In Stage 3, the leader ideally spends 10 percent of their time and energy wearing the Visionary Face, 60 percent wearing the Manager Face, and 30 percent wearing the Specialist Face.
Stage 3 is dominated by managing work and people. Since the number of people in the organization has tripled from just two Stages ago, the Manager Face consumes the majority of the leader’s energy. For the first time in the Stages of Growth, the number of people in the organization exceeds the leader’s span of control. This new dynamic drives the need for the leader to delegate work they used to perform themselves.
Nevertheless, nearly a third of a leader’s time should be reserved for time wearing the Specialist Face. The leader likely still knows the company’s offerings better than anyone else, so their involvement in delivering services to customers and in generating revenue requires a significant time allocation. A leader also needs to advance the organization’s processes and systems to handle the new level of complexity, which rely on the leader’s personal knowledge and insights.
The ten percent of time allocated to the Visionary Face keeps the leader actively working on the organization’s vision, preventing it from becoming stale. Connecting that vision to the daily tasks being performed by the company helps maintain staff buy-in, which is crucial at this Stage. Even though Stage 3 requires leaders to focus on the people, they must continue to spend some time working on the business. Ideally, the heavy investment in the Visionary Face during Stages 1 and 2 has resulted in a clear vision, mission, and values that serve as a solid foundation for Stage 3.
The Stage 3 leader needs to wear the Three Faces very differently than they did as a Stage 2 leader. This dramatic shift often leaves Stage 3 leaders out of alignment from the ideal allocation of time in the Three Faces.
The most common misalignment is insufficient time spent wearing the Manager Face. The leader who has successfully grown their organization through Stages 1 and 2 by setting a vision for the future and putting in the work to achieve that vision, is now being asked to shift their focus to delegating and managing. For the leader who is used to being the one who makes things happen for the organization, this reprioritization of time and energy can be very challenging. One of the most important things that is accomplished during a leader’s time wearing the Manager Face is developing key team members into managers who can support growth beyond what leaders can do on their own. The establishment of an initial management team is a foundational step in solidifying the organization’s status as enterprise-centric, instead of owner-centric—an important transition that takes place in Stage 3.
Three Faces of a Leader Misalignment
The founder and owner of a non-profit is thrilled to see how far her organization has come. When she first began providing transportation services to senior citizens, she was the only driver—and she was very good at it. She enjoyed getting to know the people she helped and had a knack for being conversational and friendly, yet still efficient. Today she has 21 drivers plus a dispatch team and other office personnel.
Although she no longer drives, she’s still heavily involved with scheduling and billing. She knows the ins-and-outs of all the different routes and is adept at finding solutions to issues that arise. The problem is that as the organization has grown, she’s no longer able to personally bridge the gap between the different teams. It kills her to see mistakes being made, knowing the impact it will have on the seniors, so she works overtime to make sure that nothing goes awry.
This CEO is unwilling to wear the Manager Face. As more of a natural Specialist and Visionary, she doesn’t like feeling removed from the day-to-day work and isn’t willing to delegate the parts of the job she is most attached to. Since delegation involves letting people learn through failing, she reasons that it’s better for the company if she holds on to as much of the work as possible. The flaw with this approach is that her company will never be able to expand beyond its current size. If she wants to help more senior citizens, her best use of time at this Stage is to provide training, coaching, and mentorship to her Management Team. They need room to fail if they are going to fully own their positions and improve their skills.
The concepts from this article were taken from The Delegation Stage: Organizational ReWilding Rules for Business Growth. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores this and other concepts in-depth while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to learn the rules for growth for companies with 20-34 employees.