On Forbes.com, Ken Davenport imparts five tips for entrepreneurs who want to stay on top of their business and maintain their level of creativity at the same time.
As he explains: "One of the greatest challenges entrepreneurs and business founders face is finding a way to keep up the creativity that started their company as the day-to-day grind of running it gets more and more cumbersome. How can you dream up and develop new products when you're supervising 10, 20 or 100 employees?"
According to Davenport, the answer lies in these five steps:
1. Have a closed door policy. This will train your employees to solve their own problems first and also prevent you from getting involved in little things that will cause frustration.
2. Have an 'answer post business hours' inbox. Use this folder for your personal e-mails, e-mails from people seeking advice or a job, or any e-mail that requires a lengthy response. Promise yourself that you won't touch the folder until your creative work is finished.
3. Have weekly meetings with staff members. Make sure these meetings have a strict start and end time. Agree on their duties for the next week and leave them alone until then, not asking for updates unless it is urgent.
4. Pay your assistant the highest salary among your staff. A good assistant can save you hours so get someone with experience and hunger.
5. Train your second in command. Is there someone who could take care of the business if you got hit by a bus and needed a long recovery time? If not, that's something you need to address.
How To Stay Free And Creative As Your Company Grows
Ken Davenport, Forbes.com, 21/09/09
