Before we continue, let’s look at what an Integrator™ is. In their book, Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination that Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business, Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters define the Integrator role:
“A person who has the Unique Ability® to harmoniously integrate the major functions of the business, run the organization, and manage the day-to-day issues that arise. The Integrator is the glue that holds the people, processes, systems, priorities, and strategy of the company together.”
The Integrator™ role can be called by many other titles, including VP, CFO, COO, President or Chief of Staff. An Integrator™ works closely with the leader of the company who sits in the Visionary seat.
The Integrator™ handles the day-to-day operations, making sure everyone in your organization is equipped with what they need to keep the company running smoothly. The Integrator™role frees you to create, grow, and scale the company forward. Accordingly, she will manage your company, from hiring your team to strategizing with you to turn some of the steady stream of ideas you have into viable and revenue generating opportunities.
Hiring an Integrator™ Allows You to Continue Your Business Mission: to Change the World.
Also, she will hold everyone accountable - including you.
Of course, that may sound a little unsettling; however, a skilled Integrator will help your business be the best it can be, which includes giving you the space to become the best leader you can be for your company.
Therefore, for many Visionaries, the most exciting part of hiring an Integrator is seeing how they’re able to keep growing their businesses past the ceiling they were operating under previously.
A bonus is the Integrator’s ability to see consequences and repercussions to actions that Visionaries don’t or can’t foresee.
In short, the Integrator is the peanut butter to your jelly. The yin to your yang. You fit together like a hand in a glove. That’s exactly what your company needs; the Visionary and the Integrator, working together to run the company while growing it to the next level.
What Would Hiring an Integrator™ Do for Your Company?
First, how much of your current workload could be delegated to an Integrator? (Think big and far reaching – whatever you think now, multiply by three.) Go ahead and dare to dream about the business and daily operations you’d like an Integrator to lead, manage and hold your team accountable.
Second, how much time per week could you gain? Next, think of how much more you could gain by thinking big and far reaching. Ten hours? Twenty? Forty?
Third, what could you do with all that extra time? Think about what you could create and the relationships you could nurture that would contribute to growing the business.
Fourth, how would all this extra time and energy change your life and your business? It would be like a time machine, taking you back to the early days of your company. Then, you were excited and raring to go every morning, working on your vision to change the world. Now, you can go back to that happy, exhilarated state by hiring an Integrator.
Let's Talk Specifics
How Can You Know When It's Time to Hire an Integrator™?
One of the first signs you will need an Integrator is when you are holding multiple seats in the company and not performing well at any of them.
Are you tired, burned-out, and the primary decision-maker of the company? Are you the bottleneck of all your team members' communication, it’s probably time to hire an Integrator. Source: Vision Spark
Are You Ready to Hire an Integrator™?
First Consideration
Are you ready financially, and can you afford one? A great way to help you identify your financial readiness will be to sit down and make a list out all your current issues. Which issues can be solved by hiring an Integrator? How much money and time would you save or make if each of these issues were resolved?
Now make a list of all tasks where you’re still buried in the day-to-day of running your company. How much money and time would you save or make it you delegated those to an Integrator?
Second Consideration
Are you able and ready to allow someone else to take those management responsibilities off your plate? Are you ready to turn loose of the vine?
Third Consideration
Is it time to embrace a new lifestyle? Further, are you ready to work fewer hours each day? Perhaps the lifestyle change will be working the same amount of time focusing fully on creating and growing, so are you ready for that?
Fourth Consideration
Do you have what Dan Sullivan, from Strategic Coach, calls Unique Ability® readiness? Are you truly ready to be you? Sometimes, it’s easy to hide behind all those daily tasks, especially if you have a project to tackle that may be challenging. Are you ready to put aside all those distractions and step fully into your Visionary leadership role in the company?
At some point, every successful Visionary led company will need an Integrator to help move the business to the next level.
Is this you? Are you ready?
To learn more about what an Integrator can do for you, watch the video below and let your imagination run wild.
After watching it, if you know it’s your time to hire an Integrator, I invite you to schedule a complimentary discovery call with me.
Are You a Visionary or an Integrator™? Not Sure?
In their book, Rocket Fuel: The Essential Combination That Will Help You Get More of What You Want from Your Business by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters they state: "Visionaries have groundbreaking ideas. Integrators make those ideas a reality. This explosive combination is the key to getting everything you want out of your business. It worked for Disney. It worked for McDonald’s. It worked for Ford. It can work for you. "
There’s actually a FREE quiz you can take online. The results might surprise you!!