The Big Boss Bottleneck
Free Yourself From Needing to be Everywhere, Doing Everything, All at Once
How much do you relate to the feeling that no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, you really should be somewhere else taking care of what is falling apart over there?
Before I became Leader Development and Team Building Coach, I was an Electrical Contractor, and let me tell you, I felt this SO hard! Some days it was hard to breathe. My mind would cramp up with a breathless anxiety. It made it really hard for me to be effective solving even the easy problems which were right in front of me!
Some days I am speaking directly to those of you who are in construction and building trades, but this problem exists anywhere someone who is good at doing the thing gets promoted to managing people who do the thing, or much more complex owning a business where people do the thing. So if you are in software, the arts, or real estate…the same tools which work for people Building Buildings can be applied in your world.
Stick with me and I will show you the way out!
My clients have said all of these things: (I’ve thought some of them too before I learned leadership skills!)
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
It would be wiser to hire a team that can be better than you at a few things and eventually scale to the point that for every single thing on your plate, there is someone who can do it better. This is especially important for those of us who do incredibly detailed and meticulous work. I am also a (recovering) perfectionist, and excellence is freedom from the prison of perfectionism!
I just wish I had one more (or a hundred more) of me.
No you don’t. For all of your brilliance, your team will be stronger if you do not double down on your own weaknesses.
Your employees are temporary, what matters most is how you treat your customers!
This one makes me physically ill! Nothing will keep your business small like not investing in the people who take care of your customers.
You can’t get good help anymore…
Good help is as available as it ever was. In a competitive job market you earn good people the same way we always have: You build them or you buy them. What is rare is leadership that can optimize a real world team with a collection of strengths and weakness.
The way out is simple, if not always easy.
You physically can not be everywhere doing everything all at once! Letting go of this is step one in releasing your organization to grow!
It takes a lot of growth to change yourself from the best technician with precise control into someone with relational leadership skills who is significantly less hands on with the final product. If it feels scary to trust someone to do what you can maybe to better, then you are doing it right! If it feels dangerous to not micro manage everything your people do this is the clearest sign you will see to get your…
Big Boss Bottleneck
…out of the way and let your workers…work!
What can be outsourced?
The first thing I outsourced was book keeping and taxes returns. Can I do my own? Yes. Can a professional do in more efficiently AND get me a better return? Of course! If you are good at what you do you can afford to hire specialists who are good at what they do.
What can be delegated?
The smartest thing I ever did was the first time I hired someone who could supervise a site so I did not have to be there. Occasionally I would still drop in there with coffee and encouragement; but MOST of my time was free to price quote new work, interview potential hires, and network with new and repeat clients.
What can be ignored?
When the most valuable thing you have is your attention, you want to focus it clearly on the people who matter. There are thousands of contacts in my phone, so if I get a call or a text from someone not in my top thousand, that is usually one to ignore.
What if I invest in my people and they leave? What if you don’t and they stay?!
What are you good at that is simplest to train or hire someone else to do?
Live in this world, and keep promoting yourself out of certain tasks as your team grows in size and capability. Just like I promoted myself out of being an on site supervisor, half fast book keeper, and barely amateur accountant. Every time I did it was an investment that felt like I could not afford; it freed me up to work on things I am most talented with, and in every case I was financially rewarded for trusting trustworthy people. I was breathing (and sleeping) better.
Here is to your effective days and restful nights!
Terry Barkman works as a coach and consultant with
Leaders to Develop
Teams who work together
so that your organization can sustainably
grow without burning you out!
He is Thought Leader, Speaker,
Author, and connoisseur of run on sentences. His upcoming book
Terry-Fied goes deeper into how to get relational leadership working
for your team!
