As an entrepreneur we have a lot of tasks to complete that are necessary to run and grow our business. We tend to avoid these tasks until we can’t put them off any longer and leave us mentally drained when we finally get through them.
Moving from doer to owner means shifting some of those tasks to others, but when we’re in the pit of despair looking at a stack of those tasks that fry our brain, we might not believe that we could ever get out from under them.
To take the pressure off us and allow us to focus on growing our business instead of keeping it status quo, there are three Ps we can use– positions, people and processes.
Positions
We might be tempted to skip to People, either on our team or in our network, but by first establishing the positions we need both now and in the future, to grow our business (e.g. Office Manager or Accounts Receivable) we reduce our natural temptation to find easy solutions. We might also discover that there is a position we hadn’t thought of previously that would accelerate the growth of our business. When I first went through the positions exercise, I identified that the position of trainer would grow my business faster than the position of seller.
People
With our positions identified, we then focus on filling those roles with the right people. This might be a current team member or a new hire. Either way, with the positions clarified and the specific roles and responsibilities of a successful candidate identified, we increase our chances of finding a good fit for our open position.
Processes
“Put the pressure on the process, not the person,” is a mindset to adopt to create success for our business and our people. For many entrepreneurs the “process” lives in their head and there is a reluctance to delegate because “they won’t do it like me.” The best processes are easy to follow (like a check list or a video), are simple to train and are always being reviewed and adjusted. “Set it and forget it” is a mindset to create processes compliance instead of productivity.
By investing a few minutes in identifying the positions needed, creating clarity around the right people needed to fill those positions and documenting processes for those people to follow and improve helps us shift from doer to owner, which gives us more time for working on our business instead of getting sucked into the business.
Until next time… go lead.
*Positions, people and processes are three of the six Ps covered in our Organizational Excellence Leader Lab the third Friday of every month.*
You might also be interested in:
