When a company’s leader is overworked or ineffective, the company suffers
Key Takeaways:
- Leaders pulled in too many directions lack focus and follow-through
- Ineffective leadership can affect profits, customer satisfaction, and employee turnover
- To right the ship, step back and observe how your business is running
- A Chief of Staff can relieve you of pressure and your workload
Are you the CEO or co-founder of a company being pulled in too many directions? If so, it may not be just your own productivity you’re affecting. Executive ineffectiveness can have severe and far-reaching repercussions on your company’s efficiency and profitability. This article will reveal some of the warning signs that you may be bottlenecking your company’s progress, what it can cost your company, and some simple ways to right the ship.
Warning signs of executive ineffectiveness
Several signposts tell you if your company is suffering from executive ineffectiveness. Once you know the signs, they are easy enough to spot, even when you’re the one doing them. Below are some of the most common.
- Lack of Focus – Good leaders should know how to keep their eye on the ball. Making decisions based on achieving those goals should provide clarity of direction. If your leadership direction is more scattershot without a clear end goal, it could be a sign you’re spread too thin.
- Satisfied with Status Quo – Being content to coast is a sign you’ve got too much on your plate. When pulled in multiple directions, changing your thinking to “We’re doing fine ” can be very tempting. Let’s just ride this out.” True leaders know the only way to excel is to keep pushing forward.
- Lack of Customer Focus – When you’re too busy putting out fires every day to focus on your company’s greatest asset – your customers – it’s a tell-tale sign you’re trying to do too much with too little time.
- Doing It Yourself – Does doing things yourself sometimes feel more accessible than training someone else? While this may get you over the hump during a stressful day, it’s not an ideal solution to a problem. As the company’s leader, your time is too valuable to spend on tasks you’ve outgrown.
Having too much on your plate as your company’s leader doesn’t just take a toll on you. It takes a toll on everyone in the company. Not only could it cause issues within the ranks of your staff, but your customers could also feel the repercussions of ineffective leadership.
The costs of ineffective leadership
If you’re doing a poor job steering the ship, it can cost your business a lot more than just your time. Here are some ways your ineffective leadership can affect your company.
- Employee Turnover – If you have it stuck in your mind that you are the only person for the job ‘because it’s easier,’ your company will likely experience higher-than-average staff turnover. Employees who don’t feel comfortable or respected in their roles will want to take their talents elsewhere.
- Less Satisfied Customers – Ineffective leadership takes its toll on your customer base. Maybe deadlines are missed. Or work is shoddy. Whatever the effect, it adds up, and your clients are sure to notice.
- Loss of Profits – Is your company failing to meet deadlines? Or failing to meet customer expectations? These and other effects will soon hit your company where it hurts the most – your profits. Unfortunately, things may only get worse. As word spreads, your profits may fall even further due to your damaged reputation.
3 ways to fix ineffective executive leadership
There are several things you can do to improve your own effectiveness. You’ll need to be open to change for them to work. You’ll need to take a deep breath, step back from the daily grind, and look at things globally. Below are three ways you can turn things around in your company.
- Observe What’s Happening – Most leaders who are ‘bottlenecking’ their company’s operations don’t realize they are part of the problem. You need to be honest with yourself and take a good, hard look at everything happening within your company. You’ll need to embrace the idea of change, even if you’re at the root of the issues.
- Set Goals – When you’re just putting out fires each day, it can become too easy to continue along a path of ‘just trying to get through to the end of the day.’ Determine what you need to do to get there. Set both short-term and long-term goals.
- Take Pressure Off Yourself – Give yourself a break…literally! One effective way to improve your company’s leadership is with a Chief of Staff. An effective Chief of Staff takes a great deal of work off your plate. You’ll be able to streamline your operations, drive results, and make better use of your time.
A Chief of Staff loosely defined
A Chief of Staff is much more than an executive assistant. While an assistant lacks the authority to make important decisions, a Chief of Staff has a broad series of responsibilities and freedoms designed to act on your behalf and improve your business’s efficiency.
A good Chief of Staff can be critical to helping your company succeed. Your Chief of Staff’s duties can include attending meetings as your representative, implementing policies, and leading key personnel underneath you. In short, a Chief of Staff’s responsibility is to help you maximize your productivity and free up your time.
Ready to make a change?
Hiring a Chief of Staff can be a boon to your business. The right candidate with the right list of duties can help your company achieve its goals. A Chief of Staff can be a vital part of helping you run things smoother and keep your employees happier. The sky is the limit, and Chiefly Consultants Agency is dedicated to helping you find the right person for you and your business needs. If you’re ready to find out what a Chief of Staff can do for you, contact us today.
