Do You Run Your Business Or Does The Business Run You?

Here’s the scene: you’re a business owner, leader, partner or managing partner. You’re full of ideas, energy and see opportunities everywhere. You have a vision you can’t wait to take steps toward. After all, the business was born out of a passion. But you can’t get ahead. One step forward, some days it’s half a step back and others it’s one and a half steps back. The hours are long, the fires to fight are many. Just when you think you found a pocket of time to focus, something urgent comes up. You feel like you have to choose moving your business forward at the expense of other life priorities.

It's all too common with my SME and small/medium firm clients.

One of the starting issues that my MP and CEO clients bring up is the lack of time – operations is eating up all of their capacity, and they cannot get to growth-related activities, innovation, or self-care.

My challenge to them: 1/3 in + 1/3 on + 1/3 within.

Here’s what that means. 

You need spend a portion of your time in the business.

As a professional you need to stay close to the core of the business, taking clients, cases and billable work. It keeps your perspective relevant, fresh and certainly helps the bottom line. It is also a great source of innovative thinking as you keep both the birds-eye view and a nose to the details. It builds empathy with your employees, being in the trenches with them, even a portion of the time. Finally, it should be fun – most leaders enjoy the work and don’t want to lose it. Aim for 1/3 of your week working in the business.

You need to spend a portion of your time on the business.

As a founder, MP or executive you’re the face of the business and the ultimate stewart. You need to be visible and demonstrating for both employees and clients how your business operates and what it stands for. You are responsible for ensuring operations flow smoothly, efficiently, and sustainably. You need to have a relationship with clients, industry associations, referral sources. Aim for 1/3 of your week working on the business.

You need to spend a portion of your time focusing within.

This is most often neglected by leaders as there is always someone or something more pressing. But this is critical. Being a leader is demanding, not only physically but strategically. Every business is at risk to new competitors, emerging technologies, changes in markets, etc. Staying focused requires clarity, strength and a strong sense of self. Much like the saying to put your own mask on first in case of an airplane emergency, the leader has to invest in their own well-being and development in order to show up for the various parties looking towards them for guidance, support and inspiration. This could translate to the physical, mental and also the lifelong learner mindset to keep building own skills as a leader, professional and person. Aim for 1/3 of your week for focusing on the needs within yourself.

My clients will often challenge back with “Is 1/3 of my time the right proportion in each of these areas?”

It’s a great question and the bottom line is that you will be the best judge of that. But the point isn’t necessarily getting the fractions perfectly ‘correct’ - rather challenging the status quo that isn’t working. The key is to stretch their thinking to what is possible, testing, and settling into what feels right.

I always acknowledge that it’s easier said than done.

But the good news is that there is help. Here’s how it breaks down:

-       If you spend too much time working in the business, you may not have the appropriate staffing to deliver for your clients. It’s time to take a fresh look at your resource plan, culture, attraction and retention approaches and make some tweaks.

-       If you’re spending too much time working on the business, you may not have the appropriate management supports and processes. It’s time to invest in the right back- office skills and technologies to simplify, align and offload.

-       If you’re spending too much time within, whether it is a lot of working out or meditating to work out stress, or a lot of learning/reading/studying/offsite you may benefit from a business coach who can help you get you get to the next level in an effective and manageable way.

We helped our leaders with various strategies to help them focus on the best use of their time which greatly improved their ability to level up their leadership game.

In other words, helping make sure they’re running the business and it’s not running them.  

For assistance with your business contact us for a discovery call.