Giving Up Control

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Recently I was talking to an entrepreneur about his journey. Early on in the conversation, I asked one of my favorite questions: what were some of your major milestones and lessons learned? Then, he recounted how one of his more important lessons learned was giving up control of the day-to-day operations so that he could work on the most important and strategic issues. Less tactical involvement turned into more results.

Thinking back on it, I was an immature micro-manager for the first several years of my entrepreneurial journey. I wanted to control and monitor every piece of the business including every customer support ticket and every line of new code in the product. I didn’t know any other way. The startup was so small and fragile I felt I had to smother it to make it successful.

Only, once we had achieved some level of success, I wasn’t self-aware enough to change my ways. After hitting a wall with our growth, scalability, and culture, I finally started the journey to unwind from the business and fully empower other team members. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

What else? Have you gone through the process of trying to control everything only to realize that giving up control was necessary to get to the next level?

Comments

9 responses to “Giving Up Control”

November 11, 2013

Charlie PaparelliCharlie pap

How did you make the transition to the unwinding as you called it? Easier said than done but critical to growth of the enterprise. Maybe a post on the future?

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1. November 1, 2014
  
  aiyshah2014
  
  That is a very good question. I think the key of course is finding that manager who you trust (which is no easy feat), but just test them out by increments. Give them one piece of responsibility at a time and see what they can do, eventually if they are a rising star, you will be able to sleep well at night and have at last the fun of developing your vision.
  
  Another important point is that in the back of your mind you have to be prepared to lose it all…(but of course you won’t) but there is something important in that feeling of completely trusting someone else.
  
  Reply
November 11, 2013

chumley6789

My problems with micro-managing came down to me not feeling I could trust others to do the job as well as I knew I could. Eventually I realized the best way to find out if you can trust someone is to trust them… everything gets easier

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November 11, 2013

chrishextonexton

Nice post David, this feels like where I am right now actually. We’re a tiny team but growing and, though we’re lucky enough to have some great team members, it is a challenge learning to ‘step away’ and refocus on what is vital from a strategic level.

This article shows that again I need to be more aware of this!

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November 12, 2013

Satya

David,

I have heard this advice from a lot of entrepreneurs. But, can you share some specific examples of “control activities” that you gave up? 1-2 examples in 5-6 aspects would bring more actionable insights to the advice.

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1. November 1, 2014
  
  aiyshah2014
  
  I’m not David I’m afraid, but I can tell you what I did.
  
  In the beginning I did everything in the office down to the cleaning! So I started by appointing a cleaner, made a list of what she had to do, then made sure she completed this list every day. Then I moved onto the receptionist. Again I gave her a job description and made sure that on her job description was to make sure the cleaner was doing their job properly and checked her list everyday…. then I got an accounts person (this person I still have to monitor daily because you can’t leave this in the hands of anyone else. However we set up a system where she can receives cash, issues receipts, writes up income and expenses in a spreadsheet and at the end of each day, the money she says she has in the spread sheet must match up with the receipts and the money in the safe. (Oh and a cctv in the accounts office is good too), then I moved onto getting a filing clerk same thing for them, then a marketing person, same thing for them, and eventually out of all these people, someone rises up as being better than the rest, and so I give them a promotion to be the office operations manager. they then take over that monitoring and managing role I had and hire and fire (with my counsel of course) …anyway… this was not all done in a day, it took probably 1-3 years.
  
  I think the key for me (and not all managers are like this), is to make sure you have a very clear set of policies and procedures, job descriptions and three monthly job reviews together with professional development training.
  
  That way you have created a kind of operation that still has room for changes, developments and let personalities to shine.
  
  I think the most important thing in appointing an operations manager is to make sure they know how to spot poison when they see it and extinguish it as soon as possible. Office politics are the biggest killer of any company.
  
  Reply
November 12, 2013

Vik Chaudhary

As a startup CEO, I regulate my own need for perfection by setting goals for myself – milestones that I need to be focused on – and letting my executives manage the rest. I am also keeping a “Startup Diary”, so if you’re interested, read http://bit.ly/startupdiary14

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1. November 1, 2014
  
  aiyshah2014
  
  I think you have hit on a key point. The CEO must have a job description too, and be answerable to…….(who?) …themselves I guess.
  
  Reply
November 12, 2013

Chris Van Beke

I assume you didn’t give up control cold turkey, so what decisions or responsibilities did you first start giving up?

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