If you’re after a long-term relationship with someone, you shouldn’t be trying to get jiggy every time you meet.
It’s tiring, it’s tedious, it’s offensive, and even if it works, it won’t last beyond the initial dopamine hit.
Same for business. Founders are full of initiatives. That’s one of the things that makes them better founders than employees.
And initiatives are jigginess.
If it’s a new initiative a week – new service offering, productising the latest trend you read about, a new CRM, generative AI for marketing, a new sector to target, a better Target Operating Model, a reorg, a new marketing agency, … – then your team will get weary and deluded, and none of your initiatives will take root.
Focus first on building your foundations.
Yup. Dull.
But if your foundations aren’t solid, you’ll be getting sucked in to fixing or selling stuff all the time, and you won’t have the capacity to build the sexy stuff.
If your delivery is rocky, you’ll be fixing projects and placating clients when you least need it.
If you’re the one who signs off on everything, then you’ll never have space to do the strategic stuff.
If you’re the only one who can sell, it will always be you for every deal (OK – this one’s a little sexy).
If you’re the only one who can talk a leaver round, then all HR will come to you.
I saw this wonderful snippet from Shane Parr – “You might not know with certainty when the 100-year flood is coming, but you do know with certainty it will come. And that means you should leave yourself positioned accordingly. The purpose of positioning is to make prediction unnecessary. You are prepared, or you are not.”
The reality with most startups (and that’s more about your status than how long you’ve been around) is that floods – good and bad – come every other month.
Or week
Preparation = building foundations = process (easyish) + team (harder) + culture (hardest)
So focus on building foundations that make the work more reliable and consistent, reducing the need for escalations, and create the time and space to get jiggy.
How we can support you
- Join us on a workshop on how to scale your company; create time to focus on the bigger picture; and keep values and purpose core to your company. For max 5 CEOs of companies with revenues between £1.5m and £15m.
- Subscribe to our Bite-Sized Business Tips - thought snippets for values-centred business leaders. Every few days, a short focussed read on a specific topic of how to lead a company that values both profit and purpose.
- Talk to us to explore how we can help you scale your company in the direction you want to take it.