Empower Your Resources

Owning a business means wearing a lot of hats. You’re the visionary, supervisor, chief decision maker, and resource gatherer. At the end of the day, YOU are the person who makes or breaks the enterprise.

 Whether or not you have employees you do have resources. You can’t do everything yourself, nor should you. In order for your business to succeed you have to gather resources around your business. So how do you empower those resources to help you succeed?

 Follow these three steps:

Choose wisely

Communicate clearly

Monitor effectiveness

 1.   Choose wisely

The first important step is to choose your resources carefully. You can do this by first determining what functions you need in your business. Once you have that list decide which you should be doing. Everything left over is for a resource.

 Sometimes resources show up as employees. Other times they are vendors or contractors. Understanding where you are taking your business will help you make the right decisions.

 2.   Communicate clearly

Now that you know where you are going and who is going to help you get there, communicate clearly and often about your vision, expectations, consequences, and progress. This is a critical key to empowering those resources. If you want them to help you succeed you have to continuously communicate with them.

 Imagine if someone asked you to help them get to the North Pole. They told you that was where they wanted to go but didn’t communicate anything else. How would you know if you were helping them? How would you know what to do to help them get to the North Pole? You’d need clear communication from them on a regular basis so you both know how close you are getting to the goal.

 You’ve heard the saying ‘knowledge is power?’ It is very true. The more information you share with your resources, the more you empower them to help you.

 3.   Monitor effectiveness

You’ve decided where you’re going and who you want to help you get there. Now you should be monitoring your progress. Sometimes you need certain resources at certain times. If you aren’t monitoring you won’t know when it’s time to let go of a resource or when it’s time to add one.

 In addition, monitoring helps you communicate clearly and effectively with your resources. When you know how it’s going you can share your progress, changes, and initiatives. This sharing empowers your resources to help you.

 You can go it alone or you can empower your resources to help you succeed. Whether those resources are employees, contractors, support systems, or vendors, you can create a better path to your vision by communicating and monitoring effectively and often.

 Doesn’t that sound better than trying to do it all or be all things to all people? You’ve got people eager to help you succeed. Empower them.