One of the biggest challenges for a business owner in managing team members is the issue of jealousy, according to Amanda Stevens, who started her business Splash Advertising, when she was only 21.

When a team member becomes jealous of a young achiever, managers need to act quickly before the dissent goes through the office, she says. "Either talk with them openly or get them out," says Stevens. This consistent, open and honest flow of communication is important to Stevens and something she suspects comes easier with youth. Youth does bring with it a set of challenges for business owners when it comes to managing team members. However, Stevens says the disadvantages of youth can often be turned into points in favor of a young business manager. Youth, for example, may not sit well with many traditional methods of autocratic management. Stevens says she was uncomfortable with most of the styles in the many management books she has read.

"It is important to find a leadership style that you feel comfortable with and fits with your personality," Stevens says. "It is not congruent otherwise. My leadership style is quite unique - I am friends with my staff."

One of Stevens' main aims in managing team members is to empower the people around her. Empowering team members means managing from within instead of giving orders from above. Stevens says she empowers people through meetings where everyone helps make business decisions and bi-annual weekends away to set longer-term goals for the business as well as individuals.

Stevens says she has learnt to hire people who are complementary to her style of working and right for the job involved. She says a common mistake younger managers can make in hiring people is to choose someone they like. "The best staff I've got are people who complement my skill set with different ways of thinking."

Youth brings energy and enthusiasm that does not always come easy to older business managers, Stevens says. Youth also helps a business manager pick up after a mistake or fall, moving the team onto better ground, Stevens says. "Youth used to be a disadvantage for this company but now it is an advantage. Our clients want us for our energy and enthusiasm," she says.

Memorable Quotation:
"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

~ H. Jackson Brown, author