Are you thinking of yourself as a player? CEOs see themselves as the head coach, captain, or general!
If you are doing menial tasks, like answering the phone, you have to change your mindset. If you wouldn’t pay someone a CEO salary to do the job, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Ask yourself, “What is my time worth?” or “Should I be doing this task, and could someone else be doing it?” Spend your time on the big picture priorities of developing and growing your business. To run your practice like a CEO, focus on these 3 things
1. Build your “Dream Team” – and pay for it.
Top talent might cost a little more, but if you have the right talent and a person with good values it’s worth it to pay over the industry standard or your local competition. However, it’s not always about the salary. Your compensation package should be comprehensive. Offering an extra week of vacation, personal days, sick time, or 100% paid health insurance premiums can go a long way. A recent Glassdoor survey found that 80% of talent would prefer better benefits over salary.
2. Delegate
Why delegate, and when? Often times people don’t delegate because it takes a lot of up-front effort. First you have to teach someone else something that you already know backwards and forwards, when you could probably do it yourself in half the time. However, when you delegate properly it’s successful for everyone. If someone else can learn the task and it’s not time sensitive, it is best to delegate.
The truth is your skills as the CEO are better used to further develop strategy, new ideas, and managing the organization. By doing the work yourself, you’re failing to make the best use of your time, potentially losing revenue in the process.
Also, your team isn’t being developed for long-term growth and your management team will feel ineffective, creating a negative culture and portraying you as a “Helicopter Leader”.
3. Build Great Company Culture
You may have heard the phrase, so-and-so “drinks the company Kool-Aid…” Great! Serve them another glass and get rid of the naysayer – no I’m not kidding, do it now!
Those negative or pessimistic views are toxic to building a great company culture. Your staff will thank you for it. Trust me, we’ve lived through it! How people feel is a reflection on you and the company culture you’ve established, and people will disengage at work if you don’t have a strong culture.
Studies show that 51% of employees are “not engaged.” Companies that increase their number of talented managers and double the rate of engaged employees achieve, on average, 147% higher earnings than their competition. Also, customer retention rates are 18% higher on average when employees are highly engaged. (Sources: Gallup)
Do you see the dollar signs? If you’re running your business like a CEO, you will! So, how do you build company culture?
- Lay your corner stone. What’s your Mission Statement, Vision Statement, and Values?
- Use your employees to help find culture weak points. Maybe do a survey.
- Use your team to create your culture together. You want everyone drinking the Kool-Aid!
- Launch your Core Values and communicate them well. Put them in every aspect of your business from recruitment to termination.
- Provide top-notch training.
When your dream team, corporate structure and office culture are firing on all cylinders, then the sky is the limit. You may even gain extra time to spend with your family, money to invest for college and retirement, or maybe time to focus on you. Go build your empire!
