Mike Clark's Business Bites: Clarity of roles key to survival

Michael Phelps makes swimming look so effortless but we know it's not. Photo / NZME

Did you get into business because you were good at what you did?

Are there parts of your role that you procrastinate in doing? Do you ever wish your team was as committed as you?

Watching an elite sportsperson executing their craft is a wonder to behold. I marvel at how Michael Phelps makes swimming look so effortless. Running a business or a team has a similar feel - it looks a lot easier than it is.

This is compounded by the factors that draw us to starting a business. Getting mad with your boss and thinking you can do better; really enjoying what you do and knowing you are good enough to do it on your own; wanting to earn a larger slice of the pie; feeling like you have no other options. If any of these resonate, be aware they all create pitfalls that can lead to stress, overworking, poor profits and staff turnover.

One of the most obvious pitfalls is a lack of clarity, eg do you have a clear purpose that drives you and that your team can rally behind?

Do you, and each team member, have clarity on what your standards are and how to behave as a team (often captured in core values)? Do you and your team have clarity on roles, responsibilities and communication channels?

In his classic book "The E-Myth Revisited", Michael Gerber suggests an organisation chart as a starting point for tackling this. You write up all the roles that need to be performed in your business and who they report to. Then put in the name of the person currently doing that role. Yes, that most likely means you and yours have your names in multiple places.

This exercise takes about 30 minutes. The clarity usually shows how much you are doing and helps identify which roles you should aim to extract yourself from first. For me it was bookkeeping - I took the classic shoebox of receipts to a local bookkeeper with the exasperated, somewhat desperate plea of, "Please make this all go away."

Secondly, it helps you and team members to be clear on what "hat you are wearing" at any given point in the day. Are you the sales rep asking production to push through another urgent order or the director telling them to stop what they are doing and prioritise something else? Boardroom discussions are a lot more productive (and fun) when people physically wear a hat with their role on it to show what perspective they are talking from.

If you are struggling with this ask a local business owner you respect for some advice and insight into how they do it. Many people are very happy to help someone along the journey.

Here's to your success.

• Mike Clark is director, lead trainer and facilitator at Think Right business training company.