Founders often find themselves having to become masters of plate spinning.
Having grown the business from a spark of an idea to a success, you’ll know your company at a granular level. But while it’s crucial to know your business inside out, this reactive mindset can also take up a lot of time, meaning founders can often struggle to make space to create a long-term vision or action plan for their business.
It may feel counter-intuitive at first, but by relinquishing responsibility and focusing on developing leadership qualities, culture, and strategy you will inevitably drive your business forward.
Here are some tips on how to go from putting out fires as a founder to stoking the flames of success as a CEO:
1. Delegation and Time Blocking
Time is your most valuable asset. And you need to move on from working ‘in’ your business, to working ‘on’ your business.
Hand over the day-to-day needs of your business to your team and get your head out of the minutia. You’ve managed to grow your business to success, now you must learn how to trust your team to keep it going for you, so you can look at the bigger picture.
Block out intentional time in your calendar dedicated to strategy and long-term thinking. Time blocking is a great way to ensure you are setting aside the time you need. Start with small blocks at first, stick to them no matter what and expand from there.
2. Develop a Strategic Vision
Now you have the time, you can develop your company’s mission for the future.
As the CEO, you are responsible for deciding the direction of the company, and aligning your team company-wide to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals. To work towards your vision together, they need to know it.
Start by working on a vision statement and look at examples of businesses you admire.
3. Accountability
It’s all well and good to lay out the plan, but it means nothing if it’s not seen through.
This is not to say that it will be easy. The journey from founder to CEO can be a lonely one; as a leader, the weight of responsibility and seeing your plan through to completion can feel isolating at times.
Seek out groups of other founders and CEOs who are on the same journey, and set-up accountability check-ins where you set targets and deadlines together and hold one another accountable for achieving them.
Want more support?
First-time founders have exciting, albeit challenging, journeys to look forward to. But you don’t need to navigate it alone. Check out what innovation programmes could support you on your business journey here.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-compressed.jpg)
%20(1)-compressed.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-medium.jpg)
.png)
.jpg)
