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Foreign. The biggest thing that slows the Shockwave team down is me. And for most business owners, that's actually going to be the case. We see so many opportunities that a lot of times can feel very important to grab a hold of and take advantage of. Often we take those opportunities and we throw it at our team like wrenches who are trying to keep up with the day to day. And your ideas from last week, Nothing, nothing changes. I was just in Iceland, Greenland, Canada, got a boat and then driving around, you know, Massachusetts and Rhode island and Vermont and New Hampshire for days. So we were gone, my husband and I, 22 days and nothing changed. My company went on just fine. Nothing happened because of my absence. If I didn't wake up and go to work tomorrow, nothing would change in the delivery. Nothing. I trust different members of my team to make different decisions without me. Depending on the context in which we're talking. There are some things that I, I would trust Tiago to think through, like how we're gonna use a tool and if it makes sense for us to purchase it. Where I would trust Richard to decide how much to adjust budgets on ads, I wouldn't trust Tiago to do that because it's not in his wheelhouse. If it's in my staff's wheelhouse of their expertise, I absolutely trust them to make decisions without my involvement. If it's not, then the expectation for them to make any type of decision that isn't in their realm or their zone. Genius would just be unfair. I try to explain to the business owners that we coach and the ones that are clients. When you micromanage your staff, what you are creating is, number one, low self esteem from them. Because what they believe is that you don't believe that they can do the job. Number two, you'll create a lot more time back for yourself. Things will get done. And while you may need to get involved to get it from 90% to 100, that 0 to 90% will happen with a lot more ease. You'll find a team that becomes a lot more capable and a lot more willing to help. Micromanaging is toxic. Full stop. Period. Always ask yourself, why am I micromanaging? And then fix that problem. If it's a you problem, then you need to fix that problem within yourself. You need to figure out how to lose some control. And if it's a I really truly can't trust my team problem, it's time to get a new team. Yo. We interrupt this pod to tell you like and subscribe. What are you doing? Why haven't you liked? Why haven't you subscribed? Just subscribe. What's the problem? In all seriousness, subscribe so that you get notifications every time we drop new content. Additionally, if you have not signed up for our visionary vault, what the hell? Www.specialopspodcast.com Go sign up. It's free. We never try and sell you and we're putting all kinds of stuff in there to help you with the operations of your business because we're passionate about it and we want to operational excellence with our direct response, e commerce and online selling Family the best way to describe the difference between a manager and a mentor or a supervisor or leader is one going to be putting out fires and freaking out and like do that and do that and delegating well to firefight and the other is going to be sitting down with the team and they're going to let the fire burn a little bit longer, but they're going to teach them not only to put the fire out, but prevent the fires from happening. As a business owner, you really want to think about what you want for a culture. So I've had business owners tell me I want a cool, fun vibe and then six months in, nobody cares. And then you have other people that you know, they want high level thinkers and then they're upset that it's no fun in the office. So you really want to think about what is the outcome you want and it's going to be somewhere in the middle of those two things, right? So what do you want? Like truly, what do you want to feel when you walk into work or hop on a zoom call? How do you want the business to overall feel to the people that you work with? Do you want them to be very career driven and everybody lives for the business? If that's what you want, that's okay. Maybe you want people who are, you know, very outdoorsy and creative and heavy thinkers really think about what you ultimately want to create and think hard about it. And then reverse engineer it by hiring everybody that you hire to fit into that culture. And then have your management and make sure that your ownership aligns with everything you do is to cultivate that. No, my team doesn't ignore my SOPs. They write the SOPs. We create SOPs together. So no, I don't worry about my team ignoring SOPs or cutting corners because number one, I hired well. My team fits my values. And so my values are proactive problem solvers who have integrity, who have a mentality of more planning, less hustle, and so I don't worry about them skipping steps or not paying attention to SOPs, because they're the ones that actually I've empowered to not only create the SOPs, but hold even me accountable to them. So I don't worry about that at all. If all your staff understands is the task that they have in front of you and not the vision to what they're working towards, you're creating obstacles for them. And you're also creating people that don't know how to make good decisions on your behalf because they don't know the. Additionally, if you can get your staff members to understand the vision that you have for your business, what you're setting out to do, and you can get them on board and excited about that, business productivity will go up, morale will go up, and you'll be functioning in a culture that truly makes everybody in it happy. Oh, I would never work for myself. I would never work for myself. I would absolutely. Like I. I would catch my hands. If I worked for me, I would absolutely punch myself in the mouth. The answer is no. I'm unemployable and I have way too much attitude to work for me.
Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Emma Rainville
In this episode, Emma Rainville explores the all-too-common tendency of founders to micromanage their teams, the underlying reasons behind this behavior, and concrete, actionable steps to move past it. Blending personal anecdotes with tactical advice, Emma lays out how letting go of control can create more time for founders, foster a stronger team culture, and ultimately lead to a more self-sustaining business. This part one dives into her own journey, mindset shifts, hiring strategies, and the importance of vision, setting the stage for practical playbook-style recommendations.
Emma Rainville’s delivery is candid, personable, and pragmatic, blending tough-love honesty with tactical advice and a dose of humor. She challenges fellow founders to reflect honestly, make hard decisions about trust and culture, and shift from reactive management to empowering leadership.
For actionable steps and tactical playbooks, Emma directs listeners to download supporting materials from the podcast website.