Build to Enough

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Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello. You're listening to Build to Enough, a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to scale at their own pace. I'm your host, Keyla Hill Traywick, and I'll be your chief storyteller and cheerleader in a world that glorifies endless expansion, we're tuning out the noise and discussing the beauty of enough. Each episode will dive into inspiring stories, practical insights, and strategies to cultivate sustainable success on your [00:00:30] own terms. So whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, get ready for a refreshing take on the entrepreneurial journey. This is build to enough. Hey welcome back. All right, so today on Build to Enough we're going to talk about leadership and what that looks like when you're kind of in the messy middle right. So enough means different things to different people. We know that for some people, it means being a solopreneur, taking on everything yourself [00:01:00] and not hiring anybody else. And for others, it means a massive, uh, firm or agency that is hiring and building and growing like at all times. Right? But today I want to talk about what it looks like in that leadership capacity at any stage, but especially when you're going from like very small to your first employee or your first real team, or even just like learning what that pivot looks like as your [00:01:30] business grows and scales and you realize that you need new tools and new skills in order to be an effective leader. So let's get started. So here's the thing. You start a business and at first it is fun.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And then you are growing and you are scaling. And it is a thrilling opportunity. And then it just gets more complex. And adding more people to the mix is probably one of the most hard, the most, um, fulfilling and also one of the most difficult like responsibilities that [00:02:00] you'll hold in your firm. And this is especially true when you're managing teams, when you go beyond kind of hiring your first contractor to I've got a couple of people for whom I am responsible for their career growth, for their productivity, for my company, and for making sure that we are all getting what we need out of this relationship. Now, generally, if you're like me, the very beginning means that we are touching everything. We are hands on in every aspect of starting the business. And then [00:02:30] now I'm not just managing the task, I still have my hands on that, but I'm also managing teams. I've got HR stuff to think about. I have feelings to consider, a lot of stuff that you just don't have to think about the same way when it's just you, and that starts shaping the culture of the business. And also it makes you have to navigate new strategic decisions that will impact the entire company. No longer can you make decisions that are just for you. It's now for me and what my team needs. So when I first started [00:03:00] Little Fish, I had never managed a team before.

Keila Hill-Trawick: I'd never managed a person before. What I knew from the beginning was I knew what bad bosses looked like. I knew what it felt like to be micromanaged or not trusted. And I knew what it felt like not to be heard. And so I struggled. I struggled not only with, like, learning how to lead and just trying to make sure that I didn't. I didn't make those same mistakes as the earlier bosses that I had. But it was also hard to delegate if anybody can't relate, [00:03:30] because I had been doing it so long that I was like, who could do it better than me? Like, who knows this business or the way that we work better than me? So I would ask people to do it. Um, my marketing team would, uh, as you are listening, I know I did this to you. I would ask them to do it, and then I'd be like, I don't really want it like that. And I would do it myself. And that is not great for leadership. It is not good for empowering your team, but it also doesn't actually get it off your plate. Right now we're paying people and we're doing the work. So [00:04:00] today we're going to talk about four key areas that can help you to navigate that transition. As you are doing this, like building of, hey, I was doing this myself, or I was doing this with like a looser team to I'm trying to tighten up and that's going to require me to be a different kind of leader.

Keila Hill-Trawick: What should we be thinking about? The first thing is adapting leadership styles. So as you grow, you are going to navigate growth differently because [00:04:30] you're no longer the hands on person. No longer are you necessarily responsible for building the widget and putting it into the world. Now you're responsible for managing the person that builds the widget and puts it into the world. And insert whatever you do here, right? Whatever service you provide, you take a step back from that because you're not the person that does level one, and now you're trying to be more strategic and more visionary. How can we do this better? How can we run operations differently? How can we make sure that this team member has all the resources that they [00:05:00] need, so that they don't only have to rely on me in order to do it right? So the first thing you want to do is delegate responsibility, responsibilities effectively, right? You want to empower your team to take ownership of the task, not just the task, but the process. I want to give you an end result and you own how we get there. I'm going to give you some key ways that we make sure that we're handling this. But like this is yours. I used to tell people internally that like, you are not helping me do the work. [00:05:30] These are your clients. If you're doing their bookkeeping, you own the books.

Keila Hill-Trawick: You are the person that when you sign off on them and say that they're ready and we have questions, it comes back to you because that is your responsibility. And that is much different from do the best you can, and I'll review it and let you know where to make changes. So that's a mindset shift, right? That means that we're fostering a culture of trust and innovation, because the team members get to say, hey, I know where you're trying to get us to end up, and I'm going to do the baseline things to make sure [00:06:00] that we get there. But I've also got some ideas about how we can do this differently, how we can make my job easier, and how we can make this better for the client. In order to do that, we have to regularly communicate our vision, right? We got to provide clarity on expectations. As I've heard many times over the conferences I've been to. Clarity is kindness. It is really important that you are specific about what you want. Be real about what matters to you and what doesn't, so that the team member knows exactly how they can best [00:06:30] not only survive this role, but thrive in it. Impress you in it because they have a real sense of what you're looking for and what they can do to make that a reality. The second thing is that we got to learn how to balance visionary goals with operational realities.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Um, my team could tell you that the number of slacks of great ideas that I have thoroughly outnumber the things that we actually have the capability and capacity to do, and that is something that I am still learning, but have gotten much better at saying, hey, this isn't urgent, this isn't even a thing [00:07:00] I think you can do right now. It is an idea that I want to put on the back burner that I want to share with you because I'm excited. But the reality is, right now, the priorities don't involve this thing. And so that means that we have to prioritize the tasks that will actually move the needle, those things that create strategic impact and actually do something for the team and our clients, and then delegate it so that the team can actually carry that out. We want to leverage technology and scalable processes. No more do we just have to add another body in order to [00:07:30] get something done. We can really make those realities come true a lot faster. Once we know how to use the tools and resources that we already have and just use them better, who can be a software champion to make sure that we know what all of the new and improved features are, and how we can use those to actually make for a better experience. In addition, we want to streamline processes and improve efficiency, but we don't want to compromise quality. And so this is where some of those visionary things that I want to have done, [00:08:00] those goals that I want to achieve, can line up with.

