07 June 2016
It’s been another busy few weeks since I last wrote my column – however I believe the UK is suffering slightly from the fact that all we are talking about is the referendum on whether we stay in the EU.
Even the president of the USA has had his say and, if I’m honest, I think everyone in industry is just looking forward to being able to get back to business.
I was asked my view by the Sunday Times in the UK recently and that’s exactly what I said to them and, fortunately, as I write, there’s only a month to go!
The whole debate has got me thinking about the leadership shown by Governments but, also, how I manage and lead my business – www.d-drill.co.uk – and how others do too.
I’ve met up with lots of diamond drillers and concrete sawers from across the globe at events recently and I think there is certainly an issue here that we have to address.
How many of us were answering emails? How many of us were taking calls? How many of us could actually switch off to the day-to-day running of the business? I think I know the answer to all three – pretty much none of us.
It’s natural, I guess, that as the leaders of the firms there is a degree of nervousness about giving up control and that’s not unique to our sector I am sure.
But I am sure, like me, you have a team of people that are more than capable of ensuring the businesses will run extremely effectively in your absence – if not even better!
So, as the song goes, Let it Goooooooo!
Seriously, and I was reminded of this point only recently, that we set up in business to enjoy it and, with that, comes some great knock-on effects for the rest of society. We create jobs, we pay taxes and, in our industry, we make a positive difference with the work we undertake.
The bigger we get, as businesses, we have more issues to think about over and above the actual day-to-day work. We can, largely, leave that side of things to our managers and operatives.
That does take a little bit of the fun away. As I keep telling anyone who will listen, concrete cutting is sexy, so you can tell how much I love what we do!
Can I say that HR issues, pensions and payroll are equally sexy? I am not so sure, but they have to get done and have to be overseen.
So, ultimately, it’s our role as leaders in our businesses to decide how far removed we want to become, how much we want to have control over everything and where we want to get involved – not necessarily because we are needed but because we want to.
What we also have to remember is that we are not going to be around in the business forever. As much as it pains me to say, one day I’m going to have to give up the business and, again, all of us have to think about succession planning and where the firm will go once we have retired and moved on.
I’m not going to use this column to go into the detail of how you plan for your departure, but we do all have to start thinking about it and make sure that our businesses are in strong shape for when we do eventually call it a day.
That will come sooner for some compared to others but it does no harm to start preparing the ground.
So, back to my original point, we have to make sure we have fun.
Work is hard, business can be tough (especially when your country is being hamstrung by a referendum debate!) and we all know this to be true when we decide to run our own company in the world of diamond drilling and concrete sawing.
Therefore, it’s time to trust the team, let go of (a little bit of) control and remember to enjoy what you are doing because that’s what it’s all about!
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