Moving to CEO – Let Go and Empower

How great it would be if we could simply add water, insert batteries or stir a few times and everything in our business would magically work the way we envisioned! During the course of a day, how often are you asked to solve a “crisis” and then get presented with a problem for which the solution seemed obvious. While in the early days of growing our business we want to have control and be involved in shaping the decision making process, it may be time to take step back and ask yourself, “am I getting in the way of my team?”

In order for our companies to truly grow and scale in a significant way, we as leaders must make the jump from “founder/owner” to CEO. This means being able to step away from the day-to-day activities of the business, and start working “on”  the business. Developing and growing our staff to the point where they are able to handle and manage decisions without our input is truly in the longterm best interest of our clients and our company. Empowering individuals to do this may mean accepting that mistakes happen, and the associated costs of those errors. However, the long term ROI for this is huge.

What will you gain by letting go?

1) You will create a culture of trust for your team: you believe in them and know they will take care of the client, the company, and by extension – you

2) You will be actively developing your next generation of leaders. This has been shown to be a something valued by employees, creating a deeper engagement level among your team, helping with retention. In the early days of your company, these people are vital to stability.

3) You will free your time up to work on the current business and on future planning. You can identify additional revenue streams and other value adding activities, something only the Founder/CEO can (or should) be doing

It’s easy to get the process started. The next time someone walks up to you and says, “how should I handle this?” Simply turn around and say … “What do you think you should do? You’ve go this … I trust you.”  Then step back, and watch that newly empowered individual grow and stretch as they figure out how to take control and do what is right, you might be surprised what innovative approaches they come up with along the way.

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