Post by Liz Cullen, contributing Women On Business writer

As the holiday season is upon us, there can be more demands on a business leader’s time. In order to ensure productivity, it is beneficial for an owner to depend on her staff while she is out of the office. If you can trust that your employees can run the company smoothly while you are out of the office, you will be able to leave without worry. It is vital to have a team that you can count on.

At first, a business owner can do everything herself, but as her business grows, it becomes impossible for one person to do it all. This is when it becomes necessary to hire staff and thoroughly train them appropriately. Delegation of tasks is imperative, and even if there are things you want to do yourself, you must learn to hand over tasks to others. This way, employees will know you trust them to handle important tasks for the company, and they will give you their best work.

Allowing employees autonomy over projects infuses a sense of pride and automatically translates to increased responsibility and accountability. Along with hiring and developing a good team and strategically organizing that team, the business owner herself has to let go and trust the team she developed. It may be difficult but it is essential to growing a business.

If you need to leave the office, make sure they know what they have to get done while you are gone. Just because you are out of the office doesn’t mean that business stops. Delegate important tasks to them so you do not have to take everything on yourself, and when you are gone you can be confident your business will run as usual. It is important to take a step back, gain perspective and work on your business, rather than in your business.