People & Leadership
The founder who does everything is often the reason the business cannot grow
In the early years, the founder does the selling, the delivery, the accounts and the firefighting, and that is usually what keeps the business alive. Then the business gets bigger, the founder gets busier, and each new problem still lands on the same desk. This session is about the shift from being the person who does the work to the person who decides what the work should be, and who is ready to do it.
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What got you here is not always what will take you further.
Founders are often chosen by circumstances, not by training: they were the one with the idea, the skill or the nerve. The business grows around their abilities, and so does the habit of solving everything personally.
The shift to leading does not mean being less involved. It means being involved in different things: direction, standards, people and money, and not every customer call or every invoice. That shift is uncomfortable, because the doing was the part the founder was good at.
Making the shift
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven questions that move a founder from doing to leading. 6 apply to almost any business; the rest only in a particular case.
What Only I DoA list, then a challenge to it.5
- List every recurring task and decision you personally handle
- Mark those that genuinely need your judgement or relationships
- Mark those that are there only because they have always been
- Mark those you simply enjoy, and be honest about it
- Pick the three least necessary for you, and plan to move them
Working In and Working OnBoth matter, in different proportions.5
- In the business: delivering, selling, serving, solving today's problems
- On the business: direction, hiring, systems, money, who does what
- Where your last week of time actually went, between the two
- A first target, such as half a day a week kept for work on the business
- What will fall over if you step back, and how to prevent it
Setting DirectionA team cannot follow a direction nobody has stated.5
- Where you want the business to be in a year and in three, in plain words
- The two or three priorities that matter most this quarter
- What the business will not do, however tempting
- How the team will know what is going well
- Saying it often enough that people can repeat it
Choosing and Backing PeopleLeadership is mostly about who does what.5
- Which roles in the business are now too big for one person
- Who in the team has grown beyond their current job
- Where you need somebody with skills you do not have
- Giving trusted people real decisions, and living with a different way of doing things
- Having the conversation when someone is not right for the role
Letting Go of Being NeededThe emotional part.5
- Noticing when you feel important because everyone comes to you
- Noticing when a team member's solution works but is not yours
- Resisting the urge to fix it yourself when it is slower or imperfect
- Accepting a few mistakes as the cost of people learning
- Recognising the first signs that you are taking work back
Getting Honest FeedbackFounders are often the last to hear what it is like to work with them.5
- Asking two or three people one specific question, such as what slows them down
- Asking in a way that makes honesty safe, such as in writing or through a peer
- Listening without defending, and thanking the person
- Choosing one thing to change and telling them what it is
- Revisiting it a month later
Reviewing Your Own RoleIf it appliesA role that suited year one will not suit year three.5
- Once a quarter, writing down what the business needs most from you
- Comparing it with how your time was spent
- Deciding what to start, stop and hand over
- Talking to a peer, mentor or adviser outside the business
- Adjusting again as the business changes
Try this week
- Keep a simple log of your time for three days, in half-hour blocks
- Mark each block as working in or working on the business
- Choose one task from your 'what only I do' list to hand over
- Ask one team member what takes too long because it waits for you
Signs the shift is overdue
- Your team waits for you before making routine decisions
- You cannot take a week off without the business suffering
- The best people leave because there is nowhere to grow
- You are the only person who can answer customer or supplier questions
- You have not had time to think about next year
How the session runs
A founder or practitioner who has made this shift leads the discussion, using the seven questions as a frame. Participants complete the 'what only I do' list and a three-day time log plan during the session, and leave with one task or decision they will hand over. The session does not tell anybody what kind of leader to be. It helps them look at their own situation honestly.
What your students leave with
- An honest list of what only they do, and what only seems that way
- A distinction between work on the business and work in the business
- One role or task they will deliberately hand over this quarter
- A rough picture of what the business needs from them in two years
- A way to ask for feedback from the team that people will answer honestly
- A habit of reviewing their own role at fixed intervals
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
A business grows when the founder's job grows with it.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.