Today, I’d like to respond to an e-mail that we received recently. Let me set the stage. She says:
“I’m a partner in a small business and I’m not an Integrator or a Visionary (66/65 scores). My business partner is a Visionary. What happens to the other partner who is neither fish nor fowl? I assume we should hire an Integrator and plug me into the role that makes the most sense on our Leadership Team.”
There are a few things I want you to remember when approaching a situation like this.
First, as a business owner you must be in a greater good mindset. Be careful not to go into this decision making and structural design process only thinking about yourself. Step back and ask yourself, “If someone else was making these decisions for the benefit the greater benefit the organization, what would they do?” That’s how I want you to approach it.
The second thing from the email are the Visionary/Integrator assessment scores. Remember that these assessments are not pass/fail. We give some guidelines around a score that’s 80 or higher but remember that every business is different. The needs of one business will be different than another. The level of need around the intensity and pureness of the Visionary and Integrator roles will differ.
The other important thing to remember is that two piece puzzle. We want a complementary pair in those Visionary/Integrator seats. Look at how assessment scores match up. In this case, she’d probably want to compare her scores with the clear Visionary in the organization to see how complimentary they are. It’s possible that she could be a fit.
Once that’s decided, start designing the structure of the organization. The Visionary and Integrator are going to be part of the Accountability Chart™. When the structure is optimized, we’ll begin to map people to it. Let’s say that it’s decided that she’s not the Visionary or the Integrator. From there, the process continues with looking and assigning the best person to each seat. Who’s the best fit? GWC™ it. Do they get it, want it, and have the capacity to perform the roles of that seat at that level we need?
If she’s the best person for one of those Leadership Team seats, she’ll plug in right there. But what if she’s not? Well, the process continues on and we start to move through the rest of the organization. She may be the best fit for another seat in the organization, one that’s not on the Leadership Team. If that’s the case, that’s fine too. If that’s the place where she can make the best contributions and is the best person to contribute there, that’s where we need her. Regardless, she will have her owner’s needs met in the Owner’s Box™ – whatever seat she ends up in is fine. We have another video on the Owner’s Box™ in case you need a refresher.
The main principle here that is you’ve got to set the example as an owner. Whatever seat you end up in, set the example. Play by the rules just like you’d want any employee in one of those seats to play by. Really, they will look to you to see if you are or if you have a special set of rules just because you’re an owner. Don’t let that happen. It will unwind the integrity of the whole system and make it difficult to bring all those pieces together.
Three key things to wrap this one up today:
- Think greater good. Stay in that mindset. We want everyone the organization in that mindset. As an owner, you’ve really got to set the example.
- Structure first, then people. Design the Accountability Chart™ to get us where we want to go next. Then map people. Whoever fits the seat best, gets that seat.
- Set the example – play by the rules. Let others follow your lead.
Come see us on RocketFuelNow.com. Take the Visionary and Integrator assessments. See where you’re great. See where you could use some help. We’ve been having some great discussions with other Visionaries & Integrators over on LinkedIn and Facebook. Regardless of where you are in your process, I encourage you to join the conversation! And finally, read Rocket Fuel. If you’ve already read Rocket Fuel, and you liked it, we’d love to see a review from you on Amazon. We’d really love to hear what you think.
Until next time, Go ROCKET!
Cheers,
Mark
