Why is a professional development plan important for entrepreneurs? Because without one, it’s difficult to grow a business. No entrepreneur has a ready-built skill set that provides all the answers to continuously changing situations.
Most likely, you are more competent in certain business functions than others. However, to successfully expand a business that’s changing as new team members join requires embracing different leadership and management skills. Here are three skills that will help you be more successful:
1. Embrace a leadership mind-set
Leaders have certain attitudes toward success that are reflected in their behavior. Embracing a leadership mind-set will help when you add new staff to your organization as people will be looking to you for guidance.
Start by focusing on how your contributions, and those of your staff, connect to a larger sense of purpose. As an entrepreneur, you should have the big picture in mind. Sharing this vision will elevate your energy level and serve as a motivator to reach new business growth levels.
Having a leadership mind-set can be contagious to others in your company and will be foundational in solidifying a can-do attitude within your company’s culture. A leadership mindset displays confidence in yourself and the people you work with.
RELATED: 5 Essential Qualities of a Successful Leader
2. Be willing to delegate
When you first started your business, you most likely assumed many roles. To move the company forward, you probably worked in multiple areas until you were able to hire a team. However, for entrepreneurs, what often becomes a barrier to achieve broad levels of success is themselves.
You need to let go. Maybe you are an expert in marketing, or sales, or program creation; however, at some point you will need to delegate some of your responsibilities if you truly want to scale your business. You will reach your capacity at some point, and if you want to expand your business, you will need to delegate.
By delegating responsibilities, you are modeling that you have trust in your team members and that you are willing to share the glory of success. Part of the delegating process is communicating desired results and what these results look like; the other part is getting out of the way of your subordinates and letting them accomplish their tasks. Realize that team members may not do things the same way that you do, and this is also part of the delegation learning curve.
Learning to delegate is an essential ingredient in building a business, and it takes practice to learn this skill—but it’s well worth it.
3. Learn outside your comfort zone
The only way to grow is to step outside your comfort zone. No entrepreneur is going to start a business and possess all the skills, knowledge, and abilities to single-handedly grow a new enterprise. Situations will arise that you’ll need to learn how to handle; there will be changes in technology that will impact the business. New competitors will enter the market. New marketing strategies will be introduced. You get the picture: Societal changes will constantly affect your business.