FOUNDER DEPENDENCE: HOW TO PREVENT YOUR BUSINESS FROM DYING IN YOUR ABSENCE

Suppose you had to suddenly leave your business due to an unforeseen circumstance like an accident, illness, or the opening of a new opportunity, would your business survive?
If the answer to this question is no, then your business is overly dependent on you, which is unhealthy.

One of the common mistakes I’ve observed founders make is to believe that they will always be involved and available to offer oversight roles for their business. Founder dependence is a common phenomenon experienced by many businesses globally. The much talked about COVID-19 pandemic exposed many businesses to this business risk.

As a business support service brand, we modified our training curriculum with a new module- Business Continuity Management Plan, to address this risk. We have since delivered 3 installments of this module to 40 business owners in our signature strategy course program and the result has been phenomenal. The feedback we’ve received from this particular module shows us how prevalent the issue of founder dependence is, from a small business with 2 employees to a 100 plus personnel business, virtually every business seems to be plagued with this challenge.

When life happens –like it always does, many businesses inevitably crash as a result of their founder’s absence, bringing many years of hard work to ruin. The most successful businesses are the ones that far outlive their founders to become legacies in themselves. So, if you are a business owner or looking to found a startup, here are four simple ways you can insulate your organization from founder dependence and build a company that lasts.

Hire Quality Talent

As your business expands, you would need to hire new people to take on extra roles. You do not necessarily need to have a large number of employees; instead, you should be gunning for quality. As a small business or a startup, you may not be able to afford the services of already successful talent. In that case, you should look out for candidates that are eager to learn, love new challenges, and are passionate about their roles.

If there are qualities and skills that your business needs and you expect your staff to have that they do not currently do, you should be prepared to train them in those areas. Many employers don’t train their staff because of the WITL syndrome- “What if they leave?” However, the key question they need to ask is what if they don’t leave?

Build Systems

The next step to overcoming founder dependence is to build working systems that exclude your daily input to execute. As a business owner, you need to learn to exclude yourself from daily business tasks, especially if you have capable hands on your team. You should structure standard working operations that show each employee what to do, when and how to do them. You should also have performance appraisal systems in place to ensure quality. During our 90-day course program we train business owners and CEOs on the basics of systems thinking using the 9 Building Blocks framework.

Automate Activities

As the world embraces more technology, you should take advantage of automation tools to improve business activities and reduce reliance on you as the founder. These automated systems ensure that your business keeps running even if you need to take a leave of absence. These systems should also be introduced into employee tasks so that an employee’s sudden absence wouldn’t crash business operations. My organization is also a proponent of Reverse Mentoring, a radical coaching methodology that ensures that employees who are savvy with digital tools and techniques mentor the ‘old-guard’ who though have domain expertise need help to adapt to prevailing technological innovations. This ensures that the risk of founder dependence is strongly mitigated.

Receive Feedback

As you implement the above tips, you also want to incorporate feedback culture into your business. You should encourage your customers to give feedback after interacting with your business at any level. This feedback would show you what areas you need to improve upon based on what customers like. It would also show you where you need to remove yourself and allow employees to do the work, so your company doesn’t appear founder-centered. You don’t want to be the only reason customers patronize your business.

For more step-by-step professional tips on building sustainable systems and structures in your business you can send us a mail at solutions@businessstudygroup.com or Call/Text 080 7361 0884.

Kizito Chris-Chidi is the Business Community Manager @Business Study Group, Africa’s premier business support solutions firm. He writes from Abuja.