Let's talk biz owner versus operations manager
If you’re a business owner, your days are probably pretty full:
You walk into work - before you have a chance to get to your desk, you’ve had 2 people ask you a “quick question” and you are also trying to remember who your 9 o’clock is with.
After that meeting, you scroll through emails, responding to some messages, procrastinating on most.
Then you start preparing invoices for last month - your asst followed up again on this (oops). After 30mins doing this mind-numbing task and following up with a staff member to confirm their WIP was entered, you check your phone. More messages from clients and staff. You deal with the easy stuff and leave the rest.
You scroll the news for what feels like 30 seconds and it’s somehow 10:30am…. and time for a Summer Party planning committee meeting (how on earth did you get pulled into that??). You sit through 1.5hrs of discussions on whether to hold the event in the afternoon versus evening and.. it’s already lunch.
Your afternoon flies by with another meeting to discuss a staff conflict that you honestly think HR is more than capable of dealing with, then you have a quick touch base with a new staff member that drags along to go over some basic client issues, and, after another 45mins working through your Inbox, it’s already 5pm.
Sound familiar? Thought so.
If you’re like most business owners, you probably aren’t acting like a business owner on a day-to-day basis.
You’re probably acting like a really good operations manager.
Why?
Most of your days are filled with low-value, admin/operational-style busywork that could most likely be farmed out to someone else on your team.
Side note: not sure how to tell if a task should be on your list or not?
Ask: (1) could someone else on my team do this? (2) does this task involve execution? If yes to either, that’s a strong indication that you should NOT be doing it.
Sure, you’re a natural leader, a great communicator and your staff probably really likes you.
But you keep getting caught up in admin / ops-type muck. Why is this happening?
My guess is that you aren’t taking deliberate steps to get clear on what you - as owner, CEO or executive director - should be doing.
Yes, it’s scary to let go of control of the day-to-day ops of your biz. What if your staff makes a mistake?? (spoiler alert: they will… and then they’ll learn)
Yes, it’s hard to imagine what spending 50% of your time (or more) on big picture, visionary tasks might look like. What if you lose that pulse on what your clients need?
And yes, it is hard to trust that your biz will run without you meddling in every little detail.
If you’re like most biz owners, being more hands-off of your biz so you can zoom out and focus on the big picture, strategic stuff is absolutely on your to-do list… but you never seem to get to it.
No more, my friend.
Today I want to introduce you to something revolutionary that’s going to tell you exactly what you - as leader - need to do to become the visionary, strategic firecracker your business deserves.. aka not someone who is constantly stuck in the day-to-day details of running a successful firm.
I’m talking about a CEO Functions Doc.
My colleague, Elanne, and I consider this document like catnip for business owners, CEOs, and executive directors alike. As in, they really, really love it.
We’ve built out version of it for a number of clients in the past and here’s the best (most laughable?) piece of the feedback we’ve received:
“This CEO Functions Doc is worth all the consulting fees we are paying you this quarter!!”
Yes, some people are willing to pay north of $24k JUST FOR THIS DOC.
Now, I probably won’t quote you that high (in fact I know I won’t), but the point remains - this is an extremely valuable document.
And here’s why - it helps you answer THREE key questions:
“What should I actually be spending my time on as CEO to drive growth and reduce the likelihood of burnout?”
We'll clarify your core functions, priorities, and high-value activities that align with your biz's strategic vision.
“What decisions should come to me - and which ones shouldn’t?”
We'll draw clear lines between owner or ED-level calls that require your oversight versus decisions your team has the authority to make
“How do I ensure consistent client service and firm performance while growing?"
We’ll provide structure around leadership meeting cadence, operational oversight and future planning to support sustainable growth.
If you’re getting overwhelmed by how many tasks are falling on your plate, how many meetings you attend (that you don’t need to be at), and how much time you’re spending on executing tasks that should be outsourced to a team member, we need to talk.
I have an opportunity for you that I think you're going to love and it involves patio drinks.. 🍹
Here's what I'm proposing: you + me = meeting up for drinks one day in the next couple of weeks where we can chat about the Summer Projects you have on your list - like a CEO Function Doc - and how my team and I can help you tackle them so you can start back in Sept with renewed focus.
So if clarifying your role so that you can become a much more effective leader is on your Summer Projects list, HIT REPLY. Let’s chat over patio sangria (or Zoom, if you’re not in Saskatoon).
Looking forward to chatting,
Tanya