I had a talk with the police about a small tampering case. They told me that since other people had my password that I was not in control of my business. I explained that in my business your programmers always have your password. He didn’t get it. He said I had a run away train. The point here is that someone else might have your passwords, but if they have been screened for reputability, then you are in control. If you don’t know how, or don’t have time to screen your outsourced software companies carefully, then you are not in control.
Here are some ways you can be more in control
(1) Watch what your workers and employees do. If they are not doing things the right way, teach them how to do it right. If they still don’t get it, then have someone watch them closely or fire them.
(2) Hire others to watch what your employees do, and make sure that the person you appointed sees everything and reports everything. A chain is only as good as the weakest link, so your “scrutinizer” needs to have no weaknesses in doing their job.
(3) Have screened backups. It is not always easy to have backups for every single task that you need done. But, if you don’t, then when you have to fire someone, you won’t be able to because there will be nobody screened to take their place. If you fire someone only to replace them with an untested person, you will probably have to fire the new one as well, only to have a 3rd person who also doesn’t do what they are supposed to. If you have a thorough interviewing and screening process BEFORE you hire anyone, you will have a much higher quality of workers and will not have to endure the emotional pain and financial loss of firing someone. These backups could be people in the Philippines or India who work for an outsourcing company. They don’t have to be wherever you are. Someone who can get the job done somehow — reliably is a good backup.
(4) Part time workers are sometimes a great way to get more of your less critical work done. They might not stick around, but if you have a constant flow of them, and someone reliable to watch them, you can always have your grunt work done on time which is critical. Having a relationship with a temp-recruiter can also be a similar solution.
(5) Keeping good analytics in a database or on paper about who is doing what, how fast and accurately they are working, etc., can really help. If you know who is on what project, what they will be working on next week, etc., you are in more control.
(6) Insubordination is a disease that spreads. The more you accept it the more of it you get. If you have one person who doesn’t follow instructions, you will get used to it and will end up with more of these types. You cannot be in control of your company if people disobey you. Americans don’t like the word “obey”, but try running a company where everyone does whatever they feel like. You will not be able to function. To be in control, gradually phase out insubordinate workers and replace them with very carefully screened people.