Today, I’ll share three ideas on how to step more into a CEO role without losing your grip on the organization or completely switching persona overnight.  

 You have read countless articles on leadership and management.  They all make sense but you are wondering how to level up after you have been hands-on for many years.  

 Of course, as a leader you should focus on …

·      vision and strategy - but who takes care of the daily work?

·      the big picture - but who makes sure monthly results looks good?

 Your team depends on your guidance since you have been functional expert and key decision maker for many years.  Your customers want to speak with no one other than you because you have been their contact person in the past. 

How can you stretch out of doing so much yourself into leading more strategically without risking daily operations get out of whack. 

The Key is to Slowly Change How You Interact With Your Team 

 Here are three steps you can start with: 

1.    Ask Questions Instead of Giving Direction 

Most of the time you are in a rush.  It’s easier to tell people what to do in the moment than curating their ability to handle situations themselves.  

Next time, when an employee asks for direction, simply ask what they would do in this situation. Listen and dig deeper to understand their rationale especially when it’s different from what you would have done.  

This kind of interaction builds trust.  It allows you to better understand your employee’s capabilities and gives you opportunity for talent development. 

As CEO you can’t make all decisions yourself, instead you have to manage how decisions are made. 

2.    Raise Your Expectations of Your Team               

Stretch them into thinking beyond following your direction.

 A business needs to constantly evolve as new technologies emerge.  There are new services and smarter ways to organize the work, especially when your business is growing. 

You don’t have time to think about all these improvements yourself. 

But someone has to!  So set the expectation that everyone on your team is engaged in finding better ways of getting the work done and providing better services to your customers. 

3.    Talk About the Big Picture

 Give your team context about where you want to take your business next. 

 How much do you want to grow, what new services, markets or geographies do you want to expand into?  

 Understanding the big picture will help your team come up with the ideas and solutions that support your strategic direction.

 Here’s the truth … if you want to secure the long-term viability of your business you can’t get consumed by every detail. 

 If you take these steps, you will see your team in a different light.  You’ll have insights into who you can delegate more responsibility to and who would be a great leader of people.  

 Now you can slowly build the support system that you need if you want to level up. 

 If this episode resonates and you realize that this issue is holding you back from the results you want, let’s book a strategy session.  

 It’s 90 minutes where we can brainstorm the steps you can specifically take to level up.   

Read more at www.powerupyourteam.com/8