Ø How Entrepreneurs Can Hone Their Management Skills to
Fuel Production
Entrepreneurs
rarely make smooth transitions into managerial roles as their startups mature.
Utilize these four strategies to successfully make that leap.
Productivity has become a national obsession.
Countless books, articles, podcasts and videos promise the secrets to wringing
a few extra minutes out of the workday or boosting organizational output. But, for all that talk, the United States hasn’t
exactly been setting any productivity records.
After several years of meager growth, the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported a productivity decrease of 0.2 percent in 2016. For the
first time since the global financial crisis of the late 2000s, production
decreased for consumer goods such as cars and furniture.
The reasons for this drop remain unclear. Some experts suggest that the multifactor decline represents only
one aspect of the economy. In their view,
the rise of service-based businesses makes it difficult to get a full picture
of American productivity. Others claim that a
lack of investment in multifactor infrastructure is responsible for the change.
Most likely, several variables are affecting the measure.
For one thing, the slowdown reflects a long trend of declining
U.S. productivity, so the latest dip isn’t
particularly alarming. The confusion over the cause, however, is a different
story.
Ø
A measure of success
Measuring progress is difficult without clearly defined
goals. Consider a baseballor basketball player who trains regularly to get
“better.” Better at what? Missing fewer baskets? Landing more right hooks?
Improving his batting average? An athlete
who doesn’t have definitive objectives will struggle to make any meaningful
gains.
“Keeping your eyes on the prize” is impossible if there is no specific prize you’re
looking toward.
The same holds true for businesses. Business owners need
milestones, hard numbers and output goals to determine whether they’re doing
well. Measurable goals help identify real and relative weaknesses, which
indicate where improvements are needed. A
company might have passable sales numbers that keep the lights on and salaries
paid, but those numbers could be abysmal compared to competitors'. The
only way to truly gauge success is to home-in on the numbers.
In the case of the U.S. productivity slowdown, experts
are looking at the numbers from several different angles. No single metric
determines productivity, so there's no consensus.
In most companies, measurement is the managers'
domain. They’re supposed to keep their teams on task, ensuring every project is
undertaken in the service of meeting the company’s specified goals. But, in
startups, the founder is often also the manager. That's usually not a good
thing.
Ø
Different strokes for
different folks
Generally speaking, good entrepreneurs are terrible
managers. These roles require vastly different skill sets and mean disparate
things to companies.
Entrepreneurs are visionaries. They inspire their teams with lofty goals and are comfortable taking
risks based on unsubstantiated hunches. Managers
take over existing businesses and analyze what works. They implement best practices and uphold the
organizational model, producing the good or service at the lowest possible
cost.
In short, entrepreneurs emphasize creating value while
managers worry about cutting costs. Both are vital functions for any company,
but they’re completely different mindsets. So, how do you adopt a managerial mindset?
Ø
How to adopt a managerial
mindset
Entrepreneurs rarely make smooth transitions into
managerial roles, as their startups mature into firms. However, it’s not unheard of -- Henry Ford and IKEA’s Ingvar
Kamprad come to mind as entrepreneur-turned-manager success stories.
Sumber
: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293280
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