Being an employee can cause the same stress as being an entrepreneur:
68% of employees don’t know who to trust
80% of Americans are stressed about their current financial situation
67% of employees blame their boss for their stress
59% of employees don’t want to work for their boss
74% of employees don’t trust their team
64% of workers are willing to give up a lot for their company.
New data shows workplace stress is at an all-time high, but managers can take practical steps to support their employees: https://t.co/4mLrldjxFa pic.twitter.com/OEPtmsovAy
— MIT Sloan Management Review (@mitsmr) July 15, 2022
Most people are put off by the thought of taking on the role of manager because of all the potential power struggles and unhappiness. And most people don’t realize that you are already one. You are already an entrepreneur managing people. Your success in life will depend on how good you are at running and growing a team. You need to be able to balance, motivate and inspire them. But, you also need to help them understand their individual roles, assess and motivate them, and balance the various personalities and skill sets in order to avoid potential errors. Yes, you are an entrepreneur managing people.
Take responsibility for the consequences
Everyone has different personalities and skill sets. Your culture, processes and products and services also differ wildly. By admitting you are an entrepreneur running a business, you take responsibility for any failure, for any inequality of pay, for any of the ways in which your business is dysfunctional and then building it back up to be better. Stop looking around and blaming others for your problems. Make the effort to take on responsibility and get organized.
Ask yourself what you could do better
You are already a great entrepreneur running a business, but you can still make the effort to get better.
When you work with others and manage them, be clear about what is working well and what needs improvement.
Doing this is the first step to being a better manager.
Most people have no idea what is going on in their company. Ask questions. Ask them for feedback. Ask them what their most important job or tasks are. Ask them what they are most proud of. Get to know your team and your work and manage it well, with empathy and respect.
Learn to say no
When you are an entrepreneur, you have no accountability to anyone else. So, you often tend to accept too much on a whim. Your job is to create and run a business, and you should be the owner of that business. However, your job is not to know the law and regulations and to enforce them. Your job is to understand what will create the best profit and customer satisfaction for you and your company. Yet, many entrepreneurs find themselves saying yes to just about everything. Of course, everyone wants to help their friends, but they have to realize you can’t do everything. Maybe your company doesn’t need to add more people. Maybe you don’t need a media partner. Maybe you don’t need to take on a third side business. Maybe the status quo isn’t what your customers and employees want. Maybe you are playing into the company culture. The other side of this, is that you need to say no to doing something you don’t think you can do well or at the right time.
Being a good manager means recognizing your limitations and prioritizing what is most important. Your staff will not get better if you expect them to just do everything. No single person can do everything, especially if you don’t pay them much.
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