As leaders of growing organizations, it’s all too easy to fall into a trap that prevents us from doing our best work.
Over time, responsibilities accumulate out of necessity, and suddenly we’re too busy being busy to do the things that would make us less busy…
We get too good at the wrong things and embed ourselves in the day to day operations – which leaves little time or energy for creative ideas, big picture thinking, or truly fulfilling the captain’s role at the helm of your organization.
In this state of perpetual busyness, you can see the next level… But you can’t quite get there. There’s no time to plan, and you can’t break away from the cycle long enough to evaluate the present or create the future.
So, to truly achieve the next level, you have to fire yourself from everything but 3 things:
- The things you do best
- The things you love
- The things you’ve done since the beginning
This is about self-efficacy.
You didn’t get into business to be an accountant, HR specialist, or middle manager. You started because you had a vision! Acting in service of this vision should be the bulk of your daily focus.
Everything else – all of those daily details – is complexity that came along with growth. If you want to break the cycles of busyness, delegation is absolutely essential.
Without delegating responsibility, you’ll get to a point where you’re no longer doing the things you do best, the things that light you up… And instead spending all of your time and energy on managing, on day to day tasks, on things that drain your energy and don’t move the business forward.
This state of being will kill your forward momentum, your motivation, and your creativity. At some point, when you’re buried in responsibilities, you have to green light hiring a Chief Operating Officer.
You can read more about the value of a COO in this excellent article from Ivey Business Journal.
In the audio presentation below, I’ll go into much greater detail about what makes an effective COO, what to look for, and how to create a powerful second in command that allows you to remove yourself from the operational nitty gritty to get back to doing what you do best.
The role of COO is often misunderstood, but when you know the value it can bring to your organization, your life, and your vision, creating and filling such a role becomes a no-brainer. This article from Harvard Business Review outlines different types of COOs, how the relationship between CEO and COO functions best, and the critical role a COO plays in long-term success.
This is the path to making yourself operationally irrelevant, and in the process, empowering your entire organization to thrive under a leader that is energized, creative, and looking to the future.
When you can’t stand to take a vacation, when you haven’t been attending your kids’ recitals or sporting events, when you can’t find the time for deep contemplation or generative thinking…
When you aren’t doing the things that make you a fulfilled, creative leader capable of steering your organization toward new horizons…
It’s time to make a significant change, and it’s my job to show you the way.
