11/ 19/ 2004
by Rex Hammock
A small-business owner I know recently told me he spends a lot of his time making himself dispensable. “Don’t you mean indispensable?” I asked. “No,” he said. “The less my clients and employees need me, the more our company can grow.”
By placing a priority on employee training, formal and informal mentoring programs and a player-coach style approach to managing his business, my friend has the ability to focus on strategic opportunities and challenges that are helping his business grow, and, in my opinion, helping him grow personally as well.
In preparing the article on sharing and delegating responsibilities, “Pinch Hitters," we discovered many small-business owners like my friend. Others, however, were aghast at our questions regarding letting go of any aspect of their company’s operation. “My clients hire me,” one small-business owner said. “It would be bait-and-switch if I turned them over to someone else.”
Unfortunately, fate often intervenes in our desire for control … and to be indispensable. Serious illness or other unforeseen circumstances can force even the most reluctant manager to hand over responsibility and authority to employees. And, as my friend has taught me, handing over responsibility can be the key to growth.
The intervention of fate is also the focus of another story in this issue: A look at how small businesses are surviving Wal-Mart leaving their town. That’s right. After years of coping with the presence of the massive retailer, many small businesses have learned to co-exist with Wal-Mart, even prosper from its proximity. Yet what happens when the big box leaves for an even bigger box in another community? If your community and business are facing this dilemma, you’ll find some great ideas provided by others who have survived the comings and goings of Wal-Mart in the article, “When Wal-Mart Is Gone."
