5 Critical Aspects to Build Powerful Teams – E96

One of the keys to becoming a hands-off CEO is having a powerful team you can trust to run your business while you focus on growth. In this solo episode, I share the five barriers to building and running these powerful teams, and what you can do to overcome them.

Key Ideas:

1. One of the barriers to building a multiple million dollar company that can run without you is the freelancer mindset that many CEOs have. Many of them often fall into the trap of thinking everyone is there to help them, rather than to serve the vision. Not only does this hinder effective collaboration, but it’s also dangerous; if your team hasn’t bought into the vision, they’ll be more likely to leave if someone else comes along and offers them a bigger paycheck. [0:52]
2. You need to know what level of staff you need. Hiring at too high of a level is more likely to result in failure. [2:42]
3. It’s more effective to hire leaders, not doers. Leaders are self-sufficient and prefer to take initiative rather than wait to be told what to do, which generates growth for you because it frees up your time. [5:11]
4. “The less I do, the more I make.” Let that be your new mantra; as you do less in the business and more on the business, your clients get better results and stay longer with you, which in turn makes it easier to sell to new clients as you become more confident. [6:54]
5. You can’t manage people, but you can manage agreements. It should be clear to everyone what they’re accountable for, what the quarter goals are, what’s expected of them to accomplish those goals, etc. [7:58]
6. A good profit margin for a consulting agency can go as high as 60%. [10:05]
7. “If you’re not willing to invest ahead to be able to get to where you want, you’re going to stay stuck in the same patterns.” [11:16]

KEY QUOTE

“At the core, [building a powerful team] comes down to knowing what you want, sharing your vision, and having written agreements that you can manage, as opposed to just trying to manage the person.”

Resources

Mandi Ellefson on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

Hands-Off CEO – Executive Briefing