For a CEO or business owner, it’s important to lead others gracefully and with a plan in mind. Even though you are working on an exit plan or close to transitioning out, you must still provide leadership. It would be easy to let things slide and, spend more time away, and do a few of those things on your bucket list. After all, the business was hard on you, people needed way more than you thought necessary. And quite frankly, you deserve it right?
However, I think it’s important to understand and accept people who are different and be resourceful in ways to help them grow. Do it right and you could contribute more with less time and effort. Think about it this way. After all those years, you of all people should know, employees don’t walk in the door with “built-in competence.” If you’re retiring soon or selling the business in five or ten years, you don’t want to stand around and watch the business grow with incompetence. It will implode before you leave! Then what?
So, what can you do to move things forward before you exit? It’s better for the business and certainly better for your people, and I believe better for you. The trick is, how can you exit knowing they will share the same, well-integrated and powerful Christian convictions which moved you to action? And this is important to understand. By well-integrated, I mean you not only believe it, but you live it.
Many of the larger business owners I’ve worked with over the years have been concerned with how to organize their people, control and direct them to achieve higher production rates, searched for the best incentives to keep them aligned with customers, and aligned with you. But is that really enough?
My question is, how do you release human potential to achieve high production? For some reason, people have been expected to do what they “ought to” in achieving company goals with little understanding of the thinking behind the objective. Those expectations are unrealistic. We must go beyond simply ordering people around and consider including, listening to their ideas, and take time to explain, to understand.
Keep in mind, nothing will happen without trusting your people, even in the face of occasional disappointments, as you well know. As the leader, you must continually trust them and not abandon them when things get rough, or a few mistakes are made. Putting your faith in people like this, is very powerful because little is more satisfying than working with the right people who are “on a mission.”
Here are the practices I recommend for any leader, who wants to unleash the power of his or her people.
Invest considerable time in a few good people, your leaders. If you want to keep things moving forward, it’s crucial to bet heavily here. Everyone I know that’s done this, consistently over the long haul, has reaped great rewards.
Invite these few good people on your adventure. If people believe you are going someplace important, and they are invited, then watch it happen because there’s no stopping them. So, dream a little with them. What if we really did this? or What if we moved into that market? But be sure and let them know the journey will be challenging. In fact, it may get harder before it’s easier.
Merge these people into a strong team. Make certain they are gathered together regularly, around firm clear-cut goals with built-in accountability. Above all, make certain that each is in the right seat, to contribute the most possible. Your job is to choose, coach and delegate – not command and control. Remember, that won’t happen after you’re gone.
You must continue to challenge them. Focus on things that help each person reach for things that may be just beyond their grasp. It’s during this time they must master difficult situations. Growth takes place here.
Be honest, even when you’re just thinking about it, be honest. Practice honesty with yourself and with your team, as painful as it might seem, everyone and the business will be better off. Settle for nothing less. To win, everyone on your team must face reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.
Place Christ at the top of your value set. This was well done in every business I’ve been involved in. It was here I learned people are more than just a “pair of hands.” In business, you get the whole person, so it’s always best to treat each person with dignity and respect, even though they may be different. Our Christian faith insists on nothing less. Your treatment of people is tantamount to how well you live and breathe your values.
I think these will be the primary ways for aging leaders to exit gracefully and with dignity, moving their business forward with people who can face the future without them, all the while enjoying the values you left behind. It’s better to leave a legacy with others than leave them abandoned.
About the Author
Andy Beal
As a Convene Chair in the Phoenix area, Andy is passionate about helping Christian CEO’s and business owners grow profitably, increase their leadership impact using peer-to-peer collaboration, and discover how God can use them as leaders through one-to-one coaching.
To learn more and connect with Andy, view his profile or connect with him here.