“What is the use of running if you are not on the right road.” German proverb As you prepare for 2004 this is the time to take stock of your leadership style. An ideal starting point is looking at your skills and attitude toward delegation or learning to share your burden with your partners and employees. How you ask others to assume responsibility can strike at the heart of your bottom line. As the boss, it is your right to make all the decisions; but should you? Think about it when you “try to do it all,” the mistakes are yours. Your emotions, prejudices, and personality quirks, will influence how you handle your problems. The biggest disadvantage to being both captain and crew is living with a constant feeling of being overwhelmed and unappreciated. And you know where that can lead- in the wrong direction. Sharing the decision-making responsibility with employees, spouses, or partners allows collective judgment that may result in better decisions-but may cause delay. How much you bring other people into the process depends on the quality of your human resources; but whatever approach you elect-the ultimate responsibility is still yours. Individuals, who have difficulty-deciding things, need to be careful about pushing that responsibility onto others as a way of avoiding decisions. Too much delegation of decision-making can be foolhardy, as no one but you, is risking any money. However, if you see yourself as a coach, with a team of employees that will make your success possible, then sharing opinions can by valuable. If you respect the opinion of your employees, you may respect their judgment as well. The autocratic military approach to management is passé. Usually, an intelligent, educated, and well-informed employee will not work for a dictator. Although time consuming, collective judgment can reduce the risk of bad decisions and encourage employee loyalty and support. How much should you delegate and involve your employees in deciding the issues of your company? It depends on your style of leadership and comfort levels. Regardless of your style, there will always be some issues only you can decide. The larger the risk, the more the final decision must be yours alone- but, the more you may need other’s views to avoid dumb decisions that can put you out of business. It is best of course, to approach your problems with critical thinking and objectivity. As is common knowledge, acting on Impulse can stack the odds against you. Recently, I came across a short book on management, promoting intuition, or listening to your inner voice for guidance. As I am not a psychologist, or a spiritualist, I don’t consider myself qualified to support or criticize the ‘intuitive approach to management, but, I do know from personal experience there have been times I listened to ‘my gut’ and things worked out. Decide for yourself! Be careful about the over use of accountants and consultants. If you are using your investment capital to support these professionals, you may be wasting your money. If you can’t handle your finances, and are uncertain about running your company, you won’t last. Expensive professionals will not prevent you from failing, but they will present you with some hefty bills. You need an accountant and a lawyer, but not to run your business. If you are having a tough time paying yourself, it does not make any sense to pay high hourly rates to someone take care of details you can do yourself. Why would you pay an accountant at least a $100.00 an hour to balance your checkbook, or, to fill out a few simple tax forms? If you don’t know about such subjects- educate yourself. In a desperate act to survive, an owner I knew of a troubled business called in a consultant to save his firm from bankruptcy. After a series of meetings and the submission of a lengthy report, (which required money to implement the recommendations) followed by a large consulting fee, the problem remained, but time and money were lost. Consultants are necessary in certain situations, but not as miracle workers or therapists. Delegation is an important part of management, but use common sense when deciding what to delegate. Attempt to find a balance. Too little delegation creates inefficiency and places impossible time demands on the owner. Whereas, too much delegation can result in a sloppy, poorly run company with excessive overhead. Plus, absentee management rarely works with start- ups. Copyright 2003 Dr. Paul E Adams, Professor Emeritus Business Administration Ramapo College of New Jersey Author “ Fail Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful.” Available Amazon.Com. If you have questions or comments- contact me: drfailproof@earthlink.net