Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Category: The Disappearing Boss

Taking ownership
October 16, 2023

Taking ownership

One day, the child in this photograph might expect to inherit her parents’ motorbike.

She couldn’t expect to use it until she’d learned to drive it safely, keep it in good order and register it with the appropriate authorities.  If that seems like too much trouble, she might very well sell it, run it into the ground, or simply leave it to rust.

Handing over your business to your employees (or your children for that matter) isn’t enough to ensure that it will thrive afterwards.  Transferring ownership transfers power, but not the ability to use that power responsibly.

Of course your people might have that ability already, but if you’re the boss of a 5 or 10 person business, it’s unlikely that you or they know that conclusively.

After the sale is almost too late to find that out.  You’re not the boss any more.

So, if you’re planning to go employee-owned, or to pass your business on to your children, make sure they know how to run it before they take ownership.

  • Spell out your Promise of Value, so everyone know exactly who the business serves and what it really does for them.
  • Document your desired customer experience with an OurScore , so everyone can see the context of the business as a whole.
  • Let people learn and play multiple parts of that score, so they feel how it all fits together.
  • Give them responsibility for living up to the Promise in all the parts they play, and the autonomy to interpret it, to enhance the audience experience.
  • Automate admin and the collection of feedback from each performance.
  • Get everyone used to regular practice at using that feedback to improve both the OurScore and their own playing skills.

This takes effort, but not as much as you might think.  Like most things, the sooner you start, the better.  But you could do it while the legalities of transfer are being worked out, or even include it as part of the transfer process.

The upside is you’ll have something even more worth handing over, and for all the new bosses, the ability to truly cherish it as your legacy.

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.

Why Muri matters
October 11, 2023

Why Muri matters

Absorb.  Adapt.  Transform.

If you’ve ever experienced some kind of shock to your business – like your server being hit by lightning, or a pandemic lockdown – you’ll recognise these three phases of response, even if you went through them unconsciously.

1: Absorb: It’s all hands on deck – you double down, work harder, get people to do overtime, call in retired people, pull in help from fellow businesses or family.  Whatever it takes to withstand the first effects of the shock.

2: Adapt: Things are different now.  The old ways of doing, the old roles, locations and certainties don’t apply any more.  Work-arounds are what’s needed, and you and your team find them.

3: Transform: Now the worst is over, you all take a breath, and think how best to change how your business works, so when a similar shock happens in the future, you’ll be ready for it.  Some of your work-arounds will become part of the system, others won’t.  It’s worth remembering that not all shocks are inherently undesirable – a rush of new customers from referrals is just as much of a shock to the system as a lightning strike.  So it pays to think up some other possible shock scenarios and re-design and re-equip your system to cope with those too.  Or at least plan how you will be able to absorb it enough to give you time to adapt and transform.

Which brings me back to the point.

Muri matters, because if people, machines and systems are already operating at 100% or over when a shock hits, it’s extremely hard to respond effectively.  And only people can make systems work at over 100%.  With no room to absorb, how can you possibly move on to adapt or learn to thrive in the new world by transforming?  Muri destroys resilience.

My way to prepare for this is to share everything about how your business works with everyone in it.

  • Document your customer experience with an OurScore , so everyone can see the context. 
  • Have individuals play multiple roles and deliver multiple aspects of your business promise.
  • Give them the autonomy to develop solutions to exceptions as they occur.
  • Make sure everyone shares their findings.

In other words, introduce the ultimate level of redundancy – make everyone a Boss.

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.

Switching context
September 28, 2023

Switching context

One of the overlooked and most pernicious effects of being overburdened is the way it shrinks the world around you, narrowing your vision to just what’s in front of you and your horizon to just what’s next.

There are some who are clearly well-served by this situation (Tim Gurner merely said it out loud).

If you’re not one of them, here’s a tip:

Switch context.  Put yourself in a different place.  Even if it’s only for an hour.  It doesn’t have to be a restful place, just different.  The idea is to broaden your horizon, take in new stimuli, get your brain out of the rut it’s in.

And if you employ people, encourage them to do it too.  Do it with them.  Sometimes the discipline you need is to step away from the business and do something else instead.

