An overloaded founder sounds like this…
“We’re not achieving what I set out to do”
“I feel isolated and I’m stuck as to what to do next”
“We have stopped growing and attracting clients”
“There are so many issues competing for my time”
“Performance has stagnated”
“The market is changing and we’re not responding”
They usually sound a bit frustrated too....
For founders, hard work comes with the territory.
So does taking on multiple roles, or ‘wearing many hats’. One moment dealing with your key client, the next chasing late payment, ending the day on recruitment.
It’s part of the fun and adventure of starting up, when lots of memories are made.
I once made a great office decorator.
Early days when there’s lots to do and ‘getting by’ is what’s needed.
I describe this as task overload.
Knowing what to do isn’t an issue because tasks literally appear. Like suitcases on an airport luggage conveyor.
Over time more people appear taking away some tasks as you begin to build. Scale happens, business becomes less task based, more decision based.
Overload changes from tasks to decisions.
When founders experience decision overload, it’s new territory.
That’s because they are encountering situations outside their usual comfort zone.
Overload occurs as decision frequency and complexity increase to a point where frameworks and process don’t keep up.
The Re-discovering My Priorities service can help.
So what do we do?
Here’s a summary.
- Hitting the pause button to understand issues and priorities is an investment not just in time but in your future.
- Having a decision process and framework to work with helps consistency.
- Having the Contributing Factors that are feeding your challenges side-by-side provides a complete picture.
- We consider how they are connected to make inter-dependencies work.
- Ranking decision priorities incorporates fact, emotion, intention and what’s feasible.
- Some things only you know like how many ‘priorities’ can you handle and what change will have greatest impact.
Making quality decisions improves business outcomes.
You’ll also find that the number of decisions you’re making drops significantly too.
Creating space and time to be with your team, helping them to get things done together.
Take a look at the Re-discovering My Priorities page.
And drop me a note for more help.
