Here are a couple of simple exercises to help you map out a game plan that will see you take your company to the “next level.”

The one over-riding job of the CEO is to build a sustaining organization. That could mean different things to different people, but here’s what it means to me. It means having a management team of high performing people who are able to operate and grow the company without the day-to-day involvement of the CEO.

Why? Simple. Because that allows the CEO to be the CEO. Long time TEC speaker Larry King figures that there are six functions of a CEO:

Coach – Student – Innovator – Strategist – Ambassador – Investor.

Notice that none of these include salesman, accountant, foreman, HR Director, or any other operational job. But in my experience, CEOs tend to get mired in the daily grind of running the company, and simply don’t have the time to perform the functions Larry articulates. Thus, taking the company “to the next level” without high performing team members in each of the key functional areas of the company becomes at best difficult, and often impossible.

Building that sustainable team is no easy task. It takes time, energy and a huge amount of resolve. And it takes a plan. So here are a couple of exercises you can do to assist you as you plan your roadmap to a sustainably growing company.

Comparative Org Charts – Make sure your current organization chart is up-to-date, and accurately reflects roles within the company. Then, determine what the “next level” looks like to you. Perhaps you would do this in terms of sales. If you are currently at $3 million, imagine your company at $5 million, or $10 million. If you are at $15 million, imagine it at $25 million, or from $30 million to $50 million etc.

Now draw an org chart of how your company would have to look at your imagined volume. Don’t simply add more people reporting to you, but rather reduce that number to between 4 and 6. More responsibility will be placed on the shoulders of a smaller number of direct reports.

Now look at your current org chart, and identify where you think each of your people will fit in the future organization. And which of your current people will help get you to your growth target. As Marshall Goldsmith wisely observes: “What got you here won’t get you there.”

Finally, identify the holes in your future org chart, and write a plan with timelines, stating how you are going to fill those holes, and with what level of employee.

Sixes and Nines – To help you determine where your current people will fit in your future organization, try this quick exercise. In a column, write down the names of the key 10 – 15 people in your company. Beside each name, give them a score rating their current performance on a scale of 1 – 10. But here’s the catch. You can only score them as either a 6 or a 9.

Now, beside each of the 6s, write either a T6 (terminal 6) or a P9 (potential 9). For each of the T6s, decide whether you are going to allow them to continue with unsatisfactory performance, or move them (to another job in your company, or out).  

Next, write a plan for how to get each of your P9s to become actual 9s. This may involve training, mentoring, coaching, education, or whatever. Put a time-frame on it. If they don’t respond in a reasonable period, perhaps they are not P9s after all, and must be considered T6s.

Now, have a look at your 9’s. You need to also write a plan for each of them. These are the people that are driving your organization. Are you getting maximum value from them? Are they growing in their roles to allow them to assume greater responsibility as your company evolves? Also, assess the risk of losing these people, and how you are going to minimize this risk.

Just doing these two simple exercises should give you greater clarity as you where your people fit as you continue to grow your company. It may also help you hand off some of your current tasks allowing you time to assume the higher value duties of a true CEO.

By Mike Mallory

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