Daring will follow though.

 

I’m switching context for the next few days, to refresh my body and my brain.   I’ll be back next Monday.

Take care.

What will it do?
September 27, 2023

What will it do?

What will it do?

When we start our businesses, we don’t really know.

We know what we want to do.   More of the things we enjoy, less of the things we don’t, with no interference from the boss.

We have an inkling that left to ourselves, we can probably produce something much more in line with what the customer wants than we were able to as a small cog in a big machine.

Or we hope that having experienced a problem and found a new solution, there might be others who will welcome what we’ve discovered.

In truth, we don’t really know who they are, what they want, or how they want it.

That’s fine.

The job of a startup is to find that out.  We need to be observant, flexible, opportunistic, open to a different who, a different what.  A certain amount of thrashing is inevitable.

But once we do know who and what, thrashing no longer serves.  Now we need to concentrate on how.  Hand-crafting a consistent customer experience, ‘doing things that don’t scale’ until we’ve really hit the mark.

Until finally, we’ve answered the question “What will it do?”

You’re no longer a startup.

And the next challenge begins.

Because if you really have hit the mark for a significant number of people, the next question is “How can I do it like this for more people?”, “How do I replicate my actions through other people or through software so that I can reach more of the people who want what I can offer, in the way that I offer it?”

You don’t have to scale of course.  You can stick with a handcrafted service and a select clientele.  Just make sure they are paying you full value for that.

But if you want to reach more people, have an even bigger impact, you need to think about scaling up the system you’ve inadvertently designed.

Scaling up starts with treating it as a design, rather than a happy accident- soon to be overtaken by the next.

Which means starting by writing your design down.  So there’s a reference point, a specification, an intention.

So that from now on, everyone knows what it has to do.

Otherwise how can you work how best to share the work? Or how best to automate it? Or whether the solutions you’ve chosen actually do the job?  How do you know where to be flexible and where to stay firm?  Or where you can leave it to the people on the ground to decide?

It doesn’t mean the design can’t change, it just means that every change is in service to what everyone knows it has to do.

And as we’re discovering with HS2, waiting until its half-built to decide exactly what it’s meant to do, is an expensive way to fail.

Discipline before you start building makes real Daring possible later.

Ask me how.

Self care
September 26, 2023

Self care

I think quite a lot about ‘Muri’ – wasted effort due to overburdening or stressing people, equipment or systems.

It’s the Cinderella of waste, mostly ignored by management consultants and gurus.  Perhaps because it exposes the dark heart of capitalism.  The more you sweat your ‘assets’, the more money you make.   Who cares if you break them along the way, as long as your pile ends up big enough for you to move on and do it again?

Things are different inside small employer businesses – at least the ones I know.

There, the ‘assets’ most likely to be subjected to Muri are owners.   They are the ones who take up all the slack.  Who ‘go the extra mile’, ‘give 110%’, ‘do whatever it takes’ to keep the promises they’ve made.

Not because they’re aiming for burnout, but because they haven’t yet realised that if they share the work effectively with their team, nobody needs to overwork themselves.

‘Sharing the work effectively with your team’ is easier said than done, and easier done than you imagine, when you visualise your business operations as a musical score, and your team as an orchestra performing it over an over agin, getting better all the time.

Putting this in place could be the ultimate exercise in self care – for you, your business and your team.

And everyone will thrive as a result.

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.

The tragedy of markets
September 25, 2023

The tragedy of markets

“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” Adam Smith 1776

Smith thought the ‘invisible hand’ of the market would prevent this in the future.

He was wrong.

Perhaps its time to re-embrace the idea of ‘the commons’?

A resource, owned by no-one, managed by a rolling team to ensure its benefits can be enjoyed by everyone, including non-human communities, present and future.

What if you made your business a commons?

A resource, owned by employees (including you), managed by those employees for the benefit of present and future customers and employees?

It’s not as hard as you might think.  And once you’ve commoned your business who knows where you might go commoning next?

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.

9 bad reasons why you might want to disappear from your business
September 18, 2023

9 bad reasons why you might want to disappear from your business

Here are 9 negative reasons why you might want to disappear from your business:

– You fall ill.

