Is My Leadership Team Ready To Take Control?

Building an owner-independent business is a progression, not a light switch you suddenly flip one day. And taking the time to develop a leadership team that can run the business without you is one of the best investment you can make in your business. 

However, the question I hear from most business owners is: 'How do I know when my leadership team is ready to take over the running of my business?'

To answer the question, let me share some wisdom from business owners who have made the transition successfully.

1. Make sure you have the right people

This is arguably one of the toughest and most emotional challenges you'll have to overcome. Simply put, the people who have been instrumental in helping you get to where you are almost never the people to take your business to the next level. And if you are amongst the fortunate 20 percent of businesses where there is no change, count yourself lucky.

2. Have a clear sense of purpose 

A clear purpose is the engine room of your business. The very reason you exist. It prevents distractions, muddled thinking and poor decision making. Businesses with a clear purpose are usually better managed, more profitable and experience higher growth rates.

3. Put systems in place

Think about your leadership team. Do they have the systems in place to support their decision-making process? When you combine a strong leadership team with the structure of solid systems, you enhance your company's capability to get things done independently of you. 

Spend time with your leadership team to create standard operating guidelines or procedures.

4. Take a vacation

Take a few off days off and see how things go. Block out your first day back to identify where things went wrong. Coach your management team on how to deal with those issues in the future, and update your standard operating procedures. Then take a longer vacation, and repeat the process.

5. There will be turbulence

Your management team will want to take over control of the business as quickly as possible. And if you've hired the right people, this shouldn't be a problem. After all, they should have the experience and skills you are lacking to take the business to the next level. However, there will be times you need to step in and take control. When an aircraft on autopilot encounters foul weather, it alerts the pilot to take back control. At times, your leadership team will need to do the same. 

Take it one step at a time. And depending on the maturity of your leadership team, you should be able to hand over full control within two short years (and hopefully much sooner).

Want more insights into building a business that thrives without you? You'll love:

• 5 Ways To Get Your Business To Run Without You
• No Man’s Land
• How to remove yourself from the day-to-day running of your business (and why you need to)
• The 9 changes that increased the value of my business the most
• 5 reasons to run your business like you plan to sell it (even if you don’t)

And be sure to subscribe to The Freedom Experience podcast for behind-the-scenes secrets on growing a valuable business.