If you are working in the business and helping to row the boat, who is steering the ship?

When you start your own business as the sole employee, you work all hours and do everything. Hopefully, over time you are able to afford to bring in some help and gradually you are able to delegate some of those tasks to others within the company. However, it is very common in a small business such as an independent estate agency for the owner of the business to still be heavily involved in the day to day running of the business and even attending market appraisals or making sure that processes are being followed and that staff are completing their tasks.

While this may seem fair enough, it is actually a very dangerous position to leave yourself in for too long if you have ambitions to grow your business beyond it being a day job that you have created for yourself.

Imagine your business, when it first started, as a small rowing boat, with you as the sole rower. You rowed as hard as you could, and the boat went in the direction you steered it in. Over time you have made some additional seats in the boat and picked up some extra help, in the form of more staff, in order to make your boat faster.

Initially, you had to train them to row at the same speed in order for it all to work but you got there.

Now you want to take your business to the next level you have upgraded your small boat to a ship. Picture a pirate’s galleon…You have recruited some more staff and trained them to all row together, with you at the front directing them. But there is one big problem…

The steering of your ship is now upstairs, on a different level to all of your rowers, so whilst your team and speed have increased, and your ship is much stronger than your little boat. No one is steering it!

This analogy helps you to see what can happen if you do not have someone in your business that is fulfilling the very real role of Managing Director or CEO, as whilst it may just sound like a fancy job title, it is actually a very real job even for a small and growing business.

Without this role who is responsible for the company’s vision and mission and ensuring that they are being fulfilled? Who is responsible for the core values running through the veins of the business? Who is responsible for creating, setting and monitoring the goals of the business? And most importantly who is focusing of what the future version of your business looks like to ensure you do not crash and burn?