Gut Check Time: Leading Up, Leading In, or Giving up

Last week, I talked to an entrepreneur who leads a fast-growing company about what he was currently focusing on. Mainly, developing his staff and ensuring everyone was in the right role, with the right tools, to offer the right solution. He then went on to tell me of the hardest and best day in his job was when he had to move his best friend of 25 years into another role. Imagine having to tell your close friend that it was not working and change was needed. Talk about tough. This entrepreneur showed Extreme Ownership of the situation as he led his company and friend.

I continued to press him on what allowed him to face such a difficult situation, and he said he tried to break things down to the simplest choices:

1. He could lead up, meaning he could push his friend to achieve more, even if it does require some tough decisions.
2. He could lead in, meaning that if his friend was unable or unwilling to grow and improve, then he would lead them in another direction. A direction that would allow his friend to use his God given talents, abilities, and passions in a matter that is supportive of the company’s goals.
3. He could give up and shut the business down. Because if he filed to do either option 1 or 2, then it was going to create issues that would distract him and the rest of the team.

Ok, leaving the wrong person in the wrong job might not lead to the death of your company, but it will create issues that takes energy away from productive actives. But this does not take away from the fact that as the leader of your company, you are often faced with making agonizing personnel decisions, so the two most important questions are:

• If you have an employee that is the wrong person for their job, how do you lead them up, so they are helping your company achieve your strategic vision?
• If it is apparent that a change must be made – how do you lead them into a new position – either inside or outside your company?

We are going to tackle the first question this month and the second in the next entrepreneurial leadership post.

According to my entrepreneur friend, leading up can be boiled down to 4 key steps:

1. Every person must have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, along with measurable indicators of success. A problem that I see with many rapidly growing companies is that they just live in entrepreneurial triage –they are just trying to survive. As the company grows, this leads to more responsibilities placed on individuals. Because everyone is pitching-in and wants the company to succeed sometimes the person getting the responsibilities does not want to say “no”. This is where you as a leader make sure that the operations of your company are consistently reviewed, and you define what success looks like.
2. Have an honest discussion with the teammate of why this role is impactful to the long-term vision of the company and assess if this person is able (and willing) to meet the demands of the role.
3. Provide an agreed to time in order to allow the teammate to embrace the new expectations. Constant feedback, training, and encouragement s critical. This is the most time consuming and pivotal step. You do not want to simply list and then delegate these expectations, which will result in constantly having to check in and supervise; but rather you want to empower your teammate to grow and take responsibility for these new expectations.
4. Honestly assessing the results to determine if sufficient progress has been made. Not only does this allow you to see how your teammate is improving, but it also allows you to reinforce why this role is so vital to your company, and if done properly you can also explore ways of improving the role. If sufficient progress has been made, then simply double down on step 3 until your teammate is a rock start in the new position. If not, then you must exercise Extreme Ownership of this decision and lead your teammate in another direction.

This leads us to the second question, which we will explore next time.

Being an entrepreneur is one of the most difficult and demanding things you can do. The good news is that entrepreneurship today is a team sport. Hit the connect button on LinkedIn or Facebook NOW and together we will start maximizing your profit, strengthening your leadership skills, controlling your business finances, and using your bank as a strategic advantage. When we connect, tell me about a time that you had to lead a teammate up into something greater and how it impacted your business.

Greg Martin is an entrepreneur’s insider to the banking industry and passionately believes that every person was uniquely designed for a higher purpose and calling. Greg guides entrepreneurs in defining and achieving their purpose and calling. His deepest passion is living life with his wife and their wonderful son.