All Roads Lead to You
If you’re the only one making decisions, providing quotes, solving problems, driving machinery and holding the business together — you’re not leading, you’re babysitting everything. Eventually, it will break you. Especially if you want to scale.
The first step to real freedom is building a trusted and capable second-tier management — building a team who can run aspects of the day-to-day without you constantly needing to look over their shoulder.
Businesses that boast a robust, stable, second-tier management team inherently hold greater worth (both to the current owner and also to a potential buyer) than those tethered to their owner’s constant presence.
Regardless of your scale, a lack of managerial depth puts a low ceiling on your business’s potential value. Having a seasoned operations manager(s), adept operations support, or a staffer primed to assume such roles is key to freeing up your time.
Consider this litmus test: Could you go away on holiday for four weeks without calls and emails from panicked staff? Now, this is not necessarily the goal, or what is needed, but it is a great indicator. What if you were in a car accident? What if you come down with a long term illness? Can the business continue to function well?
Instead of relying solely on your own efforts, learn to delegate tasks to capable employees, starting small and gradually entrusting them with more significant responsibilities to free up your time for strategic activities.
Here’s a simple move to start today:
- Pick one strong team member. Perhaps a senior operator who is already doing a bit of team management and customer relations already.
- Hand them one small area (e.g., scheduling of all spraying jobs, equipment and machine maintenance tracking, staff rosters).
- Let them own it — even if you know that in the short term you could do it more effectively or more efficiently.
- No micromanaging.
We all know this information, so what is stopping us from taking the necessary steps? Make a start!