Creating A Stable Company Depends on Developing Solid Leaders

If your key leaders in your company are the legs of the stool that you are sitting on, how stable is your stool?

Consider that you are sitting on a stool which represents your company.  Each leg under the stool represents the key leaders in your departments.  How stable are the legs of your stool?  Finance & accounting is one leg, sales & marketing is another, production & operations is the third.  Your goal must be to hire and place the strongest possible leaders in each of those departments so that you have very strong legs under your stool. 

This is easier said than done.  However, consider the cost and pain of settling for a weak leg that is consistently unstable.  Or worse yet, multiple weak and unstable legs.  Too many business owners and leaders are stuck in this position.

Your ability to identify and develop your direct report key leaders can be the life, stagnancy or death of you and your business.  Every business owner and leader must strive to create an independently, self-sufficient business.  Your goal must be to develop your leadership team to handle everything happening in your business without needing you. 

It will take years to accomplish this goal, however, even when we think we have a very solid stool, things happen and a leg or the whole stool can become weakened.  What is your plan or a process to create a stable stool and keep it that way?

You must hire people smarter and better than you.  Some companies may not be able to afford to hire and upgrade all key leader positions at the same time.  Therefore, create your plan, your timeline and put it into your budget and proforma so that you know when you can hire accordingly.  Pick and choose your priority positions based on the greatest need.  Most of the right hires will be able to create a return on investment (ROI) for you based on the result of their work.  Know the weaknesses in your company and the cost associated so that you can predict ROI when improvements are made.

Know your core competency and what your company needs most from you.  They may not be the same.  If your strength is finance & accounting, are you better off hiring a sales leader and an operations leader first?  Or is it better to hire a strong finance & accounting leader so that you can focus more on other areas and not worry about finance & accounting?  It is critical for you to know your options and to have a process to examine all considerations so that you make the best decisions for the right reasons.  Identify the parts of your company that you need to step into and stabilize until you can hire the right key leaders?  If you discover that you’ve made the wrong hire, act fast and get the next right one in.

Lessons in creating an independently, self-sufficient leadership team – creating a solid stool: 

1. Define your key leader needs and a process and timeline for filling them.
2. Create a leader development methodology for on-going training and feedback.
3. Your business is more valuable when it’s continued success is not dependent upon you.
4. You can enjoy a life with less stress and anxiety when your leaders focus on the day-to-day.
5. You can focus on new and bigger things such as strategy, innovation, acquisition, diversification.
6. You can become am absent owner and focus on other life pursuits. 

Your leadership team can take pride in their leadership effectiveness.  Be sure to compensate them well, keep them committed long-term and stay connected with their performance and their plan to continue to develop new leaders.