One of the hardest things for an entrepreneur to do is to let others make decisions in their stead. It sounds easy, and with the growth of business it's inevitable, and yet when the time comes it's extraordinarily difficult. Of course the risk is that when others take actions they'll inevitably make mistakes and those mistakes will have ramifications (just like the bad decisions we've made).
That said, over time the cost of inaction usually seems higher than the cost of action. In other words, delegation with a bias for action is preferable to delegation with a bias for inaction. That means in our day to day engagement with our customers and team members, as growers of business it's a good idea to scan for errors of action or inaction.
So, as we're delegating and trusting others, we'll need to think about the human errors we see and ask ourselves--was this the result of action or inaction? If it's action, as we hope, the future remains bright.
Clark Twiddy, President of Twiddy & Company, is the author of our Leadership Corner, published on our blog the third Tuesday of each month. He can be reached at ctwiddy@twiddy.com.
