11 Reasons Why YOU Should NOT Be the GLUE Holding Your Business Together
Quite often small business owners think the have no choice but to be responsible for everything in their business. You’ve likely heard the saying, “if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself”. This can cause owners to step outside of their leadership role and become prone to micro-management. The reluctance to trust others, to delegate, and to ensure accountability, creates a bottleneck in the business and restricts growth.
Here are 11 reasons why it’s not best to operate this way.
1) Risk of Burnout
Risk of Burnout: Being the “glue” of your business can be incredibly stressful and demanding. If you’re constantly holding everything together, it can lead to burnout and negatively impact your physical and mental health.
2) Lack of Delegation
When you’re the “glue” of your business, it can be difficult to delegate tasks to others. It can be hard for them to feel confident making any decisions without your approval. This can lead to feel like you have to do everything in order for it to be done right and will inevitably result in a lack of productivity among your team.
3) Difficulty in Scaling
If you’re the only person who truly understands how everything in the business works, it can be difficult to scale the business, open new locations, and bring on new team members.
4) Limited Growth Potential
If you’re the only person who can hold the business together, it can limit your growth potential and prevent the business from reaching its full potential.
5) Inability to Take Time Off
When you’re the “glue” of your business, it can be difficult to take time off without everything falling apart. This can lead to a lack of work-life balance and burnout.
6) High-Risk of Decision Fatigue
As the “glue” of your business and the person making all of the decisions, you’re likely to experience decision fatigue and difficulty in making good sound decisions as a result of the high number of decisions you’re required to make. This type of pressure can cloud your judgement and cause you to make poor decisions.
7) Lack of innovation
When you’re the only person holding the business together, it can be difficult to come up with new and innovative ideas. This can limit the growth and success of the business.
8) Dependence on One Person
If the business is overly dependent on one person, it can be risky and unstable. What happens if you become sick or otherwise incapacitated? Without the “glue” holding everything together, the business may struggle to survive.
9) Limited Professional Development and Skillset
By being the “glue” of the business, you may not be able to focus on developing other skills and areas of expertise that could be beneficial for your business.
10) Lack of Continuity
Without clear and defined structures and systems in place, the business will struggle to maintain continuity if the “glue” is not present. Your team could struggle to keep things going and make good decisions on their own.
11) Inability to Focus on Core Responsibilities
When you’re the “glue” of your business, it can be difficult to focus on your core responsibilities as the visionary leader and the tasks that truly matter for growth and business development. Being absorbed in the busyness of your business eats away at your time, leaving little to no room for the high-level focus needed to drive long-term success.
It’s important to remember that no one person should bear the responsibility of holding the business together on their own. It takes a team effort and delegation of responsibilities to ensure the success and stability of a business. It’s important to find a balance and not take on too much responsibility, to avoid burnout and decision fatigue, and to allow for growth and innovation within the company.
Trusting others on your team to take responsibility, make good decisions, and contribute to innovation takes a leadership mindset and the ability to identify and reflect on what inhibits your ability to let others be in charge of some of the details. Writing down your concerns and giving consideration to how you might alleviate them, aside from micro-management, can go a long way in helping you to avoid being the “glue” and limiting your business’ potential.
Tools like my newly released Lead Like A CEO Guided Leadership Journal can help you reflect on your visionary leader role, reveal your blind spots, and take the actions needed to build a business that doesn’t always need you to be the “glue”.
