Hands-on or hands-off?

Delegation of power is a great challenge to entrepreneurs since most, if not all, start their enterprises hands on. In fact, successful entrepreneurs attribute the success of their enterprise to this. However, many forget that it is the same hands-on feature that will prevent the enterprise from growing or, at worst, kill it.

I had a long talk with an entrepreneur about his frustration over the state of his business. He wanted to sell out because the passion for the enterprise was no longer there: "The enterprise is still making money but it has become too tiring for me. I just want to unload it."

I have always advised that passion is the driver of the growth of an enterprise. When the passion is no longer there, it is time to quit. But before I agreed with him that selling was the best option, I raised a few questions.

Q.What do you mean by "it’s too tiring" for you?

A.The enterprise was my baby. I conceptualized it, incubated it and grew it to what it is today. It used to be simply home-based but then it grew big enough to set up an outlet in a mall. Now, I have several branches. I started everything myself. To date, I visit all stores everyday. I check the sales, collections and cash situation daily. I attend to customer complaints. I check if my people followed the instructions I gave them . That was why it is tiring. I do all the work. I take care of the day-to-day needs and have no time for myself. I do not like what I’m doing.

Q.It seems to me that you are not really tired. You are simply not enjoying yourself anymore. You are more bored than tired. People get easily tied when they are bored with what they are doing. So, you want to sell the enterprise. What will you do with the proceeds of the sale?

A.I will use the money to create new enterprises and to fund new ideas or new applications of my passion. These are the things I wish to spend my time on. Not the daily routine of checking and cash position. Not seeing to it that the doors are locked when the stores are closed. Not counting the cash before depositing it with the bank.

Q.Why don’t you have the money to fund your new ideas now?

A.I have the money to fund new ideas now. After all, the current enterprise is making good money. It is just that I do not have the time to develop the new ideas. I spend all my time looking into the day-to-day problems of the current enterprise.

Q.If that is the case, why don’t you delegate some of the day-to-day stuff to your people?

A.Good idea! But I can’t. My people are not ready to handle the things I am doing. They are simply not ready.

Q.But when will they be ready?

A.I do not think they will ever be ready. They do not have the capability.

Q.And who is responsible for making them ready? Will they be ready by themselves? Are the things you are doing tiring because they have become routine?

(Silence from the entrepreneur)

It was clear to me that the entrepreneur was getting tired because there was no system developed, no people developed, and no delegation made. The enterprise had gone beyond the start-up phase. There is no arguing the fact that an entrepreneur must be hands-on during the start-up phase. Beyond this, an entrepreneur must learn to be hands-off.

This is the reason why the enterprise was not ready. The non-readiness of the enterprise was due to the fact that the entrepreneur was not preparing for the hands-off day. It had become a vicious cycle. The entrepreneur was unwilling to delegate because of fear that the organization was not ready. And yet, the organization would never be ready because the entrepreneur did not prepare it for such.

Another important step was to make a control and reporting system that monitored the performance of routine systems. This could be in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly reports.

At this point, the entrepreneur would be ready to delegate or be hands-off. He would now have time to incubate ideas that might lead to the creation of new enterprises. The entrepreneur would be hands-on in the search for and incubation of new opportunities.

After a while, he should be able to spawn and stabilize more enterprises. It is not uncommon for an "ultimate entrepreneur" to have several enterprises. Each enterprise is but a personal strategy or a means to achieve one’s personal vision. Meanwhile, those that don’t should be put on the selling block.

Every entrepreneur must learn the art of going hands-on and hands-off and, if necessary, hands-on and hands-off again. In other words, go hands-on during the start-up phase. Prepare the organization for a hands-off operations, then delegate and monitor. Once there is delegation, there will be time to be hands-on as another enterprise is starting up. This should be done before boredom and fatigue sets in.

(Alejandrino J. Ferreria is the dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship of the Asian Institute of Management. For further comments and inquiries, you may contact him at: [email protected]. Published "Entrepreneur’s Helpline" columns can be viewed on the AIM website at http//: www.aim.edu.ph).