– Your partner falls ill.

– Another family member falls ill.

– You get run over by a bus.

– Your partner gets run over by a bus.

– You burn out.

– Your parents need care.

– You have to move house.

– You have to move country.

 

And here are 3 very positive reasons why you should disappear before you need to:

– You want your business to make a bigger impact now. Serve more customers, better, support more people working in it, and make that work more meaningful and fulfilling for them.

– You want your business to become an asset, not a job. The source of your pension, an income for your family, an income stream for your next venture. To sell it for more money.

– You want your business to take on a life of its own. To become your legacy, continuing to make an impact long after you’ve gone.

Bonus:

– You are still able to do whatever you need to do.

– Your business can continue to support you while you’re away.

– You have a business to come back to if you wish.

A modest amount of Discipline when you’re a team of 3 to 9 people, makes all this Daring possible. More quickly than you think.

Never be afraid to write down the OurScore for your business.
September 14, 2023

Never be afraid to write down the OurScore for your business.

“There were boisterously spiced empanadas, tamely flavoured empanadas, tightly crimped and crisp empanadas and loosely folded, sloppy empanadas. The standardised recipe couldn’t overrule the uniqueness of each cook, their personality, and experiences, which they inevitably infused into their cooking.”*

This is why you should never be afraid to produce an OurScore for your customer experience.  Like a musical score, it looks prescriptive, but each and every performance of it will be unique.

This is also why you should never automate more than the admin parts of it.  Only humans can humanise an experience.

 

 

*from Kevin Vaughn, writing for Vittles Magazine today.

10 good reasons to disappear from your business
September 12, 2023

10 good reasons to disappear from your business

Here are 10 positive reasons why you might want to disappear from your business:

– You want to spend more time with your family.

– You want to start a family.

– You want to write a book.

– You want to go into politics.

– You want to start another business.

– You want to follow a passion.

– You want to start a charity.

– You want to take a sabbatical.

– You want to retire.

– You want to sell your business.

And here are 3 very positive reasons why you should do it before you need to:

– You want your business to make a bigger impact now. Serve more customers, better, support more people working in it, and make that work more meaningful and fulfilling for them.

– You want your business to become an asset, not a job. The source of your pension, an income for your family, an income stream for your next venture. To sell it for more money.

– You want your business to take on a life of its own. To become your legacy, continuing to make an impact long after you’ve gone.

Bonus:

– You still get to do whatever you want to do.

– You can still enjoy working in your business if you want to.

A modest amount of Discipline when you’re a team of 3 to 5 people, makes all this Daring possible. More quickly than you think.

Ask me how.

What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The Monster’s view.
September 11, 2023

What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The Monster’s view.

I am not a monster.

I’m a gap.

The gap between what you, Founder, have in your mind’s eye, and what you Team, have in yours.

Between you, you fill that gap with a monster. With your assumptions and presumptions, your takings for granted and second-guessings of motivation.

You make everyone owls when they want to be flowers.

You make everyone Hydes when they want to be Jekylls.

You make fog where there should be clarity and purpose.

You make mediocrity where there should be excellence.

You make a straitjacket where there should be a springboard.

You build a pin-factory where there should be an orchestra.

You make noise where there should be be music.

You focus on me when you should be focusing on the people and the world, you serve.

You, Founder, you, Team, between you, you make me a monster.

But you can unmake me.

 

All you have to do is share with each other.

Founder, share your system for making and keeping promises with the team. Team, share your ideas for doing it better with the Founder.

Everyone, share the work of doing it. Not just the concrete tasks, but the emotional labour, the feelings.  Not just the technicalities, but the customer experience, the bit that wows..

Make everyone a Boss, and watch your floor become a springboard, owned by everyone. With enough give to support different people, enough resistance to help them really take off. Watch that pin-factory morph into an orchestra, delivering customer-delighting performances that have people coming back for more.

That thing you all call ‘The Boss’.

It’s not a monster.

It’s just a gap.

When you close it, ‘the Boss’ will disappear.

And everyone will be free.

 

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.