As a business owner, your people are your greatest resource – but they’re also often the most underutilised. Taking the time to thoughtfully design your dream team and plan your organisational structure is crucial for achieving long-term success.
Many entrepreneurs find themselves stuck in the day-to-day operations of their business, wearing too many hats and struggling to step back and focus on the bigger picture. This is a common trap that business consultant Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth) warned about, saying, “If your business depends on you, you don’t really own a business, you have a job.”
To break free of this, you need to carefully consider the different roles and responsibilities required to run your business effectively. There are four key “hats” to wear: Technician, Manager, Leader, and Entrepreneur.
- The Technician is focused on hands-on, tactical work – whether that’s writing marketing copy, making sales calls or delivering your product or service. They rely on instructions and concentrate on short-term tasks.
- The Manager is responsible for overseeing processes, projects and people. They create alignment between the strategic vision and the day-to-day execution, considering both the long-term and short-term needs of the business.
- The Leader is the visionary, championing the overall mission and solving high-level problems. They inspire action in the team and keep the big picture in focus.
- Finally, the Entrepreneur sets the strategic direction, identifies opportunities, and makes high-level decisions based on their expansive view of the market and industry.
You don’t have to wear just one of these hats – in fact, you’ll likely need to wear multiple hats at different times. The key is being intentional about which hat you choose to wear, rather than getting caught up in the operational minutiae and wearing one of the hats for too long (usually the technician or the manager hat).
How to design your dream team
To start designing the ideal crew to support you, begin by mapping out your current workforce.
List out all the key functions in your business—things like sales, marketing, delivery, operation, and finance. For each function, identify the specific roles and responsibilities required, then assign names to those seats.
As you do this, you may notice your own name appears far too often. This is a common issue – many business owners find themselves unable to truly step back and focus on strategy and leadership.
When you see your name popping up everywhere, ask yourself: is this intentional, or am I defaulting to these roles out of habit? Identify which seats you want to remove yourself from, and figure out how you can delegate or hire new people to fill those gaps.
Remember, having multiple people in the same seat can be just as problematic as having no one in a seat at all. If there’s no clear accountability, nothing will be done properly. So be ruthless about streamlining your organisational structure and make sure people know what they will be held accountable for..
As you map out your dream team, consider both internal and external resources. Your “team” may include outsourced providers like marketing agencies or bookkeepers. The key is ensuring everyone is aligned and working cohesively towards your strategic goals.
Once you’ve mapped out your current structure, it’s time to start planning your dream workforce. Remove yourself from any seats you don’t want to be in and identify the gaps that need to be filled. Then create a prioritised list of the new hires you need to make, or the internal reallocations that are required.
For each gap, ask yourself a few key questions:
- Is there someone internally who could take on this role?
- Do the necessary systems and processes already exist to support this function, or do I need to build them first?
- Is this a role I need to hire for externally?
- Could I outsource this to a contractor or provider?
Escape the technician trap
If you find yourself stuck wearing the technician hat on a daily basis, the framework to follow is:
- Elevate
- Delegate
- Systemise
- Train
First, elevate yourself out of operational roles. Then delegate responsibilities to the right people. Build the necessary systems and processes to support them and provide the training required for them to succeed.
This won’t happen overnight – designing your dream team is an ongoing process that requires regular review and refinement. But by being intentional about the roles and responsibilities in your business, you can free yourself up to focus on strategic leadership and unlock your true entrepreneurial potential.
Remember, your people are your greatest asset. By carefully planning your organisational structure, you can ensure you have the right team in place to turn your vision into reality.
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