You've recruited a new senior manager and selected someone with the skills and experience to take responsibility for an important part of your business. It’s great news, but what happens next?
For many business owners, the natural instinct is to spend the first few weeks explaining everything:
- How the business works
- What needs doing
- How things should be done
It feels like the right thing to do, after all, you want your new manager to succeed. But there's a problem with this approach.
If you start by giving someone all the answers, they'll quickly learn to come to you whenever they have a question. And if you've recruited them to take some of the responsibility off your shoulders, that's not going to help very much.
There's a better way to get senior people started, one that encourages them to think for themselves before they've even walked through the door… Get them thinking before they start.
When you recruit someone into a senior position, you're paying for their experience and their ability to make decisions, so why not put those skills to work straight away?
"Instead of presenting your new manager with a detailed list of everything you want them to do, ask them to think about how they're going to make their role a success."
Get them to consider what they want to achieve and set out the targets they believe they should be working towards. Then ask them to explain the actions they'll take to get there.
- What do they see as their main responsibilities?
- What would they like to achieve in their first 90 days?
- How will they know they're making progress?
The answers will give you an insight into how they think and what they consider important.
It also means your new manager starts thinking about the job on or before their first day, rather than waiting to be told what to do.
Of course, you'll need to agree their priorities and make sure their plans support the wider business goals. But you're starting with their ideas rather than simply handing over yours, which can make a big difference to how they approach their new role.
Putting it into practice at Cedarwell
One of the businesses I've been working with recently is Cedarwell, a bespoke joinery company owned by Paul Brown. Like many growing business owners, Paul had reached the point where he needed someone to take responsibility for the day-to-day operations so he could spend more time developing the business.
He'd been considering bringing in an experienced operations manager and had a conversation with Ryan Powell about the opportunity. Rather than simply agreeing a job title and handing over a list of responsibilities, Ryan put together his own thoughts about the role.
He considered the areas he'd need to take responsibility for and how he'd approach the job. He also developed a plan covering his first 90 days, setting out what he'd focus on as he settled into the business.
This gave Paul and Ryan a useful starting point for discussing the position and what success would look like. But, more importantly, it meant Ryan had already started thinking like the person responsible for operations before he officially took on the role.
Ryan joined Cedarwell in October as Head of Operations.
When I caught up with Paul after Ryan's first week, he was absolutely delighted with how things were going. Ryan was already making a fantastic contribution. This is a great example of what can happen when you give someone the opportunity to take ownership of their role from the very beginning.
Be careful what expectations you set
There's something else worth thinking about here. When a new employee asks you a question, it's usually much quicker to give them the answer than encourage them to work it out for themselves, particularly when you're busy.
But you must think about the message that sends - if you spend someone's first few weeks telling them exactly what to do, you're teaching them that you're the person who makes the decisions.
If this is how you start out, what happens when they've been with you for six months? They'll still be coming to you with questions they should be capable of answering themselves. You might find yourself wondering why they aren't taking more initiative. But you've spent months showing them that you want to be involved in every decision.
The way you manage someone from the start helps establish how they'll work with you in the future. This is particularly important when you're recruiting senior people to take responsibilities away from you. You want them to think about problems and come up with solutions.
Sometimes they'll make decisions differently from the way you would. And that's okay. Provided they're working towards the agreed goals and understand the boundaries of their authority, they need the freedom to do the job you've employed them to do.
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Give them responsibility, but make sure they have your support
I'm not suggesting you recruit a senior manager, hand them the keys and leave them to get on with it. You still have a responsibility to make sure they understand the business and have what they need to succeed.
They'll need to know what you're trying to achieve as a company and how their role contributes to those goals. You'll also need to agree which decisions they can make independently and when they should involve you. But there's an important difference between supporting someone and micro-managing them.
Once they've developed their initial plan, sit down together and talk it through.
- Are the goals realistic?
- Do their proposed actions make sense?
- Is there anything important they've overlooked?
You might disagree with some of their ideas, which is fine because you can discuss them. The aim is to agree a plan that you're both comfortable with, while making sure your new manager feels responsible for delivering it.
And then there's one question I think every business owner should ask: ‘What help do you need from me?’
This is a very different conversation from telling someone what you want them to do. It puts the new manager in charge of making their role successful, with you providing the support they need.
Make the first 90 days count
There's a good reason to ask a new senior manager to think about their first 90 days. It gives them something to work towards from day one. Instead of spending the first few weeks waiting for instructions, they've already thought about where to start and what they want to achieve. They can identify the people they need to speak to and the areas they need to understand better. It also gives you both something useful to refer back to.
At the end of the first month, sit down and review progress.
- What's going well?
- Has anything changed?
- Is there something they need help with?
You can then look at what needs to happen next and whether the original plan needs adjusting.
This process gives them the opportunity to take responsibility for their own progress, knowing that you're there to help when they need you. The sooner they start doing that, the sooner they can make a meaningful contribution to your business.
Remember why you recruited them in the first place
If you've read about the Ladder of Freedom, you'll know that one of the biggest challenges for growing business owners is learning to step away from the day-to-day running of their business. Bringing in capable managers is an important part of that journey.
It's also something we look at through the Five Box Model, where the aim is to build a business that doesn't depend on the owner being involved in everything.
But simply recruiting people into senior positions isn't enough. If you're still making all the decisions and telling everyone what to do, you haven't really freed up much of your time – just given yourself more people to manage.
The whole point of bringing in experienced managers is that they can take responsibility for their areas of the business, allowing you to focus on the things that only you can do. It starts with how you bring them into the business.
So, the next time you're recruiting someone into a senior role, try doing things a little differently. Before they start, ask them to set out their goals and how they intend to achieve them, giving them the opportunity to show you what they can do.
You might be surprised by how much thought they put into it and how quickly they start making a difference. If you've recruited the right person, shouldn't you be letting them get on with the job?
Finding it difficult to step away from the day-to-day running of your business? Bill can help you develop a management team that takes responsibility, giving you more time to focus on growing your business.
