“Who is actually in charge around here?” I thought to myself as I was listening to three owners of a company discuss strategic initiatives for the future of their enterprise. In the first few months of each year, since I started my company in 2018 from a spare bedroom of my father’s house, I have been a part of strategic meetings. These are different from weekly meetings where we discuss tactical events; who did what this week, is it working, what information is needed to make it better, does the flow of information and technology match the function of the role, etc. Strategic meetings are held between the leaders of a company and tend to define the season of a business. 

“I think we need to improve our marketing efforts.” One leader opined. His suit a size too small as he likely hadn’t worn his blazer since the last strategic meeting, almost a year ago. His fresh haircut and enormous coffee mug added to his desire to be thought of as someone who can lead these types of charges often. Marketing, while absolutely important, wasn’t actually on the agenda to discuss at the meeting today. His out of touch quip added to the group’s consensus that this leader wasn’t actually in charge of the organization but wanted to put his own initiatives at the top of the to do list for discussion.

“I’m pretty sure we need to get our team more technology so they can be more efficient in the field.” Another leader chimed in. He was responsible for the “production side of the business.” The production side, in every business, is the team that actually produces the product or delivers the service. Essentially, the production side of the business is the side that generates the revenue. They’re the offense. They need to be efficient and productive for the business to survive. He was echoing concerns from his team to the group and felt justified as he leaned back after letting out this comment. His chiseled forearms folded on his chest seemed to flex as though to dare anyone to challenge him. He was a proud man who worked more hours in the field than anyone else on his team.

“What about financial controls? We haven’t had a working budget since forever. And, we don’t even know which production team is the most profitable.” This leader was passionate about the details. He was particularly interested in having data from which to make decisions. Sometimes, this desire to get granular was usurped by his overpowering brother’s desire to make gut decisions, “because no one knows more about this business” than his brother. His two sizes too large polo gave the impression that he was a working professional who’d rather be somewhere warm and golfing. He donned a massively large timepiece that leaves one wondering how he earned enough money from this company to afford such an artifact, let alone had the confidence to allow it to see the light of day.

As I glanced at the agenda on the whiteboard, I realized we were slightly ahead of schedule and likely needed to refocus on the big picture. This is often why my team and I are brought into these types of meetings. It’s not necessarily about doing the technical side of the CFO role; ensuring the books are straight, the revenues are accurately represented, the job costing done, and the dashboard updated each day or week. In this case, I was asked to ensure these leaders of the business were focused on the season defining process. Just months earlier the stalwart leader, the patriarch of the family, the founder has recently passed away with no written succession plan and the surviving leaders were trying to navigate the murky waters of business strategy, for the first time without their father. 

In an effort to corral the three men back to the big picture, figuring out what this season of business would look like, I stood up and walked to the whiteboard. At 6’6”, anytime I get up, it tends to make people wonder what’s going to happen next. I began to write on the whiteboard. I wrote two words, out of order on purpose, to ensure I got the room’s full attention. I wrote, “Charge” at the end of the board. I wrote “Who’s” at the beginning, leaving a gap in the middle that gave the impression that something needed to go there. 

I turned to see the three men pondering at my actions. With inquisitive looks, they each, individually, paused their own thought processes and sat up a little straighter.

As I put the cap on the whiteboard marker, I put it back into the bin of other markers and asked them this question, “What needs to happen in the middle here for these two words to make sense?” 

The right answer, was “in,” But. I wanted them to really think about it. I suppose lots of words could have filled in the gap. But I wanted them to take the time to consider this. 

The three men looked at each other and then back at their filled notepads. They were all coming to the same conclusion; They were used to their father leading and now that he was gone, they hadn’t formally selected a new CEO. They were trying to co-lead the organization and their lack of clarity around “who gets to call the shots” was leading them into confusion. 

We ended up talking for another couple of hours. The brothers, individually and in their own way, thanked me for my time and said they were encouraged by our progress. They said they really liked the impromptu and necessary exercise; determining who was in charge. Once you determine this, lots of things fall into place. Questions like, “Who’s job is it to do X, Y, or Z?” Make more sense. Questions like, “How are we going to get more revenue?” Or, “When’s the right time to buy more equipment or technology?” Fall into line. 

During that meeting, we worked with a Strategic Voyages’ tool; the Functional Organizational Chart. This tool is used to clarify roles within the organization, determine decisions that need to be made, and create the action plan towards success. 

That meeting laid the foundation for designing and compartmentalizing the CEO role for their business. They needed a CEO to fill the massive gap left by their father. He always had the answer, he was always prepared for meetings, he was never surprised when vendors failed to come through or when people didn’t live up to expectations. He had a back up plan for his back up plans so that the business ran like a well oiled machine. He was a “first in, last out” kind of leader. Open door policy, yet somehow always got his day completed, making everyone on his team feel like their efforts directly contributed to the overall success of the organization. He was a masterful leader and one that would truly be missed.

I had the benefit of working with this man before he passed. I learned a tremendous amount about leading organizations from the time we spent together. His favorite thing he told me was always, “If you don’t know who’s leading a meeting, basically who’s in charge, then no one knows who to follow.” He would often follow it up with, “Matt, you have to help them figure out who is in charge so that everyone can know who their leader is.” 

