Entrepreneurs are purposeful, visionary people. They have the courage to found a business and the skill to build it. But inevitably, if the business expands enough, it outgrows their ability to be involved in everything, everywhere, at every point. Many entrepreneurs fail to prepare for this eventuality and their businesses stall at the exact moment when they could be accelerating into high gear. To prevent that from happening, it is vital to build up other leaders to share in the responsibilities of running the business.
If you are an entrepreneur, that idea may cause you discomfort. After all, your business is to you what the 1961 Ferrari GT is to classic car aficionados like Cameron’s dad in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (check out the movie clip here!). It is infinitely precious: something to be handled with loving care and expert skill. Just as the owner of a classic car doesn’t want anyone else driving his pride and joy, you don’t want control of your business out of your hands. But here is the truth: if your company remains primarily dependent upon your skills, abilities, and energy, business growth will be constrained by your personal limitations.
This is not a judgment upon you; it is a simple statement of fact. Once your business grows to a certain size, you cannot be CEO, COO, CFO, CHRO, CTO, CMO, CIO, etc. all rolled into one: it is not possible. Like everyone else, you only have 24 hours in a day – and in that 24 hours, you have a finite amount of energy to expend. The bottom line: you can’t do it all.
Let Go of “Letting Go”
Even when you recognize the need for additional leaders in your company, you may find yourself pushing back because you are afraid of “letting go.” This is where the car analogy continues to be very helpful. A responsible parent would never simply toss his or her keys over to their teenager and say, “Here you go – have fun driving and be careful!” ... especially with a classic car near and dear to their heart! A wise parent will teach their teen the fundamentals of driving, engage in many hours of practice, and test their teen’s understanding and aptitude many times and in many ways. Only after all that do the keys get handed over – and even then, the parent sets boundaries in place for a while and keeps a close eye on the new driver.
In the same way, you can let go of the notion of “letting go.” You are not being asked as an entrepreneur to hand over the keys of your company to people who do not have your confidence and trust. Rather, like the parent of a teenager, you have the responsibility for building up leaders to knowledgeably, skillfully, and maturely “drive” your company. I use those three terms purposefully: equipping leaders – like equipping young drivers – is a matter of ensuring that they have the knowledge to do their job accurately, the skill to do it competently, and the maturity to do it reliably.
Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
Accepting that you need to build up leaders to share in the responsibilities of running your business is one thing; doing it is another. The good news? You will succeed if you approach this task in the same way you approach any other aspect of your business: by establishing and executing a plan. It’s just like the parent who decides how to give driving instruction and then settles into the car with their teenager by their side.
Think about it for a moment. How did you come up with the great products and services you sell? How did you reach your target market? How did you ensure good customer relationships? In each case, you established and executed a plan. Perhaps you designed that plan on your own or perhaps you called in an expert to help you. Regardless, you lived out the maxim “plan your work and work your plan.”
A well-rounded plan for building up leaders to help run your business will include aspects such as:
- Identifying the leadership seats your business needs to fill in the near term.
- Defining the roles and responsibilities of each seat very specifically.
- Promoting or hiring the right talent to fill the leadership seats.
- Onboarding and coaching new leaders carefully to position them to succeed.
- Creating a collaborative environment within the leadership team characterized by trust and respect.
- Setting in place milestones and metrics to track new leaders’ progress.
- Practicing mutual accountability to ensure the ongoing execution of the leadership plan.
Establishing and executing a plan will help you as the business founder gain confidence in your leadership team. And, as an additional plus, it will help your leadership team gain confidence in you, too. To return to the car analogy, you will be able to experience the freedom of having multiple trusted drivers in the family.
You can readily see that establishing and executing such a plan does not happen overnight or even in a month or two. Realistically speaking, building a robust leadership team usually takes two or three years. That is why it is ideal to start preparing before you feel the pressure mounting. If, however, you are already feeling the weight on your shoulders, then the best time is now. After all, you can’t start yesterday. But you can start today. The only question that remains is, will you?
