605: You Need Someone To Help Defend Your Time And Attention

Thomas and I were doing our weekly check-in when we got to the last statement after I had asked him the Check In questions (Thomas walks you through the Check In questions here), “what I see and what I need from you.” At this stage of our business, my role is requiring more and more visioneering and more accountability to macro-level task items.  If my head gets caught up in too much day to day strategy, then we are not maximizing where I am most valuable to the business as an owner.   Note: for context, at the time of this writing/recording we are a team of eight with five full-time coaches and three focused roles to share clients connections, marketing, and administration/accounting. Thomas heard what I am seeing in him and the growth that he is heading towards in leading our coach team, I then shared a thought I had not spoken, but it made sense. “Thomas, I need you to run defense on questions, thoughts, and ideas that I could easily run with and get lost in.” Ownership is lonely, and ownership can be misunderstood.   Leading the business from 60,000 feet requires a challenging juggling act of realizing the impact of each decision on the business as a whole, and the impact of each decision on each individual and their professional and personal life. At times those disparities can seem to be in conflict and the urge is for the owner to abandon the skies and crash back to the ground to make sure everything is ok and in the midst unintentionally show distrust to the wildly capable team that is managing the ground game. At that moment I was asking Thomas to recognize when I feel the urge to rush back down to earth in moments where it is clear that I need to remain in the sky to test and evaluate the atmosphere for the future vision of the business.  Each of us has blind spots, areas that no matter how hard we look, we are simply unable to see and we need other team members to “have our back” and to say something when they see something.  I’ve asked many of our team members to have my back at different times and in different ways, this is simply one example. Who do you have that can ensure you are able to stay in the clouds for a bit and do the important work ON the business? If there is no one right now, do not be discouraged, instead, be on the lookout.   There is a high likelihood that the person already exists in your business but simply has not been trained, groomed, and invested in, to the point of being able to have those open conversations. By developing these conversations, the have-your-back mindset begins to work both ways. I’m reminded of a scene in The Gladiator where the new Gladiators were being attacked from all sides and Maximus (Russell Crowe) led his men into a 360 circle which each man facing outward (backs to each other)...THAT’s the image!   Here are three ways to develop a have-your-back culture: First, begin hosting weekly or every-other-weekly Check In’s in your business.   Watch Thomas’ instructional and informational video to record and deliver each of the questions and that important final statement. Second, you can build a simple culture calendar on a spreadsheet. Write out dates along the top row of a spreadsheet (week by week).  Then on the left hand column (usually Column “A”) write out all of the cultural elements you wish were installed in your business; team meetings, birthdays, check ins, team training days, etc. During each weekly team meeting review your culture calendar and watch the connection, communication, and relationships begin to develop in a powerful way. Finally, share BIG Wins at every team meeting and make some of those BIG Wins the actions of your team members who really pulled their weight on certain items.  Don’t be “too cool” for this step.  Your team will buy in and appreciate it over time. Who can help you run defense on your time so you can MAKE time for the things that really matter…at work and at home.