Transition From Entrepreneur To Leader
- Brainz Magazine
- May 31, 2022
- 6 min read
Written by: Tania Caza, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Are you an entrepreneur who has scaled your business enough to need help? Here are 4 things to consider as you make the shift from Entrepreneur to Leader.
It is an exciting time when an entrepreneur can hire employees! “Finally”, you think, “I can delegate all the work I don’t want to do to someone else so I can focus on the key parts of my business.”
At first, you might delegate some administrative work, digital marketing, or maybe even some junior-level work on your specialized product or service. This will leave you to work on the higher-level work, business development, and all the fun things you love about your business (because you’ll keep that, right?). In your exuberance to shove off all this work you don’t want to do, you may not be thinking that by bringing other people into your business and delegating work to them, you just inherited an additional job title and role…Leader.
But that’s easy, right? Just delegate the work, follow up and ensure the work is accurately completed. Maybe that will work, though it’s likely not going to be a successful ongoing strategy.
I would ask entrepreneurs at this stage to consider the following 4 questions as they transition from working on their own to leading others. To give yourself the best chance to consistently grow your business, a little planning up-front can make a world of difference to your success and rate of growth.
For purposes of this article, check out the following:
I am going to assume you have the Purpose/Vision [WHY] and the Product/Service [WHAT] worked out and therefore this article will focus on the third component…Culture [HOW]. Simon Sinek’s work in “Start with Why” is a huge inspiration behind this work.
As you start hiring employees or even if you already have employees, ask yourself these questions:
1. What kind of Culture do I need to create for my business that best drives the WHY and the WHAT?
The Culture of your organization will exist whether you are intentional about it or not. It is essentially the collection of the behaviors and working environment that exist within a business and will be as unique as an individual personality. Without being intentional about this, you are leaving it up to your employees to improvise on how they think they should behave. This could work but has a far less likely chance for the desired outcome, especially as you grow and continue to bring more employees into your organization. In this case, you are HOPING that people will inherently know how to best deliver the WHY and WHAT.
Considering your WHY and your WHAT, think about the Culture you need. Here are some thought starters, though it could be a combination of these or even something entirely different:
Mission-Driven
Innovative
Profit or Sales Driven
Service Driven
Efficient or Task-Oriented
Strong Leadership
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Hierarchical, Bureaucratic or Controlling
Results-based
Collaborative/Team Focused
Learning
It’s important to know that there is no right or wrong. It is simply what is needed to drive the company’s WHY and WHAT. A charitable organization, for example, might need a Mission-Driven and Team-Focused culture, whereas a Hospital might require a Mission-Driven and Controlling culture. A technology company may desire an Innovative culture paired with Entrepreneurial Spirit and Collaboration.
Clarifying this up-front can immediately attract the right kind of employees into your organization. If you require a Controlling culture and hire someone Entrepreneurial, there will be an immediate conflict with this individual fitting in. By declaring up-front what your Culture is, the right people will be attracted.
2. What kind of Values and Behaviors do you and the others in the company need to embody and exhibit to deliver on this Culture you want to create?
Once you’ve established the type of Culture you want to create, you can now assign the Values and the associated Behaviors. The Values must be unique to your business versus the broad-sweeping, generic values that so many companies stick on their website and forget about.
Here are some fantastic examples of companies that have Values that are specific to them and reflect their Culture:
Virgin Media: Our Purpose & Values - Virgin Media Careers
Patagonia: Our Core Values - Patagonia
G Adventures: G Adventures Core Values - G Adventures
There are so many examples of companies that have done this well. I would encourage anyone on this journey to do the research. Check out your competition. Find companies who do it well. Then create your unique Values.
Values by themselves won’t do the trick. Each Value needs to be interpreted into Behaviors. So, when you say “Innovation”, what does that mean in terms of Behaviors. Maybe that means you encourage a culture of failure? Or will you allow a certain amount of time to create and play with new ideas? Or do you use an innovation process including team brainstorming?
Whatever your Value is, turn that into specific and unique Behaviors that will drive your WHY and your WHAT. Spending time here will help your employees know what’s expected of them and help your leaders know how best to lead.
3. How will you hold yourself and others accountable for these Values and Behaviors?
Now that you have your Values and Behaviors determined, including them in your business processes, meetings, performance reviews, and hiring practices…essentially all of the various components of running and executing your business strategies will be crucial. The key with this is going to be you and your leadership team. Ensuring you are walking the talk and holding your leadership team to the same will work towards building trust with your employees. Let’s face it, you are not going to get it right 100% of the time, so showing humility and taking responsibility if you mess up is leadership. The demonstration of your vulnerability as you embed these Values and Behaviors will create the space for others to do the same.
4. How will you ensure what you have created is working and is sustainable?
There are a couple of things to consider here:
Measurement and
Review/Assess.
Measurement - Use a measurement tool to ask your employees to evaluate how you and other leaders are showing up related to the Values and Behaviors. Then do something with the results! Employees need to see that their feedback is being taken seriously so be transparent about how you are working to improve. My advice here is – don’t overthink this. It does not need to be that complicated. Keep it simple.
Review and assess – as part of your strategic planning process, ask whether the Values and Behaviors continue to serve and drive the WHY and WHAT? If they do, then keep them for the next period. If not, then determine which Values and Behaviors might need to change and why. As your business grows and stabilizes, different values and behaviors might be required. For example, perhaps driving to gain market share might need different Values and Behaviors than maintaining market share. Adjusting Values and Behaviors is a necessary process, but should again be very intentional and then supported with a robust change management plan.
Setting your business up for growth includes hiring and leading the right employees to drive your WHY and your WHAT. As an entrepreneur, you likely haven’t had to put a lot of thought into setting your business up properly to engage employees. So, this business culture element might be very new to you. Spending time here will pay huge dividends by hiring the right people and leading them consistently and fairly. Leaving this to chance could wind up being a very costly mistake.
Overall, this may seem like a straightforward process but there can be a lot of blind spots. It might be worth a chat with someone who can help guide you through this process. There are many business coaches and strategic facilitators who can guide you. This is one of those areas that gets neglected up-front and is difficult to backtrack and set right later on. Do yourself a favor and get this right from the get-go!
Tania Caza, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
With years of being an executive in HR, Tania Caza is a leader in business coaching helping executives and leaders shift into high performers. With an MBA and certified with the NeuroLeadership Institute in the Brain Based Coaching program she has the background and expertise needed to guide leaders through the challenges and tough decisions faced at the executive table and the strategies required for a business to be successful. Tania is the Founder and Executive Coach of TanGo Business Coaching where the belief is that people are the true differentiator in every organization and investing in leaders through coaching will only lead to escalated business success.
