Don’t be like iguana. Get some help bridging that gap.
I’m really lucky.
The clients that find their way to me are the very best at what they do. They have die-hard fans. They get great results for their clients. They are obsessed with providing excellent experiences every single time. And they do. They are literally changing lives. And I get to work with them.
But they’re also pretty embarrassed about how things are working behind the scenes.
They sit in CEO masterminds and workshops feeling like imposters. They know they don’t have the things in place to run their business the way they’d like to. In fact, if anyone of those mastermind CEOs saw how their business really worked, they’d be mortified. Every time they bring on a new employee, it’s another reminder of how they need to clean up their systems, their trainings, their job descriptions … it’s all just so messy.
And the worst part is, they think it means something is wrong with them as a leader.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Here’s what’s real:
You’re not supposed to be good at all this organizational management and training stuff. You’re an expert at your craft. You may be the best in the market. You’ve invested a lot of time and energy in making sure you deliver the very best products and services you possibly can to your clients.
In other words, you’ve been focused on the RIGHT PARTS of your business. If the thing you sell isn’t what your clients want and need, you won’t have a business to grow.
But now that you’ve got a good handle on what you deliver, you may be seeing the cracks in the systems you’ve built. Maybe your A-Players are looking a little worn out. Maybe you’re a bit worn out too.
Or drowning in paperwork.
Or SO OVER spending days training yet another new employee.
Or feeling stuck about how to get to the next level in your business when everyone’s maxed out.
If you’re lucky, you have an operationally-minded leader on your team, who can help you implement better systems and make things easier. In his book, Traction, Gino Wickman calls these people “Integrators”. But they’re rare. Wickman says the ratio of Visionaries (most CEOs) to Integrators out there in the world is 4:1!
So what’s a CEO to do?
Do you need to hire an expensive COO to bridge the gap and finally get your back-of-house operations running smoothly? If you’re a small business, probably not. There are many ways to create the systems, training, and organizational structure you need.
You may want to hire a Director of Operations, to contract with an Online Business Manager, or to hire a rockstar assistant. You may need to partner with someone who specializes in helping businesses improve their systems and processes -- like The Process Mavens! Which one you choose depends a lot on your business’s size and goals.
But you can’t ignore the operations gap in your organization.
But please please please ... stop beating yourself up. Stop believing you should know how to do it all yourself.
BTW…if you want some support about the best way to bridge your operational gap, we’d love to chat! Book a free call and we’ll help you figure it out!