What steps have you taken to ensure your business can run smoothly without you whether you are on vacation, have a health crisis or have to step away from the office for an extended period of time for any reason?
Helen Bloch
Founder & Principal, Law Offices of Helen Bloch, P.C.
There is a great quote in Ethics of the Fathers that is attributed to Rabbi Tarfon: “You are not required to complete the work, yet neither are you free to desist from it.”
I tend to have a hard time saying no to people, or even delegating tasks, believing that only I can complete the job. Sometimes it’s true. Most often it takes a team, or an understanding that there are tasks that can be performed by others that will free me up to concentrate on my own tasks, or to do other things, like enjoy life! Understanding these nuances is crucial to a work-life balance.
In running a law firm, clients hire me for my expertise. Thus, legal analysis and strategy are tasks only I can perform. However, I can structure my schedule with the reliance on support staff that enables me to literally leave the office on a Friday and not check a work email until returning on a Monday. It took years to perfect the ability to walk away completely from the office for chunks of time, but it has been well worth the effort.
Angie Noll
Founder, Reconciled Solutions
Linchpin Redundancy is required for any small business owner who wants to be able to leave the business for an extended period of time. What is Linchpin Redundancy, you might ask?
It means that if the need arises, the owner of a business should be able to delegate every single task and responsibility to other members of the team. Since the leadership team in a small business is multi-talented but not deep in headcount, it can be quite challenging to teach your staff to do every single activity in the business. As owners, we often hold on tightly to certain responsibilities because we think that nobody else can do the task with our pizzazz, or because you frankly don’t know how to teach repeatability in certain complex tasks. However, to run a business that can exist beyond the owner (and eventually be saleable), every job must have linchpin redundancy. Once the owner can step away from the business for a month or more without the house burning down, then all key staff members must also be able to have linchpin redundancy in each of their job responsibilities.