus on direction and barely get to leave the office. I also have to work hard at getting them to come up with ideas or try different directions and have to do all that myself. How do I get my staff off my back?

Peter
Brisbane

Dear Peter,

The problem isn’t them. It is you! You are a micromanaging, control freak. You have created a culture where there are no leaders and everyone depends on you for decisions. This also means you have created a culture where people are afraid to experiment and make mistakes. That means they are too afraid to come up with ideas, to take a chance, to think for themselves and to develop teams that run independently of you.

This is a serious problem for you! So you can either change your management style over time or take the bull by the balls, apologise to everyone for being a micromanaging pain in the neck and tell them how things are going to change.

Ask them to very nicely point out to you when you return to old ways, reward people for success and great ideas and build a leadership team. Make sure everyone knows the new rule is this: that you never get told off for trying – just withholding information.

Lastly get used to saying this: “You’re smart enough to work out the answer to that. Don’t ask me. I am just the CEO.”

Be smart,
Your Aunty B

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