Build resilience by letting go!
You have built a successful business from scratch. It has been your drive, your capacity for problem solving, and your ability to put your arms around the whole enterprise that has got it to where it is now.
And you know that performance improvement is not sustainable, and you know you are the single point of failure. You are in a place of risk. Performance improvement, innovation and resilience risks.
And as you have brought people on board, and maybe established an executive board of directors, how have the conversations changed? Are you still directing what people need to do? Are you impatient with their grasp of the detail? Do you doubt their sureness of step?
How much trust is there in the room? How much trust-based challenge is allowed? How many fresh insights are generated together? How collective are the decisions? What then gets done with purpose and energy? How much freedom of action is there?
Performance improvement, innovation and resilience often start with the quality of conversations in the boardroom. What are yours like? What would a shift from “me and them” to “us” do for you and your business? How possible is this “letting go” for you?
Dave Stewart
The Fresh Air Learning Company