During one conversation we came up with the 4 steps to designing and compartmentalizing the CEO role for your business. This was applicable to every business, really. Whenever there’s uncertainty at the top, there will be lack of accountability throughout the organization. 

Here are the 4 steps to designing and compartmentalizing the CEO Role for your business.

Step 1 – You have to define the role.

Answer questions like: How will (someone; it might not be you!) lead your organization? Perhaps this is better stated as “How will the CEO let their presence be felt?” Many leaders set periodic meetings to remind their team of strategic initiatives. Some leaders send out periodic emails to their team reminding them of key points to encourage them throughout their day or week. Maybe it’s a phone call. Whatever it looks like to your business is individualized to both the leader and the team. 

One of the best CEOs I’ve ever worked with spent the time to type up a daily reflection email. He would congratulate his “generals,” as he called them, on specific matters they were doing well at. He would also list out the priorities for those that weren’t doing so well in their role as a way of encouraging them to stick to their action plans. He would give industry news and highlight upcoming events to keep everyone focused on the bigger picture. In short, the CEO role for your business doesn’t need to look like this particular CEO. However, you need to define the CEO role for your business and that means answering the question of “How will someone actually lead your organization?”

Thinking through this first step, you should come up with follow up questions like, “How will anyone know this role is being done?” and “How will this role allow everyone to work on your business?” or, “Who will support the CEOs efforts, how will they do that, what information do you need?” 

Step 2 – Being intentional about the role.

How will this role be evaluated? If you’re going to be in this role, will you be honest with yourself about your performance? Will you allow others in your organization to give you feedback?

One way to think about the intentionality behind this role is to think about hiring someone else to do it. What would you expect from them? Then, do that for yourself? Don’t just give yourself a pass because, well, you own the business so people have to listen to you. 

Many entrepreneurs I work with call this step the “Working on your business” step. This isn’t working in your business. It’s not about selling more, finding new vendors, writing thank you notes to customers, doing performance reviews, or hiring for a new position. Those are all great things to do. But when you’re intentional about the CEO role in your business, you make time for it. You set aside the time to actually be the CEO.

One of the most successful entrepreneurs I’ve met – I say this because when you consider the sheer amount of revenue he’s able to command relative to his “light” work week – no more than 10 hours a week while generating millions of dollars in revenue, his efforts, through his companies, generate a tremendous amount of money – literally has a CEO desk in his office that he goes to early in the morning every day for about two hours and wears his “CEO hat.” Okay. Fine. It’s not a literal hat, but this is where he chooses to be the CEO. When he’s done being the CEO, he leaves this CEO desk and does the other aspects that need to be done in his businesses. 

Step 3 – How can you grow in(to) this role?

What investment activities will help you become more successful as the CEO of your business? Maybe it’s hiring and working with a business coach. Maybe it’s hiring a CFO to take over the bills and the finances. Maybe it’s hiring a GM to take over managing the day to day operations of the business. Maybe it’s joining mastermind groups like Vistage Worldwide or Convene or C12. 

Whatever you choose to do to grow in this role or grow into this role if you’re not already in the role, you will likely need a support system. This process is like any other process for growth; acknowledging the need for a plan and seeking the wisdom of others to develop it. There’s no shame in admitting, “hey, I’ve never been a CEO and maybe other people can help me learn what I need to learn to be the CEO that my team needs.”

One of my clients has recently stepped into this role and has confided in me that she’s nervous because, her words, “I’ve never been a CEO before.” Like many first time CEOs, she’s a little anxious. When pointed towards these steps, her anxiety began to subside. When she embraced the obvious – she wasn’t qualified yet, but was eager to learn – she began to grow towards the leader her team needed. 

Step 4 – Working the plan and sticking to it.

I call this step the “Season Defining Moment.” Seasons aren’t momentary. They aren’t short lived. They tend to have a theme. That theme, when defining the CEO role for your business, needs to be fully embraced, revisited from time to time, and worked on everyday. If you don’t stick to it and allow the season to work on you, you’ll likely not achieve the results you want for your team and for your organization. 

A leader I’ve worked with for a while now is a big sports analogy guy. If he finds out what sport you have played, watched, or have your kids in, every lesson comes back to sports. I’ve found this style of leadership to be quite relatable as he’s become extremely effective at giving out lessons through sports analogies. When we were discussing this step of the process towards designing and compartmentalizing the CEO role for your business, he added his sports analogy like this: You wouldn’t hire a new GM for your sports team who doesn’t understand that the goal is to win a championship, would you?

What this translates to is this: We’re all in a season. That’s what building businesses is all about; embracing the ebbs and flows of the seasonality of your business. Some newer entrepreneurs haven’t figured this out yet. Once they do, they become unstoppable. They’ll start to talk about life as seasons. They’ll label their seasons. They’ll understand when they’re in a season of growth and the challenges that comes with that season. They’ll say things like, our championship is coming up. They’ll encourage their team to strive harder during the busy seasons and take it a little easier during the slow seasons. They’ll have meetings to get the team ready for a new season. 

And perhaps most importantly, they’ll create battle cries, winning themes, and championship habits that the whole team sees, understands, and embraces. They are maximizing their efforts by becoming the leader their team needs. 

If you’ve ever wondered what this may look like in your organization, let us know. We’d love a chance to talk through our process, give some insights into the function of how this will work for you, and even go through the process of developing a functional organizational chart.