When you think about whether you’re ready for an Integrator™ do you ever feel like you’re of two minds?
On one hand, you know you’re stretching yourself thin and something needs to change. You can’t keep doing what you’re doing. You can’t keep juggling all the balls, making all the decisions, or having everything flow through you.
Plus, your heart knows it’s time – time for you to be free to do what you do best.
Yet…
On the other hand, you’re not sure how you can let go. You’re not sure what it would look like to have someone take the day-to-day decision making and management off your plate.
In addition, you’re not sure you want to move over and share your team with anyone, even if you know it’s what’s best for the company and for you.
Simply put, you’re torn about being ready for an Integrator™.
The Visionary business owners I work with almost always felt in their minds they weren’t ready for a second-in-command. However, in their hearts, they knew they were, or would be ready soon, so it was time to start the search and get themselves ready.
How about you?
Are you ready for an Integrator in your heart and in your mind?
Of course, you know if you want to take your business to the next level, you’ll need to bring on an Integrator, someone who can take care of all the details and management items you’ve been juggling. Plus, you need someone who manages at a high level and can help your team support you in business growth.
As the Visionary, you’re the big-picture thinker, but when you’re doing it all, you don’t have the energy or the time to create. As a result, your business can’t move to the next level and beyond.
You can’t focus on that big picture because you’re in the weeds of the details and daily to-dos. As a result, you’re doing everything and are burned out, feel like you have no control or freedom, and don’t know how much longer you can take it.
Maybe, just maybe, you’re ready for an Integrator™.
Visionary, it's time
You know you need an Integrator™ (often titled a second-in-command or a COO), because you’ve hit the point of no return. In short, you can’t keep going the way you have been.
Certainly, your company needs you to be free to create and grow while you have a high-level counterpart to manage the details and the day-to-day.
In addition, you need someone to make sure your managers and employees are in the right seats. You were born to be the CEO and to lead, and your Integrator was born to be the second-in-command and execute.
When you bring on an Integrator™, you’ll finally have the time, energy, and freedom to truly be the Visionary CEO, grow your company to the next level, and live your life the way you wanted to when you started the company.
What does it mean for you and your business to be ready for an Integrator™?
In their book Rocket Fuel, Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters discuss four aspects of readiness to consider. Besides your readiness, you’ll need to determine which management items you want your Integrator to take off your plate. As you think about the following, make a wish list of those items. In the end, I bet it will be a long list.
First, are you financially ready? Of course, money would be a prime consideration, but it’s not the only one. Right now, can you afford an Integrator? In addition, an effective Integrator will be the highest ROI your company has experienced so far, and maybe the highest it will ever see.
In other words, an Integrator will be an investment, but in terms of time, energy, and business growth, the return will be tremendous. Are you ready?
Second, are you psychologically ready for an Integrator™? Can you let go and allow someone to take management off your plate? If you’re being honest, are you willing to let someone else drive?
Next, most Visionaries I’ve worked with were definitely ready for a lifestyle change. They were ready to work fewer hours overall or spend the hours they’re currently working being the Visionary and letting the Integrator manage the company. Also, they were ready to enjoy their lives after growing their companies.
Last, you need to be ready to step into what Rocket Fuel calls your Unique Ability®. Are you ready and willing to fully embrace the CEO role you were born to play in your business? Some Visionary CEOs find this immersion to be challenging and perhaps anxiety provoking. Also, you’re in the spotlight, and some are uncomfortable with that. How about you?