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The Bureaucracy of One
Layer upon layer of rules, systems and procedures are sometimes heaped upon the backs of the employees in such companies to the point that it’s surprising any actual work gets accomplished.
Oh, the employees are busy all right – they’re just engaged in survival, hopping through hoops, and the avoidance of chaos that otherwise would engulf the workplace.
Don’t get me wrong: rules and procedures are necessary, of course, to keep a rein on the undisciplined and the habitual workload abusers.
But a heavy-handed and bureaucratic blanket shrouding the organization keeps everyone under wraps and it forces good employees to search for any pockets of fresh air they can find. Often bureaucracy stifles creativity, worker productivity ideas, and “out of the box” thinking.
The answer for some employees becomes to avoid the office at all costs.
Some solo business owners that are entrenched in the old school methods and strategies of the past century have suggested that even tiny businesses need to follow and pay homage to the standard structure and business systems of the successful giants.
They say every business must have this, this and this . . . as though there was only profitable business model, something akin to a single road leading into Rome.
They would create the scaled down version of big corporate bureaucracy for their solo business, just so they could be comfortable looking at an organization chart with all the boxes and lines in the right places.
Don’t give in to bureaucracy building in your solo business. It can and does happen all the time.
Being lean, nimble, adaptive and flexible are the exact reasons why you got into solo business in the first place. Celebrate your freedom and departure from corporate constriction!
Maximize your advantages as a small business. Play to your strengths. Let your small business enjoy the quick-changing and unfettered existence it was meant to have. Be quick, agile, and ready to make course changes as they become apparent to you as the entrepreneur.
Don’t let your solo business develop a status quo. Don’t be tied to tradition or “the way it’s always been done.”
If you become bogged down with the systems you put into place, there will be no one to save the day when you can’t figure out how to escape your own prison.
As the owner, you should design systems and structures that liberate you and keep you “out of the kitchen,” so to speak.
Look to automate and outsource whatever makes sense. Leverage your own time by paying others to do expensive tasks or those things than can be done by workers whose salaries are a fraction of yours.
Learn to spend a minimum amount of time physically running the business.
Your skills and experience are critically needed in two other areas:
– promotion and marketing of your business (selling), and
– researching and creating new products to sell to your customers (expansion of your offerings).
Aren’t these two areas where you can make the most profit for your time?
Productivity in every solo business ought to be measured by the amount of time you have for things outside the office.
To your online business success!
Steve Browne
www.stevebrownedirect.com