Delegation, distraction and decision-making (oh my!)
Over the years working with early-stage companies, I’ve noticed deal-breakers for long-term growth: delegation, decision-making and distraction.
While these three dimensions present challenges to organizations of all sizes, they are particularly problematic for early-stage ones trying to establish a strong foundation of norms that enable them for growth. Generally, when an early-stage organization demonstrates good functioning across delegation, decision-making and distraction, I feel good about its prospects to stabilize and scale.
Delegation: When surfacing a delegation challenge, the key is to understand why a person (or team) is struggling to delegate. Too often, there are accusations of being territorial or perfectionistic. However, the true reason could be something else entirely, such as lack of trust among the team or covering for an underperforming colleague.
What to do? When the CEO is rewriting the press releases not because there is no one else to do it, but because they want it done themselves, it’s critical to understand what is causing the barrier by asking the right questions. Overcoming these delegation barriers could be key to uncovering a deeper problem and ultimately moving the entire organization forward.
Decision-Making: Challenges about decision-making cut two ways: too little or too much. Getting bogged down in making the “right decision” or expecting all decisions to pass through leadership, slows progress or renders everyoneincapable of moving forward.
In other organizations, I’ve seen leaders make off-the-cuff calls that were not well considered, sending their teams running off in a direction and then pulling back on what they had said, creating frustration, a breach of trust, and (worst of all!) rework.
What to do? Striking the balance is hard. Consultants love talking about governance (a fancy word for decision-making). It means working through who needs to be involved in what, testing some decision scenarios, and empowering people throughout the organization. Push decision rights down where possible, and create safeguards to spot problems and adjust if needed.
Distraction: The software start-up wants to create an events business off-shoot. A services company wants to license software for an adjacent industry… When an organization is growing, it’s hard to know when to stay the course and when to pivot; to know when a new idea will create a supplemental revenue stream, and when it will become a money-sucking black hole.
What to do? Focus. Do not divert resources, including critical time, energy and resources from the core business during the early growth years. Establish foundational products and clients, and once stabilized, start to explore new, ostensibly-related opportunities.
Can an organization exhibit strength in these three areas and still fail? Absolutely! Without the right product or finding a market for services, all the decision-making and delegation in the world won’t save an organization without the fundamentals to keep it afloat.
It is often said that building a company (or a new product line or launching a new initiative) is like trying to build an airplane and fly it at the same time. Consultants are right there with you, laying the critical infrastructure so that the plane can take off - building the runway, constructing the air traffic control towers, ensuring the aircraft marshals is in place - to get your organization ready to fly.