Less Truly is More
For you CEOs, business owners, entrepreneurs, and even those in leadership positions, this concept of "doing" less holds true. I've written about Laziness as a Virtue before, but my recent experiences have given me additional motivation to write this article.
When I was in business, I was pretty focused on my own organization. I was invited to join a peer group and thankfully accepted. I hired a coach, and spent time around fellow CEOs that shared this mindset about learning, improving, getting better - learning to be a better boss. They all made time for these meetings.
What I did not realize at the time, was that not all CEOs have the mindset that gets them to a peer group. It wasn't until I was asked to start a new CEO Roundtable group here in the Boston area that I experienced this other way of thinking. This mindset was one of "I don't have time for that". If you talk to any reasonably long-standing member of a business owner / CEO peer group, they will tell you that not having enough time is the exact reason you NEED to join a group.
This feeds back to the original point, working less IN your business allows you to undertake activities to work ON your business. There are numerous tasks that business books and systems will tell you that must be done: Clarity breaks, retreats, peer groups, cultural initiatives, offsite meetings, etc. I would wager a fair amount that the folks I'm trying to help here don't do many of those things. The point is I want to get across to the people that don't already see the value. If you don’t have enough time to perform the role of the CEO, then you are most likely doing something that you need to change. And remember, as the boss, everything is ultimately your issue.
In its simplicity, Doing Less is essentially enabling others to Do More. That should be the goal. Offload activities that other people should and can be doing. Accept that this delegation may break a few eggs, but it must be done. If you aren't delegating, you must ask yourself why. Is this is "you" problem, or a "them" problem. In either case it's your problem, but you need to understand the solution. In most cases it's not that complicated and boils to one of these hurdles:
You don't think other people will do the work as well as you can, so you refuse to risk the lower quality.
You don't have someone with the ability/capacity to take on activities you want to offload.
You have an ego issue. You are the best and you want keep proving it. (Be honest)
Your business and system has been grown/built in such a way that you are the lynchpin in many activities, and you don't have the staff available offload more work. This is either due to financial constraints or organically it grew into this. Either way this is your issue to solve because you got it to this point.
What I have found working with some clients and in my peer groups is that the answers / solutions to these issues aren't that difficult to figure out, but the ability for the leader(s) to make these decisions is where the problem lies. Countless times I have seen entrepreneurs struggle to make the tough decision. Anything from starting the process of letting go of tasks to delegate, to looking harder at their financial operations to MAKE ROOM in their budget for someone to take on this work.
I can tell you it's very hard to grow a company if the CEO is overworked and unable to perform the role of visionary, strategic and cultural leader. You will get to a certain size and it will start to come apart. Invest early in methods that all you to grow your role at the pace your organization needs.
There's a lot more here, but I'll leave it off with two important pieces of wisdom I learned the hard way.
Your employees (if they are good ones) will love it when you ask more of them. They see you overworked, and if you place some trust in them to take on some of your work, they view this as a great opportunity to lean more skills and to help their respected leader move the needle. If this is not the reaction you get, then you have the wrong employee, a whole different topic.
Your best ability is your availability. Leaders that are too busy to lead are doing it wrong. If you don't have enough free time during most of your days to make room for your folks to chat with you on an ad hoc basis, then you are missing out on one of the greatest aspects of leadership. Leading is not doing it for them, leading is enabling the success of others.
-Ryan
