http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1109&CFID=67505861&CFTOKEN=49043541&jsessionid=9a303732309d63614421
Source: The Importance of Being Richard Branson, first published: January 12 2005 in Knowledge@Wharton
"As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation," says Branson. "I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me."
Motivational strategies extend to innovative ideas. The key to encouraging innovation within the Virgin ranks, suggests Branson, is to listen to any and all ideas and to offer feedback. Employees often leave companies, he reasons, because they are frustrated by the fact that their ideas fall on deaf ears. Interaction between employees and managers is fundamental. For the companies in which he serves as both chief executive and chairman, Branson writes his staff "chitty-chatty" letters to tell them everything that is going on and to encourage them to write him with any ideas or suggestions. He gives them his home address and phone number. He responds with a letter personally, even if he doesn't follow up and deal with the details. Sometimes people come to him with personal problems, while others have suggestions for improvements in their companies. Either way, they get the chance to be heard.
Building Trust
Branson has developed a level of trust with his top managers by setting the direction and then stepping back to let them navigate. "I come up with the original idea, spend the first three months immersed in the business so I know the ins and outs and then give chief executives a stake in the company and ask them to run it as if it’s their own," explains Branson. "I intervene as little as possible. Give them that, and they will give everything back."
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