It’s easy for small business owners to take on more than they can handle. Joe, the owner of a growing business, found himself navigating the increasing demands of his company. While additional growth presented exciting opportunities, Joe felt the need to carefully manage all of the responsibilities that came with it.
Like many small business owners, Joe is a smart and capable leader with the grit and tenacity you need to be successful. But just because you can wear all of the hats in your business doesn’t mean you should.
Joe came to OneTable Strategy looking for ways to manage growth and came away with a strategy to empower leadership and get out from under the weight of overload.
Step 1: Identify the Overload
During our strategy session, we helped Joe map out the nine different roles that are needed in order for a business development team to be effective. As we went through these roles, it became clear that Joe was trying to do everything.
Joe’s role overload was impacting his time, energy, and capacity for strategic growth.
As it dawned on him just how much of his time was spread thin, our goal became clear: we needed to develop a sustainable and adaptable approach that would free Joe to focus on leadership while ensuring that the company could still navigate the daily challenges of marketing and operations.
Step 2: Build Trust in Delegation
Our first focus with Joe was to build up a team that he could rely on. We began by inviting Joe’s sales team to the table for strategic planning discussions around business development. Through these structured sessions, we worked to align marketing and sales, which got the whole team on the same page and fostered a collaborative spirit among the team.
Delegation is an exercise in trust. In order to help Joe gain confidence in delegating, we helped equip his sales team with the tools and guidance they needed to take ownership. This gave Joe the space to slowly hand over the reins to his sales team, trusting that they could manage the day-to-day responsibilities without compromising on quality.
Step 3: Develop a Sustainable and Flexible Marketing Plan
Joe’s business needed a flexible marketing strategy that could adapt easily for both peak demand and slower periods of time. That plan also needed to be sustainable, so that Joe didn’t need to be involved for every minor adjustment.
We worked together with the sales team and Joe to build out a plan that empowered the team to adapt marketing strategies as needed so that Joe could focus on big-picture goals.
Step 4: Create Long-Term Leadership Balance
It takes time to build and sustain trust in others when you’ve relied on yourself for so many years, but with tools to build confidence and team roles clearly defined, Joe and his sales team are on track to balance Joe’s high-level involvement with the sales team’s day-to-day management.
The long-term goal is for Joe to be able to stay engaged in strategic decision making without stepping into the operational details. By establishing a solid rhythm, Joe is now positioned to oversee a team he trusts while keeping his focus on guiding the business toward growth.
Are You Ready to Move from Overwhelmed to Empowered?
If you can relate to Joe’s experience of wearing so many hats you can’t see the horizon, you might be ready for a strategy session of your own.
Schedule a Blueprint Session with the OneTable Strategy team to explore the nine roles of an effective biz dev team. You can break free from overload and achieve scalable growth.