Keila Hill-Trawick: If we can foundationally make sure that it works correctly, we can add ice cream on top of how much better this can be for clients. This means two. We have to regularly assess and adjust our strategies because the market is going to change. Our industries are going to change. They're going to be things that happen that we need to stay on top of, so that we can use that top down approach with our teams and make sure that we're still focusing on the right things. As you find that clients are looking for something specific [00:08:30] or no longer finding something valuable, you want to make sure that you take the leadership reins in ensuring that those are still the things that are and are not being implemented as part of your client delivery service. Make sure you've got professional development strategies as the next thing that we need to be thinking about. I'm a CPA, so I obviously have to take KPIs, but I want to make sure that I'm not just taking them for the sake of checking a box. What are the items that make me a better leader? In addition to that, what are the resources [00:09:00] that I can provide to my managers, to my directors so that they can be better leaders as well? What conferences should they be in or communities? Should they be a part of? What kinds of certifications can I direct them towards that also create communities and resources that they can get access to in order to build up their own leadership skills.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Listen, we are capped by my own understanding, right? My own knowledge. I can only be the best leader that I can be based on what I know so far. [00:09:30] And so we have to be really intentional that I'm seeking out opportunities to get better at that. I want to build a network of peers and industry professionals in the various communities that I'm in, to actually be able to tap into struggles that I face as a relatively new leader in the space and exchange ideas and best practices about the things that I've gotten right, that I can help support other leaders in my industry in the same way. Finally, we got to lead effectively through transition. Businesses are going to change. [00:10:00] And I've talked about here on the podcast some of the growth challenges that we run into as we're trying to grow and scale and just get better. There's communication breakdowns, there's shift in team dynamics and even team needs, and the culture changes right when you go from a team of you plus one to a team of you plus six, the way that things get handed down or addressed or communicated is going to be different, just because there's new personalities in the mix. And so first you want to make sure that you're [00:10:30] maintaining open and transparent communication.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Even though we're virtual. I have an open door policy. Somebody should be able to jump on a quick call or a huddle with me whenever they need to without having to make it official. You know, we don't use enter text on the team, but we do slack. We do, um, set up Google Meet calls. We do set up these communication channels that can be really informal so that it's always transparent, so that if you are sending messages back and [00:11:00] forth and it doesn't feel like it's getting across, let's just jump on a call or video chat to discuss. I also have to lead by example, right? I have to be honest with my team. When things are hard, I have to be honest when people are not up to par. Again, clarity is kindness. When there are ways in which I'm expecting you to help me and you're not actually making my job easier, we need to talk about that. And I need to be clear about that. And I can do it with care and tact and obviously, you know, um, emotion. But it still does need to be [00:11:30] addressed because transition periods are difficult. And I don't want to be the only one carrying it on my shoulders. After all, that's why I hired people to support me. And then on the flip side of that, make sure that we're celebrating successes. Make sure that we're calling out when our team members do a really good job, especially make sure that we're calling out when things are running smoothly.

Keila Hill-Trawick: There is something to be said for the difference between I fix this big hairy problem, and I've been keeping this running so smoothly that we didn't have any big hairy problems. [00:12:00] Make sure that you're calling that out for the team so that they feel appreciated, but also so that they know that those things that you've delegated to them, you see that and want to make sure that the team sees it as well. So when you're an entrepreneur and you are trying to make the shift from leadership as a like very small team to a growing team, it's challenging, but it is essential. It teaches us so many things about ourselves, about our businesses. It makes us have to step back from those [00:12:30] day to day operations and really focus on long term strategic projects and goals. But that means that it takes deliberate effort. You got to do this on purpose. Leadership is something that you learn over time and experience. But also we got to seek out those resources and those ways that we can get better at it. You know that because it is leadership. It's also about you. So embrace that professional growth that comes with it, the feedback that you'll get good and bad about how you become a better [00:13:00] leader along the way. You have to adapt and you're going to have to foster resilience. There are some hard knocks along this way of entrepreneurship that get even bigger when you've got other people involved, but that doesn't mean that you'll fail at it.

Keila Hill-Trawick: You will get knocked down. You will stand back up. We all will. There will be days that are harder than others as we're trying to figure out how we do this. But the thing is, you are leading your firm through a dynamic change. Some big things are coming your way, and you've got to learn how to manage the people who are [00:13:30] working for you in order to make that dream come true. So I think if you take all these steps, you have a leg up on sustainable success. And in today's competitive landscape that is so important the The faster that you can get better at taking care of the people who are taking care of your business, the more quickly you can find success that gets you out of the day to day and really allows you to lead into being the strategic, visionary and thinker that you've wanted to be since you started this business. I hope this [00:14:00] was helpful. I'll talk to you next time. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Build to Enough. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and share the love with your fellow entrepreneur friends, and make sure to sign up for the Build to Enough newsletter. The link is in the show notes. Stay tuned for more episodes as we continue to redefine success one intentional step at a time.