Situation: The CEO is concerned about the performance of both the company and individual employees. The employees are good, but there are many minor details of day-to-day operation that the CEO feels are important. How involved should the CEO be in the details of the business?

Advice from the CEOs:

• The answer to this question depends on you.
  • What is your own priority on the use of you time?
  • How much do you want to be involved?
  • How confident are you in the people whom you’ve hired?
  • Are you comfortable delegating?
  • Do you want to stay small or scale and grow?
• The good and bad of involving yourself in details:
  • The Good Side – communicates that you are willing to roll up your sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done.
  • The Bad Side – don’t do your employees’ jobs for them.
    • This is demotivating and communicates a lack of trust in their abilities.
    • If the workload is so demanding and the benefit so great, then secure additional resources to enable employees to get the job done themselves.
• More broadly, remember the lesson from many business gurus – you increase the value of your company by getting the “U” out of your bUsiness. You may enjoy the detail of the business. However, do not let this interfere with your long term objective of having others doing the “doing” while you mature your role as manager and leader.

Key Words: Manage, Leadership, Delegation, Confidence, Growth  [like]