+ HER WORK
NEW YEAR, BETTER BUSINESS HOW TO TAKE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS TO NEW HEIGHTS
BY VICTORIA HODGKINS
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mall business leaders are pulled in many directions. We are often called upon to be the utility player adept at all “positions,” or areas, of our business. To use another analogy, we are master jugglers, often a greater challenge for women running small businesses as they are also likely handling family responsibilities in a way their male counterparts still sometimes do not. It helps to be flexible. I recently made a scheduling mistake and ended up asking my 15-year old son to take notes on a customer call I had to take from the car while he quietly listened. His notes were helpful, and our customer was very understanding of the situation. Lesson learned: don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. When you’re juggling, you are bound to drop a ball once in a while — just make sure it’s not a critical ball. My experience working in organizations of all sizes, from a 25-person software startup to General Electric, is useful when thinking about organizational design and roles and responsibilities. Just because smaller companies can be managed through personal touch and input from the leader, it doesn’t mean that they should. Delegate and create boundaries, otherwise you’ll end up stretched too thin and your employees will end up frustrated and uncertain of what
is theirs to own. If your tendency is to get into the details when it isn’t warranted, ask someone to be your referee and call your “foul” when you make one. I really appreciate the occasional and appropriate pushback I get from my team leaders. Try to encourage that as a way to make sure you don’t get too hung up on something that doesn’t need your time, energy or focus. Finding time to think and plan outside of day to day operational issues can be difficult for many business leaders, regardless of organization size, but it can be particularly acute in a smaller business. I’m in an enviable position of being able to work virtually on occasion, so I try to make a commitment to set aside one day a month to work on strategy or harder issues that need deeper thinking from my home office or our amazing local library. A coffee shop works well too — anywhere that’s a change of scenery, which can aid a change in perspective, and where you can’t be easily interrupted. Small businesses are challenging and rewarding — often at the exact same time. Even though the temptation of getting too far down in the weeds is strong, getting to know the team more intimately and having a strong grasp on the pulse of the company can be gratifying. N ov / D e c 2 0 1 9 | H ERS M ag az i